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Thread: Improving handwritting

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    Default Improving handwritting

    FP'ers.

    One of my many OCD habits is neat and legible writing. I consider my writing is good but I like to improve my handwriting. I look at examples of handwriting on line and on YouTube but I like to find materials that I can get to trace and copy to build up my muscle memory. The style i like is a cursive that looks like a simplified calligraphy script that has simplified loops like this one: https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread...uotes-you-like (second post) and the ninth post, both by Pterodatcylus. Can anyone recommend any material that can help me this style of scripts.

    Ken
    Last edited by sgt1255; October 22nd, 2020 at 07:37 PM.

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    Quote Originally Posted by sgt1255 View Post
    FP'ers.

    One of my many OCD habits is neat and legible writing. I consider my writing is good but I like to improve my handwriting. I look at examples of handwriting on line and on YouTube but I like to find materials that I can get to trace and copy to build up my muscle memory. The style i like is a cursive that looks like a simplified calligraphy script that has simplified loops like this one: https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread...uotes-you-like (second post) and the ninth post, both by Pterodatcylus. Can anyone recommend any material that can help me this style of scripts.

    Ken
    I'd like to know too, even picking up speed, I practice every day writing my daily bible verses and usually writing lyrics to my music but to be legible at all I have to go very slow

    Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    Coincidentally, I stumbled across this https://www.theottoolbox.com/left-ha...rsive-writing/ earlier today. While it addresses lefties like me, the basics the article and the linked information translates for right handed writers.

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    People often have at least two different handwriting styles: the one they take a long time over and the one they don't.
    It's difficult to have really nice handwriting when you have to write quickly for whatever reason.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    Quote Originally Posted by sgt1255 View Post
    FP'ers.

    One of my many OCD habits is neat and legible writing. I consider my writing is good but I like to improve my handwriting. I look at examples of handwriting on line and on YouTube but I like to find materials that I can get to trace and copy to build up my muscle memory. The style i like is a cursive that looks like a simplified calligraphy script that has simplified loops like this one: https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread...uotes-you-like (second post) and the ninth post, both by Pterodatcylus. Can anyone recommend any material that can help me this style of scripts.

    Ken
    Check out American Cursive Handwriting by Michael Sull. The letter shapes aren't far off from Pterodactylus's excellent penmanship.

    prepare to spend a lot of time on it, I did back in 2012-2014 and it made an enormous difference in my penmanship. The $60 investment in the book is minuscule compared to the investment of time it takes to put it to use. I found it to be enjoyable and worthwhile.

    good luck!

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    My handwriting is legible, I guess, if sort of erratic but you should see what it used to look like!

    I don't have links handy right now but I was following a YouTube series that went through drills to help with muscle memory.

    The drills are based on the basic shapes involved in all the letters. Easier if I just show you:



    Then I think it went on to practice specific letters beyond these basics. E.g. o, j, g, m, n.

    It seemed pretty legit and while I didn't put in lots of time, it was worth it. Particularly the 'c' and 'e' motions have improved a little.

    Prior to this series when I first got back to cursive notetaking I did a lot of drills on my crappy letter 'r', which I was able to change and improve, but I see it has degraded some lately. I was able to revise and improve a few other letters as well.

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    Quote Originally Posted by azkid View Post
    My handwriting is legible, I guess, if sort of erratic but you should see what it used to look like!

    I don't have links handy right now but I was following a YouTube series that went through drills to help with muscle memory.

    The drills are based on the basic shapes involved in all the letters. Easier if I just show you:



    Then I think it went on to practice specific letters beyond these basics. E.g. o, j, g, m, n.

    It seemed pretty legit and while I didn't put in lots of time, it was worth it. Particularly the 'c' and 'e' motions have improved a little.

    Prior to this series when I first got back to cursive notetaking I did a lot of drills on my crappy letter 'r', which I was able to change and improve, but I see it has degraded some lately. I was able to revise and improve a few other letters as well.
    I've seen your writing in the handwritten thread (which I've been meaning to post in) and the notes you always sent with sample inks and I would be happy with that and I know you have seen mine in the mystery inks when you were heading it up and probably in the last one (hopefully I'll be in the next one too and be able to participate since dads out of the hospital now), right now I'm not technically writing in cursive if I have to lift the pen for every letter. Besides the normal writing I do to practice I do the practices I got from a calligraphy book and iampeth, I got so used to writing in all caps because it was very legible and as a paramedic when we were still writing our reports by hand and using paper not an ipad or tough book laptop or any other computer to write all our reports and taking patient info, there is very few actually writing by hand in that job nowadays.

    I just hate like I said that I have to lift the pen for just about every letter to be legible if I don't it turns into a blur and I figure if I get my normal cursive better than I can move on to stuff like ptero writes

    Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    The "problem" I'm having is trying to decide what I want my cursive to look like. My printing is quite neat - still working on it - but my cursive has become a hash of cursive and printed letters, a far cry from what I learned in school eons ago. So now I'm experimenting with different styles to see what looks good for fast writing, and what looks even better for slower writing. I find it helps to look at different fonts. A work in progress but a good excuse to write and use my fountain pens.

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    Quote Originally Posted by Veena View Post
    The "problem" I'm having is trying to decide what I want my cursive to look like. My printing is quite neat - still working on it - but my cursive has become a hash of cursive and printed letters, a far cry from what I learned in school eons ago. So now I'm experimenting with different styles to see what looks good for fast writing, and what looks even better for slower writing. I find it helps to look at different fonts. A work in progress but a good excuse to write and use my fountain pens.
    My only suggestion is to look at how others write, and the various scripts one can find. Rosemary Sassoon's books offer examples of different scripts. That said Rosemary Sassoon points out in Handwriting of the Twentieth Century that one -- even the originator and teachers of a given script -- will 'personalise' a given script to suit themselves.

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    Quote Originally Posted by Veena View Post
    ...my cursive has become a hash of cursive and printed letters, a far cry from what I learned in school eons ago....
    This is what happened to my handwriting. :-( I admit I've not been serious about change, and meanwhile my pen friends suffer.

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    this is normal and even intentional. The Cursive, which is taught in our schools (Switzerland), is just intended to serve as a basis for the development of a personal handwriting.

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    [... and meanwhile my pen friends suffer.
    Not at all, Fred.
    C.

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    I once considered my chaotic handwriting "Unique"...then I realized it's just ugly.
    I see Ptero up on the mountaintop of finesse handwriting...and I look up from the valley and wonder how i'm ever...IF i can ever...get there.
    "I can only improve my self, not the world."

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    Senior Member Pterodactylus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    Thanks Detman, but this is a honor I do not deserve.
    There are many which just write awesome compared to my scribbling.

    Let me tell you a little story.

    When I went to school (started in the late 70s) they forced me to write with the right hand (I´m left handed).
    A practice which I treat now as criminal assault against children.
    Luckily these times are long gone these days.

    With this forced practice they spoiled all the fun writing something.
    I learned it a very hard way and my writing was always ugly.
    I could hardly read my own writing and the teachers had also troubles with it.

    They treated me as hopeless case in school regarding writing (and I had the same opinion more than 30 years).
    I´m sure that this significantly slowed my development down in school, and in fact I really hated writing.

    I always liked fountain pens, different colored inks and drawing (I was allowed to draw with the left hand), but as said I hated writing.

    A couple of years ago I tried to improve my writing.

    It started with an idea. I wanted to buy a new FP for a special occasion.
    It should be something special, because I wanted to use it to sign the working contract in a new company, also as a present for me and a sign that something new starts.

    I found FPN, and looked also there for reviews of pens (Finally I bought a Pelikan M600 for the event).
    There I saw all the awesome writings (especially in the creative section), and I thought after all these decades I could try it one more time to improve my writing (enough time passed since my school time to at least consider it).

    So I looked at postings which I liked and started to practice.
    After some time I posted my first handwritten post.

    I was really nervous and felt ashamed because of my writing.
    I thought nobody will like it, and all these awesome writing guys will laugh about it.

    But surprisingly nobody laughed about that posting and I got positve feedback.
    I could not believe it, some people really liked it.
    This motivated me to continue till now.

    Shortly after I started practicing my wife saw some practicing writing and asked me who wrote this.
    She first could not believe that I wrote it.

    My cursive handwriting developed over the last years.

    When I see something which I like, I just "steal" the elements (wherever I see them) to integrate it into my handwriting (e.g. i started to took over something from Copperplate or other users writing samples, I also tried to write certain letters different from time to time, so see if i like it more or not that way).
    Sometimes it works for me, then I might integrate it into my writing, sometimes it don´t work and I drop the change again.

    So if I managed to improve (a left handed person writing with the wrong hand, which hated writing for decades like the plague).

    Everybody can do it, it’s just a matter of practicing. 😀
    Last edited by Pterodactylus; November 20th, 2020 at 09:42 AM.

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Veena View Post
    ...my cursive has become a hash of cursive and printed letters, a far cry from what I learned in school eons ago....
    This is what happened to my handwriting. :-( I admit I've not been serious about change, and meanwhile my pen friends suffer.
    Mine had turned into a mix as well. When I got into fountain pens a few years ago I decided to re-learn cursive and neaten things up, too. I returned to D'Nealean, did drills for letters I had trouble with and made some minor tweaks. I'm happier with it but my handwriting still doesn't have that neat, consistent, graceful look I envy. More drills needed I guess lol.

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    The parallel thread, https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread...d-a-digression touches on some of what is being discussed here.

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    Now I can't help but wonder what style of cursive I was taught in school (late 60's) in Canada. The period would suggest Palmer but my recollection is that the uppercase letters were closer to D'Nealian. It was definitely not as ornate as some of the Palmer examples I've seen. I'll have to see if I have some old school notebooks tucked away.

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    An interesting article offering some input into what was being taught in the UK, and the reasoning for your perusal: https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread...334#post308334

    Note that the expectation was that students would at some point decide to personalise whatever script they were being taught.

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    Quote Originally Posted by A Smug Dill View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by An old bloke View Post
    An interesting article offering some input into what was being taught in the UK, and the reasoning for your perusal: https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread...334#post308334

    Note that the expectation was that students would at some point decide to personalise whatever script they were being taught.
    Huh? Sorry, but the path following the links seems to be circular. What article?
    My apologies. I was jumping between tabs and copied the wrong link. Correct link:
    http://www.unask.com/website/handwri...cquisition.htm

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    Good writing needs continuous writing and reviewing.
    when it become a religion it get into a good shape.
    Attached Images Attached Images

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    Default Re: Improving handwritting

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyril View Post
    Good writing needs continuous writing and reviewing.
    when it become a religion it get into a good shape.
    True. All skills must be practiced, or they degrade.

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