Handwriting improvement

[HDoug]

caliken, thanks for the encouragement. I blush!

 

Approximately, what is the x height?

 

The "a" in "dance" (in the second example) is 1.5mm as far as I can tell.

 

Doug

 

- Thank you. That is very small. Great to see the "before and after" shots. Good inspiration for someone who just started out with italic.

 

I was using the WRONG side of the ruler. The "a" is actually a full 2mm, maybe even a bit more. Sorry!

 

Doug

[hlyuqi]

I want to konw if there is any books about how to write Copperplate ? If so,how can I buy them?

And now I find my nib can not write smoothly(Sorry I don't konw if I've expressed it correctly,my Grammer is poor..),so I also want to know where can I buy some better nibs and pen holders?

I would appreciate it if you could give me some advice.

 

I buy most of my supplies from www.blotspens.co.uk and www.scribblers.co.uk in England, or from www.paperinkarts.com and www.johnnealbooks.com in the United States.

 

I bought a few excellent wooden oblique penholders and nibs from Paper Ink Arts. I mostly use Gillot 303, Leonardt Principal EF, or Hunt 101 nibs with Higgins Eternal black ink.

 

"Mastering Copperplate" by Eleanor Winters is probably the best book currently available, but my favourite book is still "Copperplate Calligraphy" by Dick Jackson. It's been out of print for some time but you can still occasionally find a copy on eBay. "The Universal Penman" by George Bickham shows the ideal Copperplate forms and no one with an interest in this style of script, should be without it.

 

If it's your intention to write attractively with a flexible nib, then I wouldn't change a thing. Your writing looks great - evenly balanced on the page and very easy to read with full control over the nib.

If however, you want to get as close as possible to the ideal of the Copperplate engravings in "The Universal Penman" then there are a couple of things I'd like to mention. Please remember that you did ask for advice!

I've take the liberty of reproducing one of your letters (on the left) for comparison with an eighteenth century exemplar.

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd289/caliken_2007/Hitches800.jpg

 

I know that they look a bit hairy due to the huge enlargement!

 

Copperplate shades are as parallel and as straight as possible. In the example on the right, you can see that as soon as the hairline turns into a shaded downstroke, it straightens out immediately and stays parallel down to the foot of the stroke. Similarly the compound downstroke which forms the second part of the letter, is straight for as long as possible.

Also, these downstroke are the same weight as each other. This discipline applies throughout a piece of Copperplate text and is one of the factors which make it so attractive.

Spencerian Script is entirely the opposite and staight, parallel strokes are avoided. In your 'h' the strokes are Spencerian in character with the gradual increase of width in the main downstroke and the curving swell in the compound curve. Also, the shaded strokes are considerably heavier than the examnple on the right - another characteristic of Spencerian. Copperplate is written at a slope of 55 degrees from the horizontal, yours is 48 degrees. Your compound-curve hairline branches off from the main downstroke very low, as does Spencerian.

 

As I said earlier, none of this matters in the slightest if your intention is to write an individual hand with a flexible nib - your writing already looks super as it is!

 

I hope that I haven't seemed too critical and that this is of some help!

 

caliken

 

 

 

 

Ken

 

Thank you very much for your reply.Now I'm very busy so I can't reply quickly.

this is my newest writing, I hope you can look at them and point out my fault:

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x469/hlyuqi/fpn2.jpg(the marked "don't"'s n is better, isn't it?)

 

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x469/hlyuqi/fpn1.jpg(I bought some new hunt nibs)

[CatBookMom]

I've been practicing a lot, and feeling a great deal of frustration in trying to develop a good cursive italic handwriting. I guess I'm a slow learner; I just don't seem to be able to get the right shape. One of the FPN members has an avatar of a person hitting his head against a wall; that's what I'm feeling. :bonk:

Anyway, here are a couple of my most recent efforts. I would love your suggestions as to what I need to change.

 

title="writing sample1 22811 by CatBookMom Pix, on Flickr"

 

 

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5093/5494728429_a6f66c0377_z.jpg

This was written with 1.5 and 1.9mm nibs.

 

I'm sorry to only give links; somehow I can't get my pictures from Flickr to post - any tips?

 

Edited to add emoticon and the other sample. Thanks, SMK!

Edited March 3, 2011 by CatBookMom

[smk]

I've been practicing a lot, and feeling a great deal of frustration in trying to develop a good cursive italic handwriting. I guess I'm a slow learner; I just don't seem to be able to get the right shape. One of the FPN members has an avatar of a person hitting his head against a wall; that's what I'm feeling. Anyway, here are a couple of my most recent efforts. I would love your suggestions as to what I need to change.

 

title="writing sample1 22811 by CatBookMom Pix, on Flickr"

 

 

I'm sorry to only give links; somehow I can't get my pictures from Flickr to post - any tips?

 

I think you have already developed a nice italic cursive hand. A few very simple adjustments will make it exceptional e.g.

 

* Uniform slant - look at the letters with ascenders and descenders, are they uniform in their slant? Look at the 'F' in Four and 'd' in the 'Four score and...' example. After you get the longer letters uniform, pay the same attention to the smaller ones i.e. the ones without ascenders or descenders.

 

* Uniform size - look at the word 'score', the 'o' is smaller than the rest of the alphabets that make up the word.

 

Some of your letters are rather pointy for italic e.g. the m, n and h, but you can keep that if you like the look of them. This is your individual hand after all.

 

I think the best practice for you at present would be to reduce the speed of your writing and pay more attention to form. You'll gain back the speed in no time with the correct letter forms.

 

I'll be looking forward to the updates.

 

To link the picture just right click on the picture in Flickr and copy the image address (link) and paste it in the dialog you get from the 'Insert Image' icon on top of the editor. I've linked one of your images here:

 

Good luck with your practice.

 

Salman

 

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5215/5495320240_9ef485a7a2_o.jpg

[CatBookMom]

I think you have already developed a nice italic cursive hand. A few very simple adjustments will make it exceptional e.g.

 

* Uniform slant - look at the letters with ascenders and descenders, are they uniform in their slant? Look at the 'F' in Four and 'd' in the 'Four score and...' example. After you get the longer letters uniform, pay the same attention to the smaller ones i.e. the ones without ascenders or descenders.

 

* Uniform size - look at the word 'score', the 'o' is smaller than the rest of the alphabets that make up the word.

 

Some of your letters are rather pointy for italic e.g. the m, n and h, but you can keep that if you like the look of them. This is your individual hand after all.

 

I think the best practice for you at present would be to reduce the speed of your writing and pay more attention to form. You'll gain back the speed in no time with the correct letter forms.

 

I'll be looking forward to the updates.

 

To link the picture just right click on the picture in Flickr and copy the image address (link) and paste it in the dialog you get from the 'Insert Image' icon on top of the editor. I've linked one of your images here:

 

Good luck with your practice.

 

Salman

 

 

 

Thank you. Your comments are just the sort of guidance I was hoping for; when I look at the writing, I get lost a bit and can't see it objectively. I will slow down, and persevere.

 

And about the photos - right-clicking wasn't one of the several things I tried, though I did check the FPN help section, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with my file type.

Edited March 3, 2011 by CatBookMom

[thebestnoobcake]

This is my first try (today) using a flex (actually semi-flex) pen.

The hand is some sort of Victorian cursive which I use.

 

 

The reason for the wonky writing is that I'm using a sheet with guidelines under the paper. It kept on moving around while writing =[ How do you guys get all your writing to line up so nicely?

 

Otherwise, my writing is usually like this.

 

[rfranca]

After quite a lot of practice this is my first try on a more serious calligraphy letter.

It's a letter to my Grandmother telling her the name of her next great grandson (our first and her third).

 

a used a manuscript pen set and the ink that came with it on florentia paper.

 

it's been near a mission impossible to improve my handwriting. I guess the letter turned out OK (My wife thinks it looks great), but it's very far from what I wanted it to be.

It also took hours to complete.

 

It's terrible hard for me to keep the letters uniform (both slant and size). I used a guideline paper. It helped but performed no miracle.

 

suggestions and criticisms are always welcomed

 

 

 

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5095/5505918263_bbd1dc56c4.jpg

[psychdude]

Calligrapher I am not, that is clear. However, I feel it is at least a little neater now. About a year and a half of not-practicing-handwriting-but-still-being-mindful-of-the-fact-that-no-one-could-read-my-chicken-scratch-before. This is just everyday, top speed, not worried terribly about neatness writing. My "worried about neatness" writing isn't much better, I'm afraid.

Edited March 7, 2011 by psychdude

[CatBookMom]

Lovely! How thoughtful of you to send such a pretty letter along with your happy news. Your work is much more uniform than my efforts.

Edited March 7, 2011 by CatBookMom

[Bronze]

- After posting in the What Does Your Handwriting Look Like thread I thought I should post here as well, showing some before and after shots. I realize there is still much work to be done, and I'll post again when further improvements have been made.

 

I would like to thank Caliken, HDoug, Katim and others here for the inspiration! I could not believe my eyes when I first found this forum and looked at Caliken's italic writing. That surely sparked an interest in handwriting. First I simply wanted to improve my handwriting a bit, but then I soon fell in love with italic.

 

My practice has been rather sporadic and most of it has been done the last few months. It's a very enjoyable process.

 

 

Before:

 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm118/DrBronze/DSC_0637.jpg

 

 

As it is now:

 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm118/DrBronze/DSC_0636.jpg

[CatBookMom]

 

 

I would like to thank Caliken, HDoug, Katim and others here for the inspiration! I could not believe my eyes when I first found this forum and looked at Caliken's italic writing. That surely sparked an interest in handwriting. First I simply wanted to improve my handwriting a bit, but then I soon fell in love with italic.

 

 

Lovely! Such an improvement, and a wonderful new hand, so consistent and attractive! :clap1:

Edited March 16, 2011 by CatBookMom

[rfranca]

- After posting in the What Does Your Handwriting Look Like thread I thought I should post here as well, showing some before and after shots. I realize there is still much work to be done, and I'll post again when further improvements have been made.

 

I would like to thank Caliken, HDoug, Katim and others here for the inspiration! I could not believe my eyes when I first found this forum and looked at Caliken's italic writing. That surely sparked an interest in handwriting. First I simply wanted to improve my handwriting a bit, but then I soon fell in love with italic.

 

My practice has been rather sporadic and most of it has been done the last few months. It's a very enjoyable process.

 

 

Your italic looks great.

I hope to get there some day

[CatBookMom]

After the advice I had from Salman (smk) a few days ago, I've been focusing on my slant and size of letters. I have a ways to go to get the forms to be more consistent with the models - and Bronze's lovely work! - but I think I'm showing some improvement. Here are samples with (black ink., Parker Duofold) and without (green ink, Lamy Al-Star M) italic nibs

 

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5211/5530988704_d2b3250226.jpg

 

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5296/5530404017_f639434edb.jpg Seems like I put this one into the scanner a bit crooked; check the lines, plz. And apologies for misspelling 'trespassed'

Edited March 16, 2011 by CatBookMom

[GClef]

That's Barney, as in the purple dinosaur...

[smk]

I think I'm showing some improvement.

 

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

These are both very nice examples. The one with the Lamy (in green ink) is particularly nice. You should be well pleased with this hand.

 

Salman

[texaspenman]

My handwriting as of March. Haven't been getting enough practice in, I'm afraid...

 

[CatBookMom]

That's Barney, as in the purple dinosaur...

 

Lovely! Did you write that in Purple ink? I particularly like the elegant capitals

Edited March 16, 2011 by CatBookMom

[CatBookMom]

I think I'm showing some improvement.

 

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

These are both very nice examples. The one with the Lamy (in green ink) is particularly nice. You should be well pleased with this hand.

 

Salman

 

 

Thank you. Your advice has been so helpful, and I am finding a bit more speed along with more consistency, as you suggested would come.

 

And then I came across this ink review, and it has also been inspiring, keeping me at my practice.

[GClef]

[My handwriting as of March. Haven't been getting enough practice in, I'm afraid...

 

 

Whoa...when I see flowing lines, I just have to read it.

I try to turn my head away, but I can't.

I'd like to see the illustration on the second page.

Edited March 23, 2011 by GClef

[GClef]

That's Barney, as in the purple dinosaur...

 

Lovely! Did you write that in Purple ink? I particularly like the elegant capitals

 

Thank you, I try to work on my letters at least a few minutes everyday.

That's Noodler's Ink American Eel Blue.