Little brother caught the bug

[Plume145]

I don't get this arm moving thing. Am I missing something? Am I doing it but not realizing it? Am I not doing it and that's terrible? I don't get it. I write cursive, but it's just functional, joined-up writing, not calligraphic cursive. At mid-speed it's italic cursive and prettier, if I'm writing full-tilt it's looped cursive and a lot less pretty, but that's it. What am I missing? I'm beginning to worry here, lol.

Me too...

Palmer method is where I'd go. It's the way I learned to write.

That said, I unlearned that for legibility and speed. The way I write now is a strange mixture of styles, but it's absolutely legible when it has to be. The arm movements still are the lions share of the effort.

That method will give your handwriting a fluid style, too.

Good luck
Mike

OK, now I feel even dumber, because I still don't get it :P If you un-learned the Palmer stuff for legibility and speed, why is that the way to go? If your handwriting is fast and still legible, what else is there? If they take their time, don't rush, just about anyone can write 'pretty' (not according to a calligraphic font, maybe, but in a way that gets all the letters and spaces even and neat). At least, everyone who's let's say a mature writer (let's put handwriting maturity around 14-15, assuming you began at 6). If you can go fast and keep it legible, while not exhausting yourself after like two sides of A4, you're hitting 3 for 3. Right?

Beyond that, I don't get the appeal of the Palmer handwriting. The examples I've seen look sort of bland and dull to me, like it's all about uniformity but without the artistry and craft of a beautiful calligraphy font, or the exuberant, elaborate curlicues favored by posh 19th c. girls in their letters and scrapbooks :-) Maybe it's because it reminds me of first-grader letters as I was taught them at school, so I associate it with little kids' writing?

[LagNut]

Sorry, missed this.

OK, so:

What I learned from Palmer, and still use,is using your arm muscles (1), and allowing flow(2).

If you write small amounts, the muscle part is not as important, but I'll bet you flow is not so easy to do using just hand muscles.

Straight Palmers IS bland. And done perfectly, it is certainly legible. At my note taking rate, it slipped from legible, and that could be problematic.

What I ended up with is a strange mixture, which includes Palmer along with a lot of printing. For example, the Palmer s and r are problematic, and are replaced with printed r &s. Z, 7 and zero are given distinguishing crossbars.

This I came up with at about 21, from issues I was having taking notes in the classes and at work. But the Palmer method is still at its base, and ends up with about 50% of the characters. It is also something that is pretty much entirely mine, it won't be taught anywhere.

And the loops, strikes, etc? I still do them. One of my favorite doodles.

So, no, I don't do Palmer because I dropped the parts that did not serve my needs, but kept the rest. And maybe there is another method that teaches you to use your arm muscles, but I learned it from Palmer.

Good luck,
Mike

[LagNut]

Final point, two sides of a4 is barely getting warmed up. Paper companies love me.

I'm wondering if you learned Palmer, mine was in the first three grades. I hated it at the time...

[davefeldman]

I have made it a person mission of mine to give presents of fountain pens. My experience is that, as soon as someone discovers how much more fun they are to write with, the bug is easily caught! And, people naturally begin paying attention to their handwriting, too!

[inkyletters]

Update: he is now in possession of a jinfari and happily sampling his inks. So adorable.

[Brisboy]

Excellent!