My handwritting is ugly,so I've decided to change my handwritting.
After considering italic and cursive,I've decided to change my handwritting to italic.
But there's one problem, I have only a Parker IM,a parker 45 and a Lamy Al-star and they have neither flex nor italic nibs.
So I wanted to ask whether someone can write Italic without an italic nib?

Hmmmm. Can you write italic without an italic nib.... No, not really. Italic a writing style that results from the shape of the pen nib. It creates line variation (vertical thicker than horizontal) and that's how you are able to write in the italic style.

I just bought an italic stub nib for my Lamy Safari for $12. That's an inexpensive way to try, or for even less, many art stores & hobby shops carry calligraphy markers. Pick one up for a few dollars and try it out.

If you feel your handwriting is ugly, have you tried working on slowly printing out the letters? Practicing so your letter forms can develop?

You, or at least the amazing Caliken, can write italics with a standard round nib. See this thread.

You can write italic with a round nib, you just won't get the spiffy line variation. It will still be a neat, legible hand.

Take a look at THIS link with some samples of regular fountain pen italic writing, but I can suggest you to try at least one time to use an edged nib, so you can really appreciate the beauty of this style.

Aside from the other suggestions here, you can also get a factory italic for the Lamy. They're all kind of broad, though. You can also grind your own italic from the regular nib with just a little bit of care.

Best of luck on your worthy quest.

Doug

I just got my cursive italic nib from Richard Binder for my Pelikan M600. It's dreamy.

I agree with Songwind's first post. Italic has helped me when using a normal nib - it may not be beautiful or even a true italic, but at least my handwriting is more legible now.

Write Now by Getty and Dubay is based on an italic style, written with or without an edged nib.

See also Gunnlaugur Briem's italic instructions, where "the model is monoline, without thicks and thins".

Regards, Myles.

Example below:

As you can see, you sure can use round-tipped nib, but I have to second the opinion that you should at least try it with italic nib. It changes the look significantly and it looks much nicer.

In the 2nd example posted by hardyb above, the height of the small letters are 2/3 of the capitals. Is this ratio a norm? (or just for italics? (coz noted that height ratio of small letters to caps in the first example is around 1:2)

In the 2nd example, is the small "e" written in one stroke or two?

Thanks~

Chiming in with the "Yes, but ..." responses: Check out the pinned topic on recommended books. Like Myles, I recommend Write Now, as well as The Italic Way to Beautiful Handwriting. Getty and Dubay, and Fred Eager, have the student focus first on letter formation before getting into broad-edged pen work ( Fred Eager liked felt-tip Flairs!). An italic nib for your Al-star would be about $12 and a Manuscript calligraphy pen is also quite inexpensive. My everyday handwriting is a debased italic cursive (I have grown lazy) used with any kind of writing instrument. But you can see how spiffy HDoug's handwriting looks with his VP cursive italic nibs (and his nice handwriting, of course).

I make my practice guides with a cap line at 80% of the gauge, and an x-height line half way between that. You can find a PDF file in one of my threads on this forum.

I'm learning from "Write Now" also, and I'm working with regular nibs. I try a italic tip every once in a while. It has its pros and cons -- the shaped nib helps you move the pen in the right direction, but it is more stuff to have to control. As I'm working on learning the letter shapes and forgetting my old habits, a regular pen is best.

From the connectors, he appears to be using the one-stroke version of the 'e'.

--John

In italics, the small letters are usually 2/3 the height of the capitals.

I normally write italic minuscules with a two-stroke 'e' but in this example, I used a one-stroke letter to increase speed slightly.

caliken