(Re)Learning Cursive (And Handwriting In General)

[kingcobradude]

For a little background on my handwriting. To start with, its terrible. (Teachers in high school said I should become a doctor because of how bad it is. I only write in print. I learned cursive in 3rd grade, was required to write in cursive in 4th grade, then never touched it again. Not that anyone could ever read my cursive to begin with. (The fact I hated handwriting didn't help any of it). Now I am to the point where I struggle to read even textbook perfect script. (Nobody I communicate with through handwriting writes in cursive either). I have decided I want to learn Spencerian script, along with italic, and to relearn print in a neater hand, either humanist and/or a basic gothic.

 

I am looking for learning aids for these. Preferably nothing too expensive, and ideally something online. Any advice?

[Uncial]

You can buy Spencerian workbooks which sometimes show up on ebay. Best advice is to be disciplined in practice and work at relaxing the hand and grip and slow down.

[countrydirt]

I would suggest starting with italic and then, later, you can move to Spencerian. Italic letterforms can be joined up quite easily to form a very legible cursive and can be written at a decent speed. Here is a link to one such italic site online https://www.calligraphy-skills.com/italic-lettering.html

[BaronWulfraed]

<shudder> A two-stroke with pen lift lowercase "b"? Four strokes to make a lowercase "f"! (That site, after a quick glance, appears to never "push" the pen, and even upstrokes are only the diagonal-right) Maybe for a formal/calligraphic italic with a broad-edged pen.

 

For routine writing the italic letter-forms in Getty-Dubay or Eager might be recommended (the former doesn't even introduce an edged nib until late in the common book, and not at all in the K-6 workbook set).

[kingcobradude]

Unical- thanks, I will look for some online.

 

Countrydirt- thanks for the advice I agree with baron on the never push the pen/multiple strokes part, plus the italic tutorial is missing the capitals. but i like the tutorial they have on gothic blackletter.

 

Baron- I have to agree with your statement. But what is Getty-dubay and eager?

 

Thanks for the advice so far. Any online tutorials for spencerian and humanist?

[kingcobradude]

Edited due to accidental double post

Edited August 19, 2019 by EpicDragon7

[D B Holtz]

The original Spencerian textbooks are available at:

 

https://www.iampeth.com/pdf/compendium-spencerian-or-semi-angular-penmanship

 

https://www.iampeth.com/pdf/new-spencerian-compendium

 

I liked the New Compendium better, but that's just me; both are useful. The IAMPETH website has many other books and examples under the Resources/Rare Books tab.

 

HTH,

DB

[D B Holtz]

I also dug through my files. Here are some guidesheets that I found useful.

 

DB

Spencerian 8 per inch.ppt

Spencerian 9 per inch.ppt

Spencerian 10 per inch.ppt

SpencerianSlant2.pdf

[Karmachanic]

Rather than attempting to go from 0 to 100 all in one go I suggest starting with Improve Your Hand-Writing By Rosemary Sasoon and Gunnlaugur Se Briem. This will get you to a legible script. Then move on to one of the formal hands.

Edited August 19, 2019 by Karmachanic

[BaronWulfraed]

Baron- I have to agree with your statement. But what is Getty-dubay and eager?

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Write-Now-Complete-Self-teaching-Handwriting/dp/0876780893/ (they also produce a multi-volume set for Kindergarten through 6th grade https://handwritingsuccess.com/ )

 

https://www.amazon.com/Italic-Way-Beautiful-Handwriting-Calligraphic/dp/1626540381 (Wow -- I apparently have a copy of the 1967 edition based upon what shows up when searching Amazon for "fred eager")

 

Eager is focused on use of flat nibs and a more formal italic; Getty-Dubay uses italic letter forms but reserve flat nibs for the third section of the book. Both books cover a calligraphic/print form and a cursive form -- but emphasize that the base letter shapes don't change, going from print to cursive is just adding joins between some letter pairs (not all combinations have joins, unlike the hand-writing commonly taught in the past).

Edited August 19, 2019 by BaronWulfraed

[kingcobradude]

https://www.amazon.com/Write-Now-Complete-Self-teaching-Handwriting/dp/0876780893/ (they also produce a multi-volume set for Kindergarten through 6th grade https://handwritingsuccess.com/ )

 

https://www.amazon.com/Italic-Way-Beautiful-Handwriting-Calligraphic/dp/1626540381 (Wow -- I apparently have a copy of the 1967 edition based upon what shows up when searching Amazon for "fred eager")

 

Eager is focused on use of flat nibs and a more formal italic; Getty-Dubay uses italic letter forms but reserve flat nibs for the third section of the book. Both books cover a calligraphic/print form and a cursive form -- but emphasize that the base letter shapes don't change, going from print to cursive is just adding joins between some letter pairs (not all combinations have joins, unlike the hand-writing commonly taught in the past).

Ok thanks.

[kealani]

For a little background on my handwriting. To start with, its terrible. (Teachers in high school said I should become a doctor because of how bad it is. I only write in print. I learned cursive in 3rd grade, was required to write in cursive in 4th grade, then never touched it again. Not that anyone could ever read my cursive to begin with. (The fact I hated handwriting didn't help any of it). Now I am to the point where I struggle to read even textbook perfect script. (Nobody I communicate with through handwriting writes in cursive either). I have decided I want to learn Spencerian script, along with italic, and to relearn print in a neater hand, either humanist and/or a basic gothic.

 

I am looking for learning aids for these. Preferably nothing too expensive, and ideally something online. Any advice?

 

Sulls course book (large ring bound folder) "American Cursive".

Do the whole thing, step by step.

Patience.

Practice.

After 1 year there will be a difference.

Edited September 29, 2019 by AlohaJim