What Does Your Handwriting Look Like

[Miles R.]

I am completely new to this forum, but I have been lurking for a few weeks. I was recently inspired to improve my handwriting. It has been terrible my whole life. After reading one article, I realized that no one had taken the time to teach me properly. After reading and trying several methods, I've spent several hours over the past few weeks practising. I even ordered a fountain pen because it forces me to hold the pen correctly! I'm loving it! Remember, this is a work in progress, but here is a sample after just a couple of weeks!

 

Go, you! :clap1:

 

Edited to add: Since you are engaged in self-instruction, I hope you won't mind my trying to steer you on to the course of spelling the word "definitely" correctly. It does not contain the letter "a," contrary to what a great many people seem to think.

Edited March 25, 2012 by Miles R.

[IdahoSage]

Go, you! :clap1:

 

Edited to add: Since you are engaged in self-instruction, I hope you won't mind my trying to steer you on to the course of spelling the word "definitely" correctly. It does not contain the letter "a," contrary to what a great many people seem to think.

 

Spell check came out when I was in 6th grade. I think that was a 7th grade vocabulary word.

[byronss]

I like your writing; It has a very nice personal touch to it and it makes me happy looking at it:D What is the ink called?

 

 

Nice of you to say! It's a very ordinary Stypen cartridge in brown and the pen could have been a cheapie Stypen as well. Out of 20 Stypens I buy off eBay every few years, i'll find one that is perfect for me and I throw away the rest. I love browns, greys and muted purples and muted dark green as colours - most of these inks are Noodlers (too lazy to go downstairs to my office to find the exact colour names).

[whitelily]

Thank you! :-)

[Scrawler]

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx153/FPWriter/writing_sample.jpg

[egretsrus]

My everyday cursive supersized... so please pardon the shakiness, as I am not used to writing this large, but I thought it necessary to make it legible. There are 5mm between the lines in the paper, and my normal flex cursive has miniscule a's and c's only 2.5mm to 3mm in height. Absent flex, I regularly post a mere millimetre or so of height for those letters as, well, I detest wasting paper.

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7250/6864387866_747d607ee3_c.jpg

Daily Writer in Large by Kyouju-san, on Flickr

More photos, please :clap1: this is lovely!

[benazeer]

I'm another new member. Hi!

 

My parents taught me to print before I entered school, and I honestly cannot remember not being able to read or print. I learned to write cursive in first grade and in third grade, we were given instruction in a basic Italic calligraphy hand. I learned the forms, but alas, was never taught the proper way to hold the pen or move my arm. After some serious problems with tendonitis, I learned that I both type and write incorrectly, using my fingers instead of my wrists and arms! So, I've started trying to unlearn thirty years of bad writing habits.

 

Here are three samples as a baseline. I find that I get bored with copying out practice lines, but when I was learning to touchtype I practiced with transcribing song lyrics, which worked well. The lines below are from songs by S.J. Tucker, and I'm pretty sure this constitutes fair use under US copyright law for sharing the lyrics since only a tiny fraction of the words are reported below. (I also missed many many lines, so the below paragraphs are not a full verse!)

 

The top paragraph is with a Brause Steno nib, which feels really flexy to me, in a generic pen holder, with ink that is labeled only as "Encre Violette." The lower paragraph is written with a .3mm drafting pencil. Both sections were written for speed, not form.

 

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/9924/baseline.jpg

Lady on the road not afraid to let go

Not about to let go this road at least until I know

I will break your hungry heart and leave you alone just because I can

While I take each mile of road as much as I can get

Lady Vagabond has rise and come into her own

 

You ask me if I'm lonely well I haven't felt it yet

The open road is home

Hai yi yi the open road is home

The open road is home

Hai yi yi yi

I sent my melody lying around and back to chase its tail

My voice will never fail

My life will never fail

A heart that's full can never fail

 

(From "Lady Vagabond" by S.J. Tucker

 

And the following sample is a page of trying very hard to maintain good form and write with the big muscles in my arm instead of with my fingers. Same pen and ink as the above. This is my first attempt at writing correctly, although I did write it after two pages of practicing lines and ovals with good form.

 

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9823/practicep.jpg

 

I learned to roll (and tumble with the punches)

Maybe anyplace outside of Wonderland is not for me.

This story is not for anyone else to tell

The truth comes down in riddles

Nobody believes him to this day

If you find it in your dreams you can find it in your day job

Is it the strips or (the spots you see)

The world is never as mad as it could be

If I leave my grin behind remind me that we're all mad here and it's okay

(From "Cheshire Kitten" by S.J. Tucker)

 

 

I'd appreciate any critique or advice you can offer. I know I have difficulty maintaining a consistent slant, and I'm really not happy with my "T"s, either lower or upper case.

Edited March 28, 2012 by benazeer

[georges zaslavsky]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/georges2/sheaffercrestoversizevacfillpenmanship.jpg

[grout]

I found some old college notebooks while attempting to organize and discovered that my handwriting is a bit Jekyll & Hyde I think I owe an apology to the professors who had the misfortune of having to grade my exams!

 

This is what my notes looked like:

http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o511/jarofsole/PrintCollege2-1.jpg

 

 

And this is what my poor professors had to read on my exams:

http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o511/jarofsole/PrintCollegeBluebook3-1.jpg

[sirShiggy]

I've once again decided to improve my handwriting, and I want to start a thread for it, I'm new here, so tell me, is penmanship the right board?

[Scrawler]

I've once again decided to improve my handwriting, and I want to start a thread for it, I'm new here, so tell me, is penmanship the right board?

Welcome and yes it is.

[Fountain Pen Social Studies Teacher]

I'm new to FPN, but not fountain pens. I've been using various fountain pens since I started writing love letters to my then fiancé (now wife) in 2006 with a Levenger True Writer broad nib (I now own 7 fountain pens of various manufacture). I really enjoyed going through this thread - there is some truly remarkable penmanship here. Through the thread, I didn't catch any books/training guides on better handwriting. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Thanks so much and happy writing!

 

Cheers,

Ryan

[grout]

I'm new to FPN, but not fountain pens. I've been using various fountain pens since I started writing love letters to my then fiancé (now wife) in 2006 with a Levenger True Writer broad nib (I now own 7 fountain pens of various manufacture). I really enjoyed going through this thread - there is some truly remarkable penmanship here. Through the thread, I didn't catch any books/training guides on better handwriting. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Thanks so much and happy writing!

 

Cheers,

Ryan

 

I think the first 2 pinned posts in the Penmanship forum list recommended books/websites on improving handwriting. I was also surprised and happy to find books on calligraphy and handwriting at my local library.

[sirShiggy]

Here's mine, go ahead, be harsh, I can take it

Just in my defence, I was working at my desk, which is covered in stuff, so it was hard to get the right angle, also, I'm left-handed (Not an excuse, just trying to explain if there's a funny slant.

[Flake]

http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx153/FPWriter/writing_sample.jpg

 

This is much lovelier than I would have expected with a story like that. My grandfather was in a similar boat, he was supposed to have been left handed and his handwriting was never legible.

[Scrawler]

<snip>

 

This is much lovelier than I would have expected with a story like that. My grandfather was in a similar boat, he was supposed to have been left handed and his handwriting was never legible.

That is very nice of you to say so, but you can see why I have my name. I am likely in the same age range as your grandfather. In those days we learned to write with a steel nib on a stick, and there was a belief that left handers (sinister) people were in some way evil. Some teachers were highly motivated to beat that devil out of us, so they did things like tie the left hand to my belt and beat me when I accepted a pen with my left hand. They also later mocked me for having poor hand writing. I have always been motivated to try and make my writing legible and I still flinch when I try to pick up a pen with my left hand, so I never did go back to being fully left handed, even after leaving school. My daughter is left handed too, but was left to develop as such, and now has beautiful hand writing.

[inkwritingman]

I like this thread soooo much. I like to see all this great looking handwriting samples. So inspiring !

 

 

Here is my handwriting:

 

 

 

[sunnydelish]

On a standard composition notebook and it's cheap paper. Using a Pilot VP with a "Binderized" nib with Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Gaki Ink.

[AlexLeGrande]

Sheaffer Targa, fine, Private Reserve Black Cherry

[Fountain Pen Social Studies Teacher]

I'm new to FPN, but not fountain pens. I've been using various fountain pens since I started writing love letters to my then fiancé (now wife) in 2006 with a Levenger True Writer broad nib (I now own 7 fountain pens of various manufacture). I really enjoyed going through this thread - there is some truly remarkable penmanship here. Through the thread, I didn't catch any books/training guides on better handwriting. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Thanks so much and happy writing!

 

Cheers,

Ryan

 

I think the first 2 pinned posts in the Penmanship forum list recommended books/websites on improving handwriting. I was also surprised and happy to find books on calligraphy and handwriting at my local library.

 

I'll check it out. Thanks!