Method From Ec Mills' Modern Business Penmanship

[BobbyEshleman]

I just start using E.C. Mills' "Modern Business Penmanship" from IAMPETH, just doing the first two line and circle exercises. I am basically just trying my best to write without my wrist/fingers moving, using only muscles from my shoulder girdle, and using the muscle near my elbow as a pad that I am resting my arm on. I'm trying to find the balance of my shoulder muscles holding my arm and my arm resting on the muscle near my elbow. With this in mind, I am trying to make perfectly straight lights, with the spaces between the lines being the same width as the lines themselves. I'm doing the same with the circles. I'm aiming for the example in the book. Also, I am using a ballpoint pen right now because my only goal for the moment is to improve my everyday handwriting.

 

Do you think I am going about this in the right way?

 

Thanks

[Randal6393]

The Business Penmanship writers originated with dip pens and adopted fountain pens as time went on. (Actually, may have started with quills.) The tools required a light hand, a very light touch to develop the hair lines -- the very thin lines characteristic of Business Penmanship. A ballpoint pen is more of a brute-force tool. Doesn't mean you can't use it for Business Penmanship. Just that it may require a bit more work to master the thin lines.

 

So, I would suggest a dip pen and ink for practice, a fountain pen for regular work, and keep the ballpoint for only part of your work. Also, a soft pencil. You should practice regularly with a variety of writing implements, just to develop the feel for each one.

 

Best of luck,

[myyrkezaan]

I'm practicing the same way, these are a couple of practice sheets that I'm using:

 

http://www.flickr.co...57628970553959/

[caliken]

I just start using E.C. Mills' "Modern Business Penmanship" from IAMPETH.....

Do you think I am going about this in the right way?

 

IMO you're starting with the best possible reference and self-tuition material. E.C.Mills was the absolute master of this style of writing.

 

caliken

[BobbyEshleman]

Thank you all for your posts. Randal, I'll definitely consider getting a dip or fountain pen. Maybe a fountain pen (Lamy Safari) at first because most of my practice will be done at school away from home. When I get to lettering I'll revisit those exercise sheets, thanks myyrkezaan. Caliken i'm inspired to hear that you have such a high opinion of Mr. Mills' work and this book.

[BobbyEshleman]

i got my Lamy Safari today in the mail, I think the medium nib is too thick for this style but I think good enough to practice. What do you guys think of this pen and this style?

[myyrkezaan]

i got my Lamy Safari today in the mail, I think the medium nib is too thick for this style but I think good enough to practice. What do you guys think of this pen and this style?

 

I change pens when I'm practicing, some very thin, some thick. Whats important is the motion you are making/learning. I've practiced holding the pen in different positions. I usually go finer when I test myself to see how well the motion is, but for practice I switch it up for variety.

 

Like the pen, I have one. Like the style, I'm learning it now. Once I'm proficient enough to write regularly this way I'll be using whatever pen is in the rotation, including bold and italics.

Edited February 18, 2012 by myyrkezaan

[Mickey]

i got my Lamy Safari today in the mail, I think the medium nib is too thick for this style but I think good enough to practice. What do you guys think of this pen and this style?

 

I think you're right about the medium nib being too broad. For someone with normal sized handwriting (x height = 2.00 - 4.0 mm) a Japanese Fine is about the right size. On Clairefontaine French-rule paper, for example, I've used American / Euro EF and Japanese F nibs with equal success.

 

Buying a replacement EF nib would better suit your Safari to this style of writing. Luckily, they're not very expensive.

[BobbyEshleman]

thanks for the replies you guys.

 

I don't really know if I am doing these exercises correctly, I'm trying diligently to criticize my motor skills in writing these lines and circles, trying to follow the descriptions found in the variety of penmanship books on IAMPETH as well as EC Mill's. I'm not sure if I am doing what I need to be to be making progress.

[Mercian]

I have downloaded the Mills book and the 1935 Palmer from IAMPETH.

I am very interested to see that caliken recommended Mills over Palmer.

 

Anyway, I've been trying to use my shoulder muscles to do the first two figures in the Mills book - the parallel straight lines and the tightly overlapping ovals - and I cannot achieve anything that even approaches the vaguest approximation of them :(:embarrassed_smile:

 

I found that I couldn't even draw straight lines, let alone parallel ones, and that I had about as much hope of drawing straight parallel lines separated by only their own width as I have of giving birth naturally (I'm male). So I decided to move on to the ovals instead, as I had read somewhere else that the parallel lines is actually a quite tricky task, and one that a new student should not attempt first.

 

I rapidly had to give up on the continuous overlapping ovals, because I couldn't even draw ovals of the same size and shape, let alone get them to overlap one another accurately. Let alone consecutively. Seriously. I might as well attempt to cause a car to levitate by using only 'the Force'.

So I then decided that I would start with an exercise that consisted of merely going over the same oval seven or eight times to try to achieve consistency.

But I'm getting nowhere with that either

 

This whole experience has been very demoralising.

 

So, am I approaching the task of attempting to improve my handwriting in the right way?

After all, some people's brains just can not do maths, others' brains just cannot do languages - I have found over the last thirty years that I just cannot perform any task that requires my brain to analyse visual data and then reproduce it manually.

E.g. I absolutely can NOT draw. If you told me that I had to draw a basic portrait to save my life I'd tell you 'go ahead and shoot me now'.

Also, I absolutely can NOT learn to iron garments. I have had five different people try to teach me, and had them all fail utterly. Including friends who had served in the Armed Forces and had had to learn to iron their uniforms immaculately, or cause their entire class to suffer.

 

It's partly a visual-processing failure - in the case of ironing e.g. I absolutely can not distinguish a 'crease' that needs to be ironed-out from a mere wrinkle that does not. But it's also a movement-control failure - when my mother tried to teach me to iron I got so sick of her criticisms that I even got her to move my ironing arm for me and then let go. She then said 'no, you are doing it wrong' within two seconds of letting go. As far as I could tell I had not altered the way that I was moving in the slightest.

I found that experience ridiculous and non-credible, so put it down to some mother-son issue and tried to get other people to teach me. Which was an utter waste of everyone's time.

If I tried to iron anything before going to work I rapidly became incandescent with rage, because I could see that it wasn't working, but could never see why it wasn't working. The upshot is that I now ONLY buy clothes that do NOT need to be ironed.

 

Anyway, the reason that I have bored-on about my inability to draw or iron is that I suspect that the relevant visual-processing/hand-eye co-ordination module is missing from my brain (or that it died some time during my childhood. I could draw up until the age of thirteen, when I changed school. Maybe puberty did for it?).

Anyway, I suspect that whatever neurological disability means that I can neither draw nor iron is also responsible for my utter lack of even the slightest progress in my attempts to start learning 'penmanship'.

 

So, do you think that I should try to persevere with my attempts to learn 'arm-writing'?

Should I instead perhaps just buy a copybook designed for six-year-olds, and use that to try to re-educate my chicken scratch so that it begins to approximate a modern cursive script?

 

Or ought I just to concede that I am utterly dispraxic (or, rather dyspraxic), and not waste my energy, ink, and paper?

 

What say-ye FPN?

 

Cheers,

M.

Edited May 6, 2012 by Mercian

[pmhudepo]

I'd say you've picked a great book to use for handwriting practice. Here's what I created this morning, same book:

 

Edited May 6, 2012 by pmhudepo

[Mickey]

The problem, I suspect, is that you are over-controlling the process, trying to draw a line (circle, oval, etc.) almost one atom at a time, moment to moment, critiquing each and every atom rather than making a grand gesture and critiquing only the result. As each atom represents a potential course adjustment, the result is almost assured to be uneven and unsatisfactory.

 

Here's an experiment which may help you with parallel lines. (Step 1) Put your pencil point (start with a pencil) on the page. (Step 2) Quickly, in one single movement, pull it a half foot or so toward your navel. (Step 3) Reposition the pencil one inch to the right of the original starting point. (Step 4) Place the index finger of your non-writing hand one inch to the right of your navel. (Step 5) Pull the pencil quickly, in one single movement about a half foot toward the off-hand index finger. Look at the result. Repeat the experiment a few times.

 

If you're doing fairly well, Omit Step 4 and only imagine the new target. If you're still doing well. Repeat, but don't even imagine the new target. Regardless of whether this is working for you or not, repeat the entire exercise with your eyes closed, only opening them to critique your progress.

 

Let me know how it goes.

[terminal]

The problem, I suspect, is that you are over-controlling the process, trying to draw a line (circle, oval, etc.) almost one atom at a time, moment to moment, critiquing each and every atom rather than making a grand gesture and critiquing only the result. As each atom represents a potential course adjustment, the result is almost assured to be uneven and unsatisfactory.

 

This.

 

My goodness this is what I was going to write, only this is written better than anything I would come up with.

 

 

I would add... and some may disagree.... but some descriptions of techniques such as "arm learning" and "moving from the shoulder"... let's just say it means different things to different people. We're not all built the same and also these types of descriptions are really just learning tools and can't truly describe what has to take place: muscle memory. It's really just muscle memory. There's some human out there who has trained his or herself to hold the pen in her toes with the nib pointed up and the paper upside down with one hand and write thirteen lines in perfect parallel.

[AnneHW]

I'm coming into this so late! If anyone happens upon it again, I just wanted to say that I can relate to some of the issues and discouragement. I've always enjoyed writing, but so much depends on the actual tools. For instance, writing with a pencil is the easiest for me. I feel like I have lots of control and my penmanship is nice. Some pens work better than others. If they are too "slippery," I have trouble controlling them, so I like them smooth but with a little drag. I'm fairly new to fountain pens, but what fun AND often quite discouraging!

 

One of my problems is my grip. It's way too tight so my hand starts to hurt and that supporting middle finger quickly builds up a callus and can become very sore! So, I keep practicing and try to be conscious of the way I'm holding my pen!

[cellmatrix]

hmmm, this is a monoline hand, not sure why its in the flexible nib forum........

[smk]

hmmm, this is a monoline hand, not sure why its in the flexible nib forum........

 

Moved :-)

 

S.

[sidthecat]

This might be a bit from left field, but when I went to art school they made us draw sitting on a bench using very large sheets of paper. We were obliged to draw from the shoulder. If you can find such classes, it's pretty good training for penmanship.

[cellmatrix]

good point sid

 

I have one question about this method. Basically I think its great and am enjoying learning it.

 

But has anyone noticed how in lesson/plate 30, when Mills teaches you how to draw the d, he says be sure not to loop it ( like Spencer taught). But then in his examples of business writing at the end, he loops all of his d's (like Palmer)?

Edited January 19, 2015 by cellmatrix

[AnneHW]

This might be a bit from left field, but when I went to art school they made us draw sitting on a bench using very large sheets of paper. We were obliged to draw from the shoulder. If you can find such classes, it's pretty good training for penmanship.

I did that, too, but it's not helping me here!

 

Also, I think I have all the books now and I too find myself liking Mills the most. And, I'm still struggling with the lines and circles, but very gradually my grip is improving. I should have looked more closely at the different topics because I just posted on a different one asking if anyone has actually been able to duplicate the lines and circles exercises?

 

Is the problem that we aren't using dip pens? I've tried using a pencil and that gives me slightly more control, but my fountain pens are kind of a disaster! It's difficult to imagine that so many people learned these exercises and were good at it!

[Tessy Moon]

One of my problems is my grip. It's way too tight so my hand starts to hurt and that supporting middle finger quickly builds up a callus and can become very sore! So, I keep practicing and try to be conscious of the way I'm holding my pen!

 

 

I have had to consciously work on lightening my grip. Especially if I am tense, stressed, particularly emotional or in a hurry to get all my thoughts on paper before they evaporate, I grip my pen like death grips the grave. I notice my hand will start to cramp after thirty minutes to an hour of tense writing. If I relax I can write for a couple hours without much discomfort (although sometimes my back hurts because of my bad posture and unsupportive chair). Just a little hand stretch here and there as needed and I can keep going fine.

 

I have had a huge callous on my middle finger for as long as I can remember. I write a lot, so I think the extended writing sessions combined with the hard pressure has made it a permanent part of my finger. It is often stained with ink too

 

I have begun to practice writing as light as possible. It is something that requires constant attention at first, and then after awhile it becomes more natural. Certain pens require more pressure and some just glide gentle as a feather. I am working to adapt my style to each pen's particular need.

 

I am very pleased as I begin learning this finer form of writing, that I naturally write with my arm and shoulder muscles already. And I naturally hold my pen in the correct position over my index finger's knuckle. Yay! One thing I don't have to re-learn!

 

But I still tend to grip my pen unless putting conscious effort to loosen my grip; which is particularly challenging when I am focusing so completely on making the correct angles.

 

Oh I struggle with the angles!

I am experimenting with tilting my paper almost completely sideways to help me acquire the appropriate angle. I still need to find the perfect angle of paper to my hand and arm.

 

Any suggestions on how to achieve the correct angles?

 

I am planning to invest in some French ruled paper (Clairefontaine, of course) to help me get started with those pesky angles. My natural fast writing is a mess - my angles are all over the place.

With concentrated effort I can make it more uniformed, but it is very straight up an down, and it feels and looks very forced. I don't like that. I want a free flowing natural curve and flourish to my writing. Just all going the same direction, lol.