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The most popular Android Apps mentioned in /r/Handwriting:
Hiragana - Learn Japanese
Japanese Kanji Study - 漢字学習
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"... People with narcolepsy experience excessive daytime sleepiness and intermittent, uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep during the daytime. These sudden sleep attacks may occur during any type of activity at any time of the day."
Cursive? Long and complicated backstory, but I'm working on a personal cursive mostly based on American Scribe Regular (based on the character forms used in the Declaration of Independence) with elements from England Hand DB (based on an earlier English Roundhand). Both of these in their original form were written with quill pens, but fountain pens (especially with a bit of flex) do an adequate job for me. Consider them to be an approximation of Copperplate written with a 'normal' pen. These days Copperplate seems to be (1) reserved for calligraphy, and (2) written with an offset dip pen.
Hope this helps.
I posted this on r/fountainpens first and a lot of people wanted to know what they were.
I live in Belgium and they’re really common here but not so much in other part of the world apparently, a lot of people helped me search for them on Amazon and someone finally found the right ones :)
Like seriously, almost no one knew what they were to the point I made a video on how I use them! :D
Buy a child's handwriting book. I suggest D'Nealian. You can buy these books at Amazon. Get the ones with traceable letters. This is the best way to master printed handwriting. D'Nealian is also an italic handwriting, which will easily get you into cursive writing with little effort.
D'Nealian Handwriting Workbook K-2
You are never too old to learn how to do something well. Have confidence in yourself. Never be ashamed to start out childlike. A lot of people on this sub have excellent ideas. Good luck to you, and I hope this helps!
This looks like the handwriting of many of my former 8th grade female students. I would knock off points (even in 8th grade) for capitalization errors and I would extend the tall lines in the tall letters (like l, d, b, k, etc) with my red pen. Your handwriting is pleasant and legible, but I would suggest you do some practice writing on that old-fashioned writing paper with the dotted line down the middle of each writing line. I think you would benefit from adding a little maturity to your style. Bravo on putting yourself out there and looking to improve! (Can I link a product here? https://www.amazon.com/WRITING-PAPER-upper-lower-letters/dp/B0848QBV6P)
Probably my favorite community/sect of Tumblr. https://www.tumblr.com/search/studyblr
Studyblrs are basically tumblr blogs devoted to photos of your notes, your clean workspaces, your organizational feats, your masterposts of all the study methods you've got, your playlists for music-induced focus during study, resources for college and high school students, it's just...
It's everything I wish I had in high school but Livejournal wasn't privy to just yet.
It's incredibly fantastic and like I said, the best part of tumblr.
Check it out, follow a few studyblr blogs! It's very inspirational.
Thank you!
I posted this on r/fountainpens first and a lot of people wanted to know what they were.
I live in Belgium and they’re really common here but not so much in other part of the world apparently, a lot of people helped me search for them on Amazon and someone finally found the right ones :)
Like seriously, almost no one knew what they were to the point I made a video on how I use them! :D
I'm a fountain pen enthusiast, and you're helping me procrastinate, don't worry!
Grab yourself a Metropolitan, it can write on any paper no problem. The Platinum Preppy runs a bit wet.
If you find yourself in want of a notebook that can handle any fountain pen at an affordable cost, grab yourself a black n' red from Amazon.
trying to learn cursive will improve your handwriting (that's what I am doing right now).
to get you started:
Not an OT, But worked with one. She used to tell me that as long as it is comfortable, I can modify like this: cradle the pen/pencil between my index and middle finger, using those to support the utensil and my thumb to keep it in the grip. Link here
I use this grip every now and again... Try it out and see how you like it
The notebook is Stalogy. Soft cover, thin paper, but holds up well with fountain pens, and the grid is very light. You can find them here and other stationary stores.
It's a good start and there is plenty of room for improvement. One piece of advice I'd give is try to get your hands on some handwriting practice paper (for example). Your lower case letters go up and down in size, whereas ideally they should all be of equal height. Handwriting practice paper has a dotted line in the center, so it makes it easier to keep them all the same height. Once you master that you can go back to regular lined paper and because you've developed muscle memory now, you'll see great improvement in how all your letters are of the same size.
Good luck! With a little perseverance and plenty of practice your cursive will be the envy of your peers (as mine is with my peers 😀)
​
P.S. as many have already added below, stick with fountain pens if you can. Ballpoints just make even the neatest cursive look horrible)
Thank you!! I linked the pen below in the comments! 😊 The Zebra G nib fits in a jinhao x750 as well, so you can achieve the same effect without needing to spend 350 on an artisan, handmade body lol
>It seems I can't add any comments or text to my link upload, or get a picture to display in a text post.
This is just a limitation of the platform. Posts can be links/uploads or text, but not both.
The popular browser addon Reddit Enhancement Suite (RES) will display images in text posts, so many people who want to post a picture accompanied by text will just make it a text post and throw a link to the picture at the top or bottom of the text.
This doesn't work with images uploaded directly to Reddit, but since that's a relatively new feature, a lot of people are already accustomed to uploading the picture to a host like imgur before they post it anyway.
Creating the vectors for each letter was done in Adobe Illustrator, and using those vectors to fill each glyph to create the actual font was done in Fontlab Studio 5 http://www.adobe.com/nl/products/illustrator.html https://www.fontlab.com/font-editor/fontlab-studio/
I did it this way since I had to trace each individual letter, and it was easier doing the tracing in Illustrator since I know that program, and I'm able to set a picture (the scan of my written letters) as a background image. Then I copied the outline vectors over to Fontlab.
Thanks! I'm just a beginner like a lot of folks and I like to share what I know when I can. If we all give tips, we can all have better writing!
I am not a handwriting expert and am fairly new to the hobby, but I did learn a lot about typography and typesetting in college that I really think carries over to handwriting!
Start with the basics: Handwriting Practice Paper: 100 Blank Writing Pages - For Students Learning to Write Letters https://www.amazon.com/dp/1635785014/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_H9Y40D84NQAGJ35155XY
Roaring Spring Whitelines Premium 5x5 Graph Ruled Spiral Notebook, Digitally Download Your Notes, Free App, 11" x 8.5" 70 Sheets https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MA6QGWT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_ueN6Fb0Y0PC8V?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I've bought similar paper from the Kinokuniya bookstore near my house. The brand is 'Kokuyo, ' but I think the one in OP's pic is different. The paper I have is blue-lined. It fits in B5 size binders.
Look up any male handwriting from 1700 to 1900 and you’ll see that the bad handwriting is not a gender thing but an education one.
Also there is an interesting article about how our handwriting became so much worse after we switched to ballpoint (Bic-style) pens. If you wish to improve your handwriting, get a good rollerball or fountain pen.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-the-ballpoint-pen-killed-cursive
Check out seblester on instagram.
His 'r's ascends a little bit more than the mean line and has no loop on top. It's easy enough to emulate that style, it also makes the 'r's quite 'recognizable'.
Looks like line 39 has the same "profession". I'm trying to figure out exactly what they say, but it's hard. It looks like Amerciante or something along those lines, but I can't tell exactly. The first letter could also be Ci/Ca/etc.
EDIT: Looks like comerciante
>MASCULINE OR FEMININE NOUN
>1. tradesman, (f) tradeswoman ; shopkeeper (tendero)
The second part looks like frutos as the first word.. second word looks like maybe an abbreviation, so I have no idea. hien., hcn., any number of possibilities. I don't actually know any spanish so I couldn't even remotely guess what it might be an abbreviation of.
Just make sure the notebook is “French ruled”- sometimes they aren’t, according to the comments on some of the Clairefontaine notebooks on Amazon. The one I have used is https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00A6VVING/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_W82X3PK0DYZR3ZXRTXK5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I was one of those high school students with terrible standard American Cursive (which I've found is a sort of derivative of Palmer's scribbly business handwriting). Some of my peers (mostly female) had beautiful cursive hands. Mine was illegible. I found a marvelous book, Writing & Illuminating & Lettering by Edward Johnston (it's available at Gutenberg). It had plates of all kinds of printed and cursive scripts, and led me to decide to develop what became a style of connected italic printing. It was simple to develop, easy to remember, fast enough for note taking, and legible enough to stop complaints. This suited me for a long while, but now at 75 I would really like to learn cursive, and I am doing it from Michael Sull's book. I second fishman74979's recommendation: it is chock full of good information. I would caution that the worksheets could have been better thought out, and a copier is a great help in actually using it.
I'm glad that you're taking an interest in improving the handwriting of your students, and I heartily wish someone had thought of that in my day.
Hey, good on you for wanting to improve your cursive! Unfortunately, my practice pages are nowhere to be found, but I can give you the paper template that I made for practicing. it's based on the size of my own handwriting though.
Also, here are some alphabets if you want some inspiration. I'm at the top, then my friend, and then my sister. What I would do is take a line of paper and rewrite each letter as many times as it would fit on the line. Then, recently, there's a website on the sidebar, loops and tails, which has common shapes and pairs of letters that you can practice for consistancy.
I made it. - clicking the red button will require you to install additional software. The blue link below let's you download without installing anything.
Architect's Daughter looks similar to what I can see. You could use that as a starting point for a guide & make some tweaks to the letter forms.
Hi KoyukiDemon! Wondered where you went. Anyway, it looks like Amazon had the refills. Currently not available. Only seven reviews and they were split high or low. Price swings crazy from $0.29 or $0.49 to $7.
I've tried using this pen, but the pen tends to stick in the paper. I'm a Southie, so that is probably part of the problem. Do you use a certain paper with them?
That's exactly the reason I started learning handwriting. I realized that I was confusing similar characters pretty frequently, which got me thinking that the only way I would be able to properly memorize them (instead of just mostly recognizing them in context) would be if I could actually write them myself.
I decided to learn the correct stroke order from the start, because it's usually easier to learn good habits from the beginning than it is to un-learn bad habits in order to re-learn good ones. Also because the infamous ツ/シ and ソ/ン pairs are supposed to be a lot easier to distinguish if you write them properly.
I started with the Kanji Study app, which is technically paywalled/freemium (most of the kanji are locked away behind a $12.99 in-app purchase), so hopefully I'm not out of line in linking it here, but there's still a lot of content available without paying, including the first set of kanji for each of the 11 learning sequence options and all of the kana and radicals. The app warns against using automatic stroke detection for kana, but in my experience it works well enough that I still prefer it over the "check your own work" option.
I used these Spencerian workbooks off Amazon! There's a theory book as well but I kiiiinda skimmed it since I already had most of it down from my calligraphy experience, but it's worth a read if you're starting from scratch :)
I looked at Amazon to find a Japanese gel pen .35 for $7.99, 12 in the pack. Extra fine tip. Maybe that is it. Hope to hear from you and thanks again.
Well that's weird. Last time I bought a case of it, I could have sworn it was listed as chemistry ruled, but maybe I was wrong. I buy them like, 50 at a time and store them, so it's been a while since I had to buy any.
Either way, I found the exact brand and style I use; it's listed as narrow ruled on Amazon. Here's a link to the listing!
I like them because I felt like there was so much wasted space when I used college ruled. To be honest, I'd love to find something a smidge tighter than narrow ruled. Just a few millimeters smaller would be perfect for me. But I'm a weirdo, so.
They are seriously the best.
And full color sets? They exist! I've got one on an Amazon wishlist!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0141NPU5G/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdb_XDT5ybDCY93BB
Are you perhaps an engineer or architect? That printing is what my professors wanted mine to be, and it just never happened.
Hey, I'll get a bit of flak for this, but if they're too expensive there are cheaper options. On Amazon and eBay, there's a brand called Jinhao, which is a nice Chinese pen. They're not perfect, but they are really good for a first pen. You can get these and quite a bit of ink for not even fifteen bucks: Example Pen Example Ink
My son has issues with holding his pencil properly as well. There are these things called pencil grips - there are ones that look like butterfly wings or dolphin fins. I have seen them on amazon. They have a hole to push the pencil in and you just tuck your fingers into the grip and write. It has helped my son immensely with his grip. It helps with the tripod grip. Here's a link - https://www.amazon.com/Pencil-Grip-Crossover-Ergonomic-TPG-17706/dp/B004Y4HA4W/ref=pd_sim_229_4?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B001SN8HPI&pd_rd_r=G2YEP06S09TMXNW051ZK&pd_rd_w=yhqtb&pd_rd_wg=XnhZp&refRID=G2YEP06S09TMXNW051ZK&th=1
Hi Mac. Thank you for the kind words :)
To be honest, all I did to improve my handwriting was work from this set of books I purchased from Amazon, and then practice as diligently as time would allow. I have been working on my handwriting off and on for a little over a year now. Good luck!
Check out a workbook like this.
But for an easy exercise to get started, practice your loops and lines. The foundation of beautiful handwriting is consistency, and this will help standardize the width and slant of your letters.
I’ve been trying to learn italic, since it didn’t seem so intimidating. Has been good so far using the Write Now book. Italic can be very nice looking, too.
It depends what exactly you’re going for; what you think “good” handwriting is. I’ve been working through the Write Now! book that shows how to write in legible italic. It starts with print, then goes to cursive italic, and finally edged-pen cursive. I like italic - it’s not as intimidating as Spencerian, etc., but when done right it looks so nice. You can also, once you get going with the basic shapes, tweak it to become your own.
Get a cheap legal pad and start practicing. I found that a cheaper one with rougher paper slows down my pen and makes it easier to control, which was critical for me while trying to learn the letterforms. Find a word or phrase you like to write and just wrote it over and over again, then switch to a different word or phrase. For me, just focusing on the sound of the pen going over the paper was soothing, and before I knew it, I’d filled a whole page or more.
Focus on using as little pressure as possible to hold your pen or pencil. It’s easy to get a death grip on it when learning something new and trying your best, but that’ll stress your hand and be reflected in your writing. This was easier for me when using a fountain pen, since it doesn’t really require any pressure to write. But you can certainly use any pen or pencil to get started.
Learn to use your whole hand or wrist to draw out the letters, rather than moving just your fingers. It makes my writing less cramped and more “free.” Depending on how you learned to write in school, this might be a hard habit to break.
Take your time, go slow. If you don’t like your current handwriting, you’ll have to go slow so as not to let your old style and muscle memory creep back into your practicing.
Try to write as much as you can every day. Look for opportunities to takes notes on paper instead of using your phone or computer. Start a bullet journal or a diary and so on. Have fun!
I'm not sure if this is helpful, but there are some seriously amazing fountain pens! And really gorgeous inks.
I just bought the TWSBI ECO fountain pen. There's different colors and nib sizes to choose from. This is the one I got: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EINGBCU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_JbggFbZW9RY69
A good started ink that doesn't bleed or ghost on crappy paper is Noodlers Ink in X-Feather Black. Here's the ink link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AWFEMZC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_DcggFbBBK7FRD
There are a few Reddit subs dedicated to fountain pens and inks. Give it a browse!
If she likes to do handwritten letters, you could see about getting her a set of wax seal colors and a few of the stamps. I don't have any links for this, aside from random Amazon links, because I haven't bought any yet.
I guess it’s the official book? I found it on amazon. It’s this one https://www.amazon.com/Spencerian-Penmanship-Theory-Book-copybooks/dp/088062096X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Spencerian&qid=1593473621&sr=8-1
Kind of contrary to the suggestion made above, but the biggest bit of advice that I got that literally changed how I wrote almost instantly, comes from the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". The author suggests to her students not to think of it as writing but drawing the words, a more creative approach which often yields flowing lines, exaggerated capitals, and a more stylized font. Also, use your whole arm as a unit (again, from drawing) and try to use the fingers as only a means to secure the writing utensil. I mostly write with my wrist.
Anyways, after you have tried some different approaches and found one you like, then I would suggest practicing, as German_Jerky suggests, that method to help refine your style.
Also, this is the method that worked for me. Many handwriting blogs say the exact opposite (DON'T draw your words), but I get many compliments on my signature as well as my handwriting, so who knows.
Since they are asking for stuff about foraging, I recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/How-Forage-Mushrooms-without-Dying/dp/1635863325
I added a link for calligraphy grid paper, but the brand doesn’t really matter. It’s not about making calligraphy, but if you write your letters on paper like this, any inconsistencies/spacing differences will be easier to spot.
This one on Amazon is about $200.
Have you tried the magnetic notebooks? Appearance of a hardbound notebook but pages are connected to the spine with magnets so you can easily remove and rearrange pages.
Tip 1: Don't use the plastic models. Its a steeper learning curve to build the orientations in your head but you will be a much better chemist for it. Traut me and that popping sound during tests will drive you mad.
Tip 2:;When you get to chirality, use the thumb trick. It's super useful.
Last piece of advice.. get some Hexanote and laminate one sheet. Use it as a white board to practice writing your mechanism. Rote is really the only way to cram some of those into your head. You just have to keep writing mechanisms until you can't forget them.
It's pretty hard to write well in note taking apps on iPad. For me at least. I've just settled on writing in procreate when I do need to.
But that pen seems to be a large part of the issue, as it's both speed and pressure sensitive (fast or hard strokes are considerably wider) without much smoothing.
That, and you don't seem to be using a textured screen protector so control will be a bit harder.
I appreciate that you appreciate cursive and more aesthetic handwriting. However, honestly I think it's not very legible and would not want to have to read lots of it. It's much more legible than many people's cursive, I can read it, but I do have to scan over some words and use context to figure them out. But most of your letters are quite collapsed or incompletely formed. You could definitely invest more time in developing better technique and have a lifetime of beautiful, legible cursive, if you want, and with practice be just as fast at it. I always recommend checking out a script called cursive italic, which I think is best learned from this book. I did this and have no regrets.
Yep. That's what I happened to have, so that's what I use. Any inexpensive laser should be OK.
There are purpose made devices, like this one
Another tool that could be habdy when using lined guide sheets is a tracing light box. like this one
Have you tried to get your hands on some learning books from first graders? I can only talk as a German and elementary school was several decades ago but we had different line types in exercise books to learn to write in cursive. We all started to draw the letters over and over again but with a bit of time your muscle memory just takes over. We had something like this: https://www.amazon.de/Elbi-Schreiblehrgang-Lateinische-Ausgangsschrift-F%C3%B6rderschule/dp/B0039OQIDW/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?crid=1BU3EL7ZS6WKY&keywords=schreibschrift&qid=1660608857&sprefix=schreibschrift%2Caps%2C120&sr=8-13#
You could check if something like this also exists in your home country. Unfortunately schools aren't really teaching cursive here anymore. If this is the same in your country you might have to look into used books that are probably more than 20 years old.
Plenty of resources here I think you’d find useful, especially the guidelines. If you’re going for a specific script, I’d get the/a book on it and work through it (I’m guessing you’re going for Spencerian so a great place to start with that is Platt Rogers Spencer’s copybook set.
Try to find a calligraphy (aka. shodo/書道) course near you. Having a teacher really helps a lot. If you can't find one, I think this book has been recommended as a good introduction.
Find some calligraphers on YouTube or Instagram to see the writing in action so you can mimic the technique, it's very important.
Naturally, there are a lot more resources out there if you speak Japanese so if you don't, maybe that's a good reason to start learning?
Spencerian Penmanship (Theory Book plus five copybooks) https://www.amazon.com/dp/088062096X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_GZT50TXRTADANS9R23CZ
I’m just gonna throw this out but, overall your penmanship is really nice.
Slant and height will make it look clean 😉
u/private_otter1192 u/CMDR_Elton_Poole u/CesariaB u/roady57 thanks for the tips. I actually have a fountain oen I never used (it is rather simple but still) im quite certian it is this thta I have https://www.amazon.com/Pilot-Metropolitan-Collection-Fountain-91107/dp/B009X9Z2FW/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=MA0WCHIJ5LHV&keywords=fountain+pen+pilot&qid=1652362298&sprefix=fountain+pen+p%2Caps%2C295&sr=8-3
Anyway I still need a pencil for math. Roady57 I never knew there are varying degrees of lead. By softer lead does it mean I get the same result, with a 'softer' touch?
Here’s a link to the paper Pacon Multi-Sensory Raised, Tape-Bound Tablet, 1/2" x 1/4" Ruled Short, 8-1/2" x 11", 40 Sheets, White https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084KWJL23/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_EGNVNH3C0BEHN999HX9A?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
The big trigger for me is the pressure of pushing down on the side of my hand. The braces are great for restricting movement, and the thumb creates a lot of movement, but I didn’t find it did anything for pressure.
Something else that helped was getting an ergonomic mouse that turns my hand sideways to use it, so I’m moving my wrist up and down instead of right and left. In all honesty, I rarely move my wrist since it’s more comfortable to move my arm in that position. And the mouse is angled just enough to keep your hand off the desk so you don’t get the pressure issue!
This is what I used. I'm Learning Japanese!
Its a little elementary and towards kids but it makes learning Japanese really easy because they tell it like a story/picturebook and teach you the culture as well. It is definitely introductory and I know I would need something else later on.
Based on your other comments, it sounds like you might just need to get a workbook and take the time to practice a specific style. The current American handwriting is just "American Cursive" Michael Sull has a workbook on Amazon called "The Art of Cursive Penmanship" but you could also go with the Palmer Method, which would be what your grandparents or great-grandparents learned depending on your age. There's a link to Palmer in the About/Free, Useful Resources section of this sub.
Mine was abysmal and I took a little bit of time each day to work through a set of 5 Spencerian copybooks I got off of Amazon and it made a huge difference. There are a ton of free printable resources for it though.
Pick a style and spend 10-20 minutes most days practicing. It takes some time to get going, but once you start noticing improvement the payoff is big.
Apologize for the super late reply. Yes I did find a book:
However, it may not be perfect. I used it as a starting point and then adapted it so I could write a bit quicker and that felt more natural, so a good starting point.
It’s a tombow fudenosuke pen, soft tip. I get a pack of 2 on Amazon- ones a soft tip and one is a hard tip. Both are my favourite markers I have ever used to write with!
Does anyone read existing comments on a thread at all before commenting?? 99% of the comments here are duplicates. Use the upvote button, people. SMH
Something I that hasn't actually been said yet is that, yes, you could indeed make it more legible especially because a lot of people don't know how to read cursive well. Things to look out for:
- c vs e vs i can be confusing due to collapsed shaped - make your counters (the parts of the letter that enclose a space) more defined.
- the v could be seen as an "r" in some styles of cursive, you can make the v more v-like.
- loops are generally harder to read than lines, try making straight up and down lines for the "h", "d", instead of loops.
- a more consistent slant and letter spacing would help too
My real answer though is to learn cursive italic, it's awesome.
As many have said your writing is perfectly legible, which is what functionally matters. I think the question is just, do you want it to also be attractive? My handwriting was pretty similar to yours a few years ago and I decided to change it, so I looked around online for handwriting techniques and options, and I found one I really liked called cursive italic (book link). My handwriting looks like this now. It's just a matter of whether or not you care enough to put in the work to refine it. IMO it's worth it, because it's a life-long skill and writing is enjoyable now, and it makes a positive impression on people too.
Take a look at italic handwriting. You might love it! Do a google image search for "italic handwriting examples" to get some sense for it. To actually learn it, here's the book I recommend to beginners on it. Italic handwriting is IMO the best form of modern handwriting because it's beautiful, legible, and easy to write.
Your handwriting is a very neatly written form of what is called "ball and stick" handwriting, which is what is taught in elementary school. It's time for a more sophisticated script!
Your handwriting is mostly printing. Do you want to learn cursive? I suggest you buy a book on Amazon to learn cursive. It will be faster and more readable than printing and will last you a lifetime. A good starter Cursive Workbook I know it sounds arduous but trust me on this. I taught my daughter this way and she takes the most incredible notes and it greatly facilitates her studying and recall. It takes practice but once you learn it you never forget it. Once you learn the basics, take just a regular lined pad of paper and do an entire page of capital “A”s and an entire page of small “a”s then and entire page of capital “B”s and so on for the entire alphabet. Go through the alphabet like that 3 times and do a couple workbooks and you will be golden. It will enhance your retention and absorption of the material presented more than you can imagine.
Thank you!
I follow Gyousyou Suzuki on instagram, I didn't know they're on YouTube as well.
As for pens, I like thick pens too and honestly 1mm isn't even enough for me anymore lol. I got myself a 1.5mm Ohto fude ball pen and I love it. With the right technique, you can give your characters the kind of stroke thickness variation that you'd see in brush calligraphy. I'm not quite there yet though, it's really challenging but it's a lot of fun.
I suggest architect handwriting if you want a very classic, distinct style. http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/how-to-write-like-an-architect-short-primers-on-writing-with-the-neat-clean-lines-of-a-designer.html
Here’s a picture of the pen - it only says ‘Germany’ on the nib (I got it in Denmark 😄) and then there’s a small rooster on it. Google didn’t help me, so I don’t think it’s any famous brand, but I don’t know anything about pens and ink and all that 😀.
Now I’m back home again and was able to look properly at the bottle and I remembered it wrong, it actually does say ‘Ecoline’ (on the picture it also says ‘sort’ which means black here in Denmark. I don’t know if the brand Ecoline is also Danish 😊).
Procreate is a paid app only available for iPad (as far as I know), but I’m sure there’s a free alternative somewhere. Here’s the Procraate website: https://procreate.art And the calligraphr website: https://www.calligraphr.com/en/
Perhaps an extra thick pencil grip would help. Wondering like this
The Pencil Grip Mini Pencil Grips, Ergonomic Writing Aid For Righties And Lefties, Colorful Pencil Grippers, Assorted Bright Colors, 50 Count - TPG-17550 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CKGO1VG/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_navT_g_C0R0BTXYMBAMTTZKWR9Q
(Hopefully the link posted, in not good at that kinda thing)
This is the book I'm talking about. https://www.amazon.com/Write-Getty-Dubay-Program-Handwriting-Success/dp/0982776225/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=N9NIQM8HHYJJ&keywords=write+now&qid=1641087587&sprefix=write+now%2Caps%2C172&sr=8-1
I don't know if it's any better or worse than the one RR0925 linked.
The Italic Way to Beautiful Handwriting: Cursive and Calligraphic https://www.amazon.com/dp/1626540381/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_GFHRGSPYNFEY1S59W3X9
I used this book decades ago, and it taught me both what is now my day to day handwriting, and enough calligraphy that I was able to make money doing invitations and dinner party menus for years. The reviews claim the quality of the printing has gone down but the content and practice sheets were top notch.
It's a cheap beginner's fountain pen a friend gave to me because the tip was crimped and unusable. My idiot self ended cutting the tip of the nib to "fix" it but it worked out because the pen is able to produce very unique, textured writing. It also only writes backward to how you normally hold a fountain pen and can be plain cantankerous to work with. You win some, you lose some.
This is the specific model, and this is what it looks like: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/585567569113645085/926161498131267655/pen.png
If you’re interested in Spencerian, I highly recommend this. It’s a theory book plus five copybooks, and it’s how I learned.
I never learned standard cursive, so I’m afraid I can’t help you there.
Best of luck on this journey, and remember, speed is your prize for accuracy!
Learning curve is a free font designed for this (comes with a dotted version. You can make you own.
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Fuck me, that before handwriting was already really good, although slow. I may even like it better, to be honest. And you definitely stepped up your fountain pen game in the mean time. But I immediately noticed that you are not using the Spencerian grip and arm writing in your after video. And I noticed that you do still lift up your pen quite a bit while writing. Ideally you shouldn't be doing that.
Here is a pdf version of the Spencerian books. A totally free and legal way to get them, since they are so old by now. The quality isn't the best in places, but at least the first few books are good enough. I'm starting to work on my capital letters, and there is where the scans fall apart, almost literally.
Could you share a clear photo of your before and after handwriting as well? It's difficult to judge things like slant and spacing from the angle you took the videos at.
Hi, this is the same one I used I believe. Generally, anything ergonomic for art students are great for us (:
I was holding the pen strongly on my thumb and got 'writer's cramp'. I recommend this if you're not using a pen that's too thick. I have a tablet and tried using it for that, it was too thick. Still, great for pens!!!
Hope this helps (:
First submission to this subreddit, got lots to work on. I used to write in cursive until high school, but stopped doing it, I want to learn to write cursive again.
https://www.jottacloud.com/s/138433dd73aa5f24d97b833dc111dc75e65
I too have started writing down quotes that meaningful to me - not journaling - as that is time sequenced, but more of a random record of things important to you (and also very useful for handwriting practice).
I saw a quote here in r/quotes :
"Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.“ — Ralph Waldo Emerson
I realized this was a practice from a long time ago - my grandparents put notes in the back of their bible, including significant events, births, deaths, weather events, crop yields, etc. and my darling wife pointed out this is also known as a Commonplace Book . I now have a small book specific to such quotes.
I also am using a desktop computer free program called Zim, which lets me grab and record specific things that I want to save. I have been using it for a quite a number of years - a bit of getting used to, but much better than other notebook programs I have tried in the past and now realize I have been using it as a Digital Commonplace repository more than anything else.
“Every day may not be good... but there's something good in every day.”
Practice! Keep a composition notebook handy, in which you can practice when you find yourself with down time! :)
I keep a composition notebook in which I'll practice when I find myself bored.
PenAgain Twist 'N Write Pencil Kids Learning Writing Assorted Colors 4 Count (00071) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E90Z8UI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_ZAC3KMNQRPQRVH1AGN3G my mom got these for my brother.. these might help..?
You could try a molded pen that forces a different grip. Something like this: STABILO EASYoriginal Handwriting Pen Right Handed - Dark/Light Blue https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T7ULULW/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_T5QH39SJNVZ7G820BC3V This pen comes in left and right varieties, so make sure you get the correct one.
They also make molded grips that you can slide onto any writing implement that it fits, even larger ones designed for people with difficulty gripping, which can help when learning a new grip.
Thank you!
And I'm by no means a handwriting or calligraphy expert, but I know that for calligraphy there's paper that has slant lines across the whole page to help calligraphers keep their slant consistent. Maybe something like this
Also practicing slow and building up speed can help too. If you feel like your pen would bleed too much if you go slow then maybe practice with a pencil!
[Lamp]
Here it is, and thank you so much!
It's one I actually learnt in school and from my Nana as she always wrote like that. It's really lovely to write, the capital letters are the key. (Showing my age 😂)
Most calligraphy books with have it listed with the stroke order and slant etc.
I would recommend having a look at your local library to see what bikes they have.
There appears to be quite a range of books specific only to copperplate, so see if they have one similar at the library.
https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Copperplate-Calligraphy-Step-Step/dp/0486409511
Now I was to get my nib and ink out again! I recommend using a nib and ink as you need a really soft flexible nib like the old days, fountain pens and brush pens just won't do the same soft fluid script.
I agree - repetition is key and you just need to copy good models. Maybe something like this for cursive and this for printed handwriting
Gel Ink Pen Extra fine point pens Ballpoint pen 0.35mm Black For japanese Office School Stationery Supply 12 Packs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TBHWJ8Z/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_05C1HMR0T5RWGXGYC33C?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
These are the pens! I absolutely love them, I've been through 2 boxes already. They're amazing, and there's just something about a needle point tip that I find irresistible!
Cubes, they sell these coffee flavored chews that have caffeine in them. There are tons I’d different varieties and flavors now….
Here ya go!!
Try ‘em
I absolutely love pens that don't scratch and drag. I suppose it's like the difference between cheap bed sheets with 200 threads pet inch and hotel style with 10,000 threads to the inch bed sheets. I will use scratchy pens all day, but I just totally get into a different zone when I have a treasured pen that just works right. I think the brand is BLMP and I get them on Amazon. I never thought to compare my handwriting using them and another pen. Which I will do today.