Fingers, Hands, and Shoulders (Knees and Toes!)

[Hobo Bob]

Hi,

In my self-guided instruction, I've come across some conflicting information. The essential question is this: Am I supposed to form the letters with my fingers, or draw them with hand motions, or use the shoulder girdle to draw the letters?

In Learn Calligraphy (which I recommend as a fun way to learn calligraphica), Ms. Margaret Shepherd tells us that finger motions make small letters on a flat writing surface, hand motions make medium size letters on an inclined writing surface, and arm motions make large letters writing on the wall. She also notes that Italic should be made with finger motions in most cases. My high school calligraphy club teacher also claims that the whole shoulder girdle business is, to mince his words, horse puckey.

However, various other resources (paperpenalia.com and James Pickering are what comes to mind) tell me to use the whole arm and shoulder girdle.

What should I use, and when?

-Hobo Bob

[BMWRT]

It is hard to explain but I kinds use my shoulder girdle and arm

[BillTheEditor]

In my experience, you use everything from your fingers to your shoulders. I've never seen anyone write a tiny italic "a" or "o" using only arm and shoulder movement. Not saying it can't be done, but it wouldn't be very practical to keep that up. In the same way, I can't imagine making a long or flourished ascender or descender using fingers alone -- you simply don't have the scope of movement in fingers with hand fixed in position to do the job.

 

Additionally, in certain calligraphic styles (Mercator-style italic, uncial lettering, to name two), you must use your fingers to manipulate the nib at the beginning and end of strokes. There's no other way to pull out the tail of K, for example.

 

Margaret Shepherd is right to separate things by context (in my opinion, not that I am in any way qualified to judge a master), although in doing so I can't help but feel that she is over-simplifying things a bit. Also, I always found it extremely tiring and hard on the eyes to work on a flat surface. My advice would be to always work on an inclined surface.

 

The main thing is to learn to relax your writing arm from the shoulder to the finger tips. The muscles should work together and without tension. Every bone, every joint in that chain should easily articulate in a way that enables the free movement of the hand and the nib. Learning to breathe properly while working helps a lot.

 

It's so much easier to do it than to describe it. If your arm gets tired after a few minutes of writing, you are doing something wrong. If your arm gets tired after a hour of work, you are only human and you need to take more frequent rest breaks to sit back and admire your work.

[*david*]

My opinion: the teachers who advise against "finger writing" should change their phrase slightly, and advise against "finger-ONLY writing". You do need to control the pen with your small finger muscles, while at the same time involving your larger muscles. Large muscles give the large-scale control required for writing on a consistent line with an even and predictable stroke, and small muscles are obviously required to produce fine details. Finger-only writing is unsteady and out of proportion, but arm-only writing is clumsy and uncontrolled.

[Richard]

My opinion: the teachers who advise against "finger writing" should change their phrase slightly, and advise against "finger-ONLY writing". You do need to control the pen with your small finger muscles, while at the same time involving your larger muscles.

Actually, you do not need to use your finger muscles for anything beyond cradling the pen (not grasping it firmly!). I was taught Palmer Method as a child, and the way Palmer works is that you imagine everything from the tip of the nib to your elbow as a solid piece of (very lightweight) cast iron. No motion is permitted from the elbow downward. Everything is done with the muscles of the upper arm and shoulders. If you will stop and think for a moment, when you were an elementary student you wrote at the blackboard in this manner, and -- surprise! -- your writing style was the same.

 

The other two American methods, Zanerian and Spencerian, allow for flexing the wrist a little, and this is the way I actually write these days, but there is still no finger motion. And there is no twisting or rotation of the wrist; the pen's attitude does not change relative to the paper as you progress across the line.

 

Writer's cramp? What's that?

Edited June 15, 2006 by Richard

[BillTheEditor]

you do not need to use your finger muscles for anything beyond cradling the pen

Richard, while I agree with you where English roundhand and the American handwriting styles you cite are concerned, I understood Hobo Bob to be asking about italic calligraphy, based on his reference of Margaret Shepard and his specific quote of her comment about italic letters.

 

Edged nib calligraphy works differently from calligraphic styles written with a flexible pointed nib, and from handwriting styles. You do keep the edge generally at a fixed angle to the line of writing, and you do use your arm. However, you are going to have to use your fingers at the beginning and end of certain strokes, and sometimes in the stroke itself, to get the effects and variations in line width that are required. This is particularly true if you are using a big old Coit or an "automatic" pen to make larger letters, but it is also the case with smaller nibs and even with quills.

 

See any of Arthur Baker's books on calligraphy in the Dover Pictorial Archive series, but particularly his Copybook of Renaissance calligraphy (Mercator's Italic hand), or his Chancery Cursive Stroke by Stroke.

[Richard]

Richard, while I agree with you where English roundhand and the American handwriting styles you cite are concerned, I understood Hobo Bob to be asking about italic calligraphy, based on his reference of Margaret Shepard and his specific quote of her comment about italic letters.

Oopsie. I knew I should have read more carefully. I was indeed addressing round hand, not edged-pen calligraphy. Sorry for the digression.

[Hobo Bob]

Thanks all,

I guess it really is about context. Thanks for everybody's advice. Now to practice! (Remember to breathe, relax your muscles, remember to breathe...)

-Hobo bob

[*david*]

Richard - I think really it's all about the same.

 

No good writer writes with dead fingers - look at your own signature for evidence!

 

Many bad writers, myself included, do tend to write with a dead arm, or maybe mis-using the arm as a body support. I need to learn to write mainly with my arm, rather than mainly with my fingers as I tend to do now.

 

Some teachers can do a passable imitation of "dead-fingers" writing, when they demonstrate so-called "proper technique" to their students - but they themselves don't write that way. Good writers, yourself included, have live, active fingers. In most styles, the fingers don't have much to do other than keep the pen steady - but they remain flexible and able to contribute, not like cast iron.

 

Whether it's a good idea to teach students "dead fingers" at first in order to encourage them to use their arms, (and it may very well be a good idea), I will leave up to the teachers among us.

[Gdr2004]

I had a question about the grip. I have a tendency to lock my fingers into place when I write. Should they be curved? This is a habit I've had since as far back as I can remember. Here's a picture to convey what I mean.

[Judybug]

Boy - oh - boy! This is bewildering. I'm trying to observe myself when I'm writing, and I can't tell what the heck I'm doing! :blink:

 

Judybug