How do you improve your handwriting?

[historicink]

I have never had beautiful hand writing, but I remember from a young age admiring an old letter from my great grandmother and wondering why I could never write like that. Any one able to help point me in the right direction as to ways I can improve our what they have done.

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[I like mango pudding]

I find that using a stub nib improves the character of my handwriting alot. The wider the stub, the better it looks. I practised bettering my handwriting ever since high school. I stopped writing cursive in about grade 9 or so.

[jacksterp]

First of all, I was taught longhand - cursive if you will. That was all that was accepted until college and even then was required by many classes. Your personal notes, of course, were up to you.

Still, I find myself printing (in caps) for the most part unless writing personal correspondence. However, if I am intent on practicing cursive, I use French ruled paper which I print out myself. This has the benefit of very narrow ruling so that you can practice all parts of a letterform.

Keep practicing...

[Tracy Lee]

Write every day, practice practice practice. It is about the best thing you can do to keep getting better and better. Take some time, take it slow for part of the time.

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[ndw76]

Concentrate on writing with your whole arm, not just your fingers. Don't let your writing hand rest on the paper.

[I like mango pudding]

Also, hold the pen a bit higher up on the barrel. That works wonders. Many times my fingers aren't even close to the finger grip section and sometimes it's even above the cap threads. Part of my education was to learn how to print (architecture). this was before the days of computers. learn how to print day in day out

[Tracy Lee]

I'm gonna work on a few of these myself!!

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[AndyT]

Having a good grasp of the letter forms you want to write - pre-visualisation if you like - is important. Improbable as it may sound Spencerian copybooks are still in print, and working one's way through those has to be one of the best ways to acquire that in depth knowledge of the shapes, provided Spencerian appeals to you that is. For the sake of legibility in the modern world you might be better off with an italic style however, and there are plenty of books on that sort of thing.

Otherwise, all the above is sterling advice, especially the bit about using your forearm rather than finger muscles, and lots of practice. I'd echo what jacksterp said about Séyès (French ruled) paper: it's a great help.

This link is to a .pdf download of a 1935 Palmer Method textbook. It's full of useful information and exercises, in particular about muscle movement. The source for that is IAMPETH, which has to be one of the very best sources for handwriting (as opposed to calligraphy) on the web.

[woosang]

Write slowly and deliberately. Form each letter and soon you will improve your normal handwriting.

[DGG]

Having a good grasp of the letter forms you want to write - pre-visualisation if you like - is important. Improbable as it may sound Spencerian copybooks are still in print, and working one's way through those has to be one of the best ways to acquire that in depth knowledge of the shapes, provided Spencerian appeals to you that is. For the sake of legibility in the modern world you might be better off with an italic style however, and there are plenty of books on that sort of thing.

Otherwise, all the above is sterling advice, especially the bit about using your forearm rather than finger muscles, and lots of practice. I'd echo what jacksterp said about Séyès (French ruled) paper: it's a great help.

This link is to a .pdf download of a 1935 Palmer Method textbook. It's full of useful information and exercises, in particular about muscle movement. The source for that is IAMPETH, which has to be one of the very best sources for handwriting (as opposed to calligraphy) on the web.

Andy T, that PDF is terrific. Thank you. What a time capsule!

A few months ago, I got so fed up with the lack of care in my handwriting that I forced myself to relearn cursive. After fumbling around for some days, the movements started to come back. And some memories of gradeschool, to. . . . where we actually learned very similarly to the "palmer method." There was a fair amount of care put into this teaching, I remember. And, I had never really considered it much until my daughter was learning cursive in her Montesori pre-K class. It's terrible to think this is disappearing from the the curriculum. Anyway, I digress. These days I've just been forcing myself to be more "consious" of each letter I make. (as woosang mentions) And, the remarkable thing is I've really started to enjoy handwriting again. Not just as a tool for recording but as a dialy enjoyment to look forward to.

Glad to know others enjoy this experience as well.

[AndyT]

It's terrible to think this is disappearing from the the curriculum.

I suppose there's an inevitability to it, but it's particularly saddening to see this happening in the US where the handwriting tradition is so illustrious. You'd think it would be worth preserving for reasons of historical awareness and teaching fine motor skills, at least.

[historicink]

There is something to be admired about beautiful handwriting. I wish I would of known how important it was at a young age. I remember our school briefly teaching us it in grades 2 to 3 but then it stops it should be required curriculum till high school at least. It is a life long skill set.

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