Leftys And Fountain Pens

[Water Ouzel]

Another leftie underwriter here......

 

Paper placed straight in front of me.....no need to turn paper.....

 

Think this works well for writing, no smearing as I write a line of text.....

 

Can see clearly what I'm writing.....

 

Why would you want your paper turned at funny angle and have to look at your writing sideways?

Turns out to be not so much looking at the words sideways so much as getting close to the same angle of an italic nib on paper as a righty. Makes doing italic text with the correct angle a bit easier.

[ArchiMark]

Turns out to be not so much looking at the words sideways so much as getting close to the same angle of an italic nib on paper as a righty. Makes doing italic text with the correct angle a bit easier.

 

FWIW, almost all my pens have italic nibs.....and no problem with my technique....use them every day all throughout the day at work.......

[fireant]

Another leftie underwriter here......

 

Paper placed straight in front of me.....no need to turn paper.....

 

Think this works well for writing, no smearing as I write a line of text.....

 

Can see clearly what I'm writing.....

 

Why would you want your paper turned at funny angle and have to look at your writing sideways?

 

 

 

I blame my 4th grade teacher. She would (I am totally serious here) scream at me because my writing wasn't neat and not at the correct angle. My writing would also/always change significantly depending on how the paper was angled.

 

So I finally turned it at that angle and viola the screaming stopped, the writing was consistent and kind of pretty (you can't really tell from that picture).

Edited April 10, 2015 by fireant

[PenJockey]

 

I blame my 4th grade teacher. She would (I am totally serious here) scream at me because my writing wasn't neat and not at the correct angle. My writing would also/always change significantly depending on how the paper was angled.

 

So I finally turned it at that angle and viola the screaming stopped, the writing was consistent and kind of pretty (you can't really tell from that picture).

I have noticed this in my son's writing as well. His penmanship is much different depending upon the angle of his paper. Too straight and it's sloppy and crooked but if his paper is turned correctly it looks great. weird but it works.

[fireant]

I have noticed this in my son's writing as well. His penmanship is much different depending upon the angle of his paper. Too straight and it's sloppy and crooked but if his paper is turned correctly it looks great. weird but it works.

 

 

Perhaps your son is my clone?

 

Hope you guys are feeling better!

[Nokin]

Another leftie underwriter here......

 

Paper placed straight in front of me.....no need to turn paper.....

 

Think this works well for writing, no smearing as I write a line of text.....

 

Can see clearly what I'm writing.....

 

Why would you want your paper turned at funny angle and have to look at your writing sideways?

 

This approach avoids 'hooking' your hand in a funny position as I see overwriters do.....can't be good for your hand/wrist muscles and nerves.......

 

Have found the underwriting approach to be the most relaxing for my hand/wrist....

 

Just my 2¢........

 

Mark

+1. All of the above works for me too. As a 'leftie underwriter' I never have any smudging of ink or other problems. Oh, and I tend to prefer very broad, wet nibs!

[AndrewC]

That complete sideways thing looks like a way to soften the "hook". And if it is working, good for you! I was the kind of lefty who ran his hand right through the line just written. Took a month or two of practice and then I was able to write underhanded. I was really lucky when I was a kid. My teacher noticed I was a lefty and slanting the page the same as the rightie, and she came over and showed me how to do it right, er, I mean left.

[ArchiMark]

Guess all of this illustrates the point, 'different strokes for different folks', as they said in the '70's.......

 

[william2001]

I am also a lefty fountain pen user. I don't know about the starter pens, but my Parker Sonnet F nib and Montblanc LeGrand Medium nib works just fine. I'm not trying to show off or anything, but using these fountain pens made my handwriting one of the best at my school. Of course, you must practice.

-William S. Park

 

P.S. Lefties are cool.

Edited April 11, 2015 by william2001

[PenJockey]

Guess all of this illustrates the point, 'different strokes for different folks', as they said in the '70's.......

 

After everything I have learned in this thread that is probably one of the most important lesson. It seems that each lefty writer has a different style that helps them. There have been lots of helpful tips throughout this thread that we have looked at. Now that he is feeling better I am going to show him all of the different ways that lefties write and let him loose. I think supporting him in finding HIS way and helping with all of your tips will help him the most.

 

He is very excited by all of the different choices of pens. He's wants to work really hard with his handwriting so he can pick out a new fountain pen. I now have a ton of choices of pens to help a lefty that he gets to pick from.

 

FPN ROCKS!! You guys are awesome!

[fireant]

Now that he is feeling better I am going to show him all of the different ways that lefties write and let him loose. I think supporting him in finding HIS way and helping with all of your tips will help him the most.

 

 

 

Especially the one where you stand on your head...that's helped me immensely!!

[sidthecat]

I second the Pilot Prera: it's very easy to pull ink out of it and the demonstrators are very attractive. I've used everything to write and draw with; as an animator one becomes a pencil obsessive and many of us are still sitting on boxes of Tombows hoarded at a time when the company threatened to stop selling them in the U.S.

In art school I used crow quills, art nibs and technical pens. All sorts of pencils, charcoals, chalks and once or twice an inked twig.

If your lefty kid likes to draw, he'll have a better experience with pens because he'll be able to use any angle he's comfortable with. Just steer him away from animation because it's a tiny industry and too many colleges offer useless programs.