Cursive Lowercase "r"

[caliken]

I find it incredible that one lonely, minuscule letter can arouse such interest - 19,640 views in the last six months!!

 

If the same interest was shown in the rest of the 26 letters, this would result in a total of more than half a million views!!!

 

Ken

Edited July 23, 2014 by Ken Fraser

[puppydawg]

i voted for #2. In the real world, it's almost always some variation of that - it never comes out looking quite right, but i'm making some progress... some. that's the way i was taught in elementary school, and i'm pretty sure that my mother uses the same style of 'r', so i learned that style from two sides.

[EJKorvette]

I also voted for #2 because it's the closest to how I write my lower case r. Actually mine looks more like the Cyrillic letter Π than a classic cursive "r" but most people can read it.

[SkylarKnight]

I voted 2, although I am practicing to use the other variant of that, the one with the loop. The #2 variant is something I can never, ever understand, and is really hard for me to read, as well. Atm, if I don't pay attention to how I write, my r will look like a skinny V with a small line to the side

[Downcelot]

I voted 2, although I am practicing to use the other variant of that, the one with the loop. The #2 variant is something I can never, ever understand, and is really hard for me to read, as well. Atm, if I don't pay attention to how I write, my r will look like a skinny V with a small line to the side

 

I vote for 2 as well because it is kinda preparing your hand for proper Copperplate and Spencerian if you ever want to learn them later on. Because of college fast note taking, I've been writing 'r' - 1 style for a long long time due to the fact that it was a faster option and easier to read in small writing. However, I now need to re-do the bad habit to properly learn calligraphy.

 

In small hand writing though, I agree that it is quite tricky to write '2' nice and clean, especially when speed is needed. Time to time, i find myself with a notebook just write down "r" continuously like i was in elementary school.

[Vlad Soare]

Variant #2 is what I was taught in school, and what I always use. However, in practice I can never make it so beautiful when writing at normal speed. Mine usually looks like an upside down u, unless I take the time to draw it really slowly and consciously. I find it the most difficult letter to write in cursive script.

[sean1e]

Here are five letters 'r' which are currently in fairly common use.

 

 

 

That's really helpful... I always feel like a bit of a failure when I try to do my r's in spencerian / #2 in the original image so it's nice to know its "ok" to go for the "classic" lower case r

[GTVi]

I notice you have two different types of "d"s. I tend to do the same.

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Tutuguans/IMAG0107-1_zps555984ad.jpg

 

 

Edited August 30, 2014 by GTVi

[GClef]

I notice you have two different types of "d"s. I tend to do the same.

 

And two different "t"s as well.

[AllenG]

And two different "t"s as well.

Same here. I use the alternate forms for ending (and one beginning) letters. Edited August 31, 2014 by AllenG

[AllenG]

Has anyone else noticed that this thread spontaneously bumps itself to the top?

[GClef]

I think that happens whenever someone votes in the poll.

[AllenG]

Ah. That makes sense.

[knarflj]

I'm so glad you mentioned that: I've been wondering about it for months, and could never figure out why!

[Vlad Soare]

I'm curios, how did variant #2 emerge? It bears no resemblance to a printed r, neither uppercase nor lowercase.

[TXKat]

My teaching showed us how to write as in the Spencerian style above, but the diagrams we followed (the green chalkboard representation cards with white letters on each card above the chalk board) also showed an example very similar to the English Roundhand above. As a young person, I always wrote more closely to the Spencerian, but as I got older (hey, not THAT old) I started to migrate more toward the Copperplate example which is where I believe gawain3's also fall.

 

Those are fantastic examples, Ken. I don't write Italic often, but the other 4 examples have been common for me at one point or another. At the moment I'm leaning toward the left side.

[ekmoore]

While the origin of my "r" is #2, it has softened into an awful parabola - no edges, utterly round, and sometimes indistinguishable from an 'n' or half of an 'm'.

 

Which is to say, there's a reason I'm in the penmanship forum, and it's not to dole out advice.

[Venemo]

I guess which one you choose depends on the place you were taught to write. Where I live, (1) is the most common, and I hardly ever see (2) personally.

[PiperCub49]

I'm always working on consistency with this letter.

[Vlad Soare]

Thanks for posting this picture. That's exactly the form I've learned in school, with that loop in the upper left corner.

I wonder how they came up with this strange form, considering it doesn't resemble a printed r at all, be it upper or lower case.

Edited October 4, 2014 by Vlad Soare