Fun With Handwriting Practice

[ihtzazqamar]

Here is a practice sheet. Please look carefully and guide me to improve. It is fun to do practice.

 

[smk]

Ihtizaz - I have a couple of suggestions. Yours is a pleasing hand as it is but a couple of minor adjustments will pay significant dividends in my opinion.

 

First off, you will see an increase in legibility and aesthetics if you maintain the miniscule height. For example look at the loop of the 'p', it is almost always smaller than the rest of the letters, another instance is the word 'pen' in the second-last line, all three letters are different sizes.

 

Another thing I see is a tendency for the letters to bounce up and down withing the same word, this is clearly demonstrated in the word 'trying' in the second-last line.

 

A couple of sessions of ironing out these inconsistencies will show a tremendous improvement. You might want to try writing on a ruled paper with marking for the waist line (i.e. the top of the miniscules). Like the 4-line English notebooks we used to use in school but with a smaller x-height.

 

I hope I'm not out of line in my suggestions.

 

Regards,

Salman

[ihtzazqamar]

Ihtizaz - I have a couple of suggestions. Yours is a pleasing hand as it is but a couple of minor adjustments will pay significant dividends in my opinion.

 

First off, you will see an increase in legibility and aesthetics if you maintain the miniscule height. For example look at the loop of the 'p', it is almost always smaller than the rest of the letters, another instance is the word 'pen' in the second-last line, all three letters are different sizes.

 

Another thing I see is a tendency for the letters to bounce up and down withing the same word, this is clearly demonstrated in the word 'trying' in the second-last line.

 

A couple of sessions of ironing out these inconsistencies will show a tremendous improvement. You might want to try writing on a ruled paper with marking for the waist line (i.e. the top of the miniscules). Like the 4-line English notebooks we used to use in school but with a smaller x-height.

 

I hope I'm not out of line in my suggestions.

 

Regards,

Salman

 

Thanks Salman for taking time to analyze the sample. The points are understood and well taken. I will work on these. Just to defend myself a bit, the last lines were written with more speed. Thanks again.

 

Regards

Ihtzaz

[TheOriginalStevenH]

Here is my beginning handwriting practice

 

I'll do two a day. I found this old handwriting practice worksheet and am going to relearn the basics, I've already done a few but I'm going to go back and start over and see if improvement can be achieved.

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/318666_1774283536692_1827424180_1183346_1261938482_n.jpghttp://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/320423_1774283376688_1827424180_1183345_1086075381_n.jpg

[GhostShip Blue]

I am still here. Schedule has shifted so handwriting practice time is now get the kids ready for school time... Will work out a new routine over the course of the next week or so.

 

@ ihtzazqamar: Looks really good. I see smk's point about the "p" height, although the vertical stroke seems consistent with heights of the rest of the minuscule letters. Maybe a less drastic difference between the loop and initial down stroke? The "baseline bounce" is something I fight as well - if you hit on a magic cure for that, let me know. I love this hand though - this is what I want mine to grow up and look like.

[pmhudepo]

Here is a practice sheet. Please look carefully and guide me to improve. It is fun to do practice.

 

Ihtzaz: beautiful sample, I think your script has personality. Perhaps this is due to the fact that you're trying to gain speed with this type of writing. I like the idea of very light upstrokes -- I find my own writing more pleasing, less text book, if I write the ascenders and descenders a little quicker.

 

I agree with Salman's suggestions about consistent x-height. Particularly when writing on a guide sheet, I notice my writing can can have the same problem. A guide sheet is indeed a really useful tool to see which parts you need to work on.

[pmhudepo]

Here is my beginning handwriting practice

 

I'll do two a day. I found this old handwriting practice worksheet and am going to relearn the basics, I've already done a few but I'm going to go back and start over and see if improvement can be achieved.

 

Steven, a very nice start, I think. Good idea to start with the basics. I enjoy writing a page or two per session, using each letter of the alphabet to start an each word on a line with. It's not even boring, because I have to think of words, concentrate on letter forms, notice problems and try to fix them in the next word.

 

If you manage, over time, to write just a little smaller (like the separate letters 'b' on your sheet), or increase spacing just a bit, your hand should look quite pleasing.

 

A guide sheet can help with spacing, consistency etc. I like Achim's Spencerian sheet, although it uses quite a strong slant. GhostShip Blue also has some nice guide sheets with an easier slant for those use to writing more upright. I'm sure he'll mail them to you if you PM him.

 

I'm thinking of doing some exercises from Ames' Guide to Self-Instruction in Practical and Artistic Penmanship, as found on the IAMPETH website. They have more books in their section Rare Books.

[pmhudepo]

As for my own practice: I still sit down each morning and write. Yesterday, I started with "A dark Thursday morning," because it really was quite dark. However, it went downhill rather quickly from there and writing practice turned into journaling and working out some issues that are not related to handwriting at all. I have folded up the sheets and pasted them into my journal. Bit of a strange way to fill a Moleskine, but that's really the best place for those words.

 

So, no close-ups, just an overview:

 

 

 

Am going to think happy thoughts tomorrow morning

Edited September 9, 2011 by pmhudepo

[ihtzazqamar]

Thanks for the comments. I see that we need similar activation energies (sorry for the science term) to overcome these obstacles. But after that it is going to be very stable. We will guide and inspire each other and learn with fun.

 

Will post later in the evening.

 

Ihtzaz

[TheOriginalStevenH]

I'll take your suggestions in mind and try to write smaller. The size of the pen line might get in the way.

Here is my beginning handwriting practice

 

I'll do two a day. I found this old handwriting practice worksheet and am going to relearn the basics, I've already done a few but I'm going to go back and start over and see if improvement can be achieved.

 

Steven, a very nice start, I think. Good idea to start with the basics. I enjoy writing a page or two per session, using each letter of the alphabet to start an each word on a line with. It's not even boring, because I have to think of words, concentrate on letter forms, notice problems and try to fix them in the next word.

 

If you manage, over time, to write just a little smaller (like the separate letters 'b' on your sheet), or increase spacing just a bit, your hand should look quite pleasing.

 

A guide sheet can help with spacing, consistency etc. I like Achim's Spencerian sheet, although it uses quite a strong slant. GhostShip Blue also has some nice guide sheets with an easier slant for those use to writing more upright. I'm sure he'll mail them to you if you PM him.

 

I'm thinking of doing some exercises from Ames' Guide to Self-Instruction in Practical and Artistic Penmanship, as found on the IAMPETH website. They have more books in their section Rare Books.

[ihtzazqamar]

Here are a couple of sample sheets I did today. Taking on the advice given, today's practice is to maintain a consistent x height. In the left sheet I used a graph paper and then tried it with the 'waist' line in the right sheet. I have used all of inked pens to see the difference in nib points.

 

Green lines at the top: Sheaffer Calligraphy nib pen i.e. a stub nib

red lines: Sheaffer M nib

Turquoise lines: Parker 51... I think it is a medium nib

Blue-Black: My regular Pelikan M400, B nib

Black: Newly acquired Eversharp Symphony, XF flexible nib

Green at bottom: Flexible dip pen

 

My observations:

* This kind of excercise definitely helps. Note that I have included the alphabets which remain between base and waist lines.

* I tend to stay just a shade above the base line... I do not know why though.

* I still skip joins though less frequently.

* Fountain Pen movement mimicking a flex dip pen helps.

 

I hope this helps some of us. It has helped me.

 

Regards

Ihtzaz

 

[TheOriginalStevenH]

Ah I see, comparing my natural handwriting to this I see how this is cleaner because each letter is not of the wavering heights. I shall try that too

[ihtzazqamar]

Hello, here is what I finally prepared for this thread. I spend more time in copperplate practice using dip pens. I then try to port something to my fountain pen writing. I am sure to develop a hand which is more pleasing and consistent.

Having fun,

Ihtzaz

[GhostShip Blue]

Looking very nice there, ihtzaz. I love the influence of Copperplate that's so apparent in that sample.

@ TheOriginalStevenH: The threatened close up has arrived. Cautionary tale; Practice every day or else:

 

[ihtzazqamar]

GhostShipBlue: A good sample and nice handwriting. I see different pens (or nibs, I should say) in action. Which one you feel most comfortable with?

 

Here is another sample. I am fixed on the idea of writing a line in copperplate style, larger letters and then filling the page with normal writing taking clues from the first line.

 

Regards

Ihtzaz

 

[GhostShip Blue]

At the moment, my favorite pens are the Monteverde (bottom sample), the Parker Sonnet my wife bought me (not shown) and my Noodlers with the Esterbrook Medium Stub nib (also not shown).

 

The fine point in the center is my work pen, a Wing Sung 840 that should be a fine, but writes more like an XF. I use it a lot and, for $2.00, it's a really good value. The top sample is my Lamy with a 1.9mm italic nib. I love the Lamy but both the 1.5 and 1.9 are thick for my tastes. I think my plan is to get another Monteverde with a broad nib and send it out for a regrind. The top sample is either the Monteverde broad (which really write more like a slightly fat medium) or a Wing Sung 1040. I'm not sure why I keep buying Wing Sungs, but they're never terrible and always reasonably priced ao I can feel pretty good about abusing them at work. I bought one of the FPN Stipulas with a flex nib which will be my first flex when it arrives and I'm looking forward to that.

[ihtzazqamar]

I have used Wing Sung when I was in college. It is amazing they still produce. Several Chinese brands of that era, specially a brand called Kin Sin, are not available now.

[pmhudepo]

Ihtzaz, I think this is a wonderful writing sample. Great to see how you can maintain x-height when moving from a grid to ruled paper. I still find that quite difficult, though I do suspect some improvement in my own efforts. Love the results of the different pens -- especially the stubs and dip pen. Your Pelikan M400 B seems like a great every day writer, judging by this sample.

 

Just a touch more consistency and refinement and I would say that it's finished

 

Patrick

 

 

Here are a couple of sample sheets I did today. Taking on the advice given, today's practice is to maintain a consistent x height. In the left sheet I used a graph paper and then tried it with the 'waist' line in the right sheet. I have used all of inked pens to see the difference in nib points.

 

Green lines at the top: Sheaffer Calligraphy nib pen i.e. a stub nib

red lines: Sheaffer M nib

Turquoise lines: Parker 51... I think it is a medium nib

Blue-Black: My regular Pelikan M400, B nib

Black: Newly acquired Eversharp Symphony, XF flexible nib

Green at bottom: Flexible dip pen

 

My observations:

* This kind of excercise definitely helps. Note that I have included the alphabets which remain between base and waist lines.

* I tend to stay just a shade above the base line... I do not know why though.

* I still skip joins though less frequently.

* Fountain Pen movement mimicking a flex dip pen helps.

 

I hope this helps some of us. It has helped me.

 

Regards

Ihtzaz

 

[pmhudepo]

My own morning sessions are currently a mix of practice and journaling -- both on printed guide sheets. While this happened accidentally a week ago, I now make a deliberate choice to do this. Poor Moleskine journal: at first it didn't like my OB nib at all (feathering, bleed-through) and now it has a bunch of guide sheets pasted to its pages.

 

There appear to be two benefits of this approach. First, using a guide sheet and regarding this as writing practice, I find it a little easier to slow down, collect my thoughts, find out what it is I really want to express and write that down. Second, as I sometimes get carried away and no longer slow down, my practice writing speeds up, but not to the point where it deteriorates into my old scrawl. A bit of a tug of war, but I might just end up with a usable mix of speed and beauty.

 

In that light, I can definitely see value in writing a line in a formal script like Copperplate and then take clues from it, transfer some of its beauty to your regular writing, as Ihtzaz has been doing.

 

I have switched inks. Got a little tired of Private Reserve American Blue and have filled my pen with Diamine Syrah: a nice wine-red ink. Still the same pen, Montblanc 146 from 1955 with a 14C OB nib. Guide sheets printed on, I'm afraid, whatever we have in the printer.

[GhostShip Blue]

For what it's worth I print my practice sheets on the back of whatever came out of the printer earlier. Yeah, I'm THAT cheap.