How Do You Write Your 'z'?

[Chrissy]

I was just scribbling bits and pieces with my newly repaired Cross Townsend filled with Montblanc Meisterstuck Diamond ink, and found that I really don't like the way I write a small case 'z'. When it came to writing a Capital 'Z' I wasn't sure how to even start!

 

Do you write it like this printed 'z' or the 'real writing' style looped version? My 'real writing' style lower case looped version is really unattractive. It looks like an 'n' with a loop underneath it. Also, I'm not at all sure how to write a good looking capital case 'Z'

 

Please can I see some of your 'z' examples so that I can work out a better looking version for myself?

[Pen Is Mightier]

Sorry I can't really help as I have noticed the same problem. My cursive lower case z ends up looking like an m and a y mixed up.

 

As for upper case I usually just do a print capital z with a line through the cross bar.

 

I will have to post examples later as I have to get to work soon.

[pmhudepo]

Upper case: like Zorro slashing through a jacket!

Lower case: the way pmhudepo learnt in school!

 

[mirosc]

If you have problems with you lowercase oldstyle "z", try to write the number "3" instead.

Usually looks much nicer without much effort.

 

There's no right or wrong, just nice or ugly and different historical styles.

Our tradition here is either the printlike "z" or - if made in old style - that the upper part (x-height) should be a nice and rounded circle, unlike in Palmer or Zaner-Bloser, where it resembles rather an arch or part of an ellipse.

[The Good Captain]

I write both upper and lower case versions 'Z' and 'z' but with a horizontal line through the crossbar.

As in Zhivago.

 

 

[linearM]

My capital Z looks like a printed Z but with a little flourish. I use a variety of lower case z's depending on the script style I'm using. I am attaching a sample.

[jbb]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8147/7209231156_8dbba3b36a_o.jpg

[Chrissy]

My capital Z looks like a printed Z but with a little flourish. I use a variety of lower case z's depending on the script style I'm using. I am attaching a sample.

Thank you all for your ideas so far. I'm going to have a practice. In an 'ideal world' I think I was originally taught to write my lower case cursive 'z' to resemble 'linearM''s 'crazy' #'s 1 and 2, but mine just looks poorly formed by comparison. I can't do those beautiful letter 'r's either.

 

I will definitely attempt the '3' method to see if that helps. I'm happy that my upper case 'Z' is fairly normal in that it's similar enough to these examples.

 

I think mine looked worse because I was writing the word 'size', so the stroke after the 'i' went up and then formed an 'n'.

 

If I get it looking reasonable I might try putting a sample on here.

[Chrissy]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8147/7209231156_8dbba3b36a_o.jpg

Now that is really special. Mine will never look like that!

[pencils+pens]

When I first started to recover my cursive handwriting my capital Z looked like Zorro's "Z". Not long after and without conscious effort on my part, my capital Z switched to the Modern Cursive or D'Nealian "Z". My lower case "z" also looks D'Nealian, which is strange because I learned Palmer in school and studied Italic on my own but never D'Nealian.

 

For a sample of various hands see Examples of Handwriting Styles.

 

FWIW - I don't like most cursive "Q"s, they look too much like the number 2. So I use the Zaner-Bloser Simple Cursive Q.

[hardyb]

This may help, just follow the arrows:

[opus7600]

My capital Z looks like a printed Z but with a little flourish. I use a variety of lower case z's depending on the script style I'm using. I am attaching a sample.

 

Wow, I love the second lower case z example. To me, that makes so much more sense than the curvy kind.

[Bhavna]

My capital Z looks like a printed Z but with a little flourish. I use a variety of lower case z's depending on the script style I'm using. I am attaching a sample.

 

Hi Chrissy,

 

My 'z's' look like the 2nd 'crazy' in the above (gorgeous samples). Definitely try the 3 as a practice as it really allows you to learn the shape, then just add the loop and tail!

 

Look forward to a sample when you're happy with yours!

[Sasha Royale]

I still write it the way I was taught in elementary school --

like the number "3" with a big butt.

[torstar]

I hadn't written one in script for decades and when I had to recently I forgot how to do it...

 

duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

[Mercian]

I write both upper and lower case versions 'Z' and 'z' but with a horizontal line through the crossbar.

 

Me too!

What prompted you to start doing it?

At Middle School I was taught to write lower-case cursive z's like the number 3

I never liked the ambiguity, and so I started writing my lower-case z's like the upper-case ones again as soon as I got to High School.

 

At some point in my late teenage years I started putting the horizontal line through my Z and my z, in order to unambiguously differentiate them from my '2' (yes, my handwriting is that bad :embarrassed_smile: ).

 

At the same time I started writing my '7' with a horizontal line through them, like they do in Germania.

This decision caused some raised eyebrows among my some of my elderly relatives (who had had a very strong dislike for all things German conditioned in to them by the events of the 1930's & 1940's), but I find it to be a much more sensible way to write the glyph.

 

My scrawl is embarrassing, but at least I can always tell what numbers I have written

 

(Although, curiously, I find that I write the number 4 in two different ways - with its top open AND with its top closed. I'm just Not Right, am I? :embarrassed_smile: )

[Chrissy]

At some point in my late teenage years I started putting the horizontal line through my Z and my z, in order to unambiguously differentiate them from my '2' (yes, my handwriting is that bad :embarrassed_smile: ).

 

My scrawl is embarrassing, but at least I can always tell what numbers I have written

 

(Although, curiously, I find that I write the number 4 in two different ways - with its top open AND with its top closed. I'm just Not Right, am I? :embarrassed_smile: )

 

I happen to know that your writing isn't that bad M.

[Chrissy]

This may help, just follow the arrows:

Wow hardyb, That's a great help. Thank you!

 

I hope that after some practice my Postcard Exchange friends will soon be impressed

[The Good Captain]

I write both upper and lower case versions 'Z' and 'z' but with a horizontal line through the crossbar.

 

Me too!

What prompted you to start doing it?

At Middle School I was taught to write lower-case cursive z's like the number 3

I never liked the ambiguity, and so I started writing my lower-case z's like the upper-case ones again as soon as I got to High School.

 

At some point in my late teenage years I started putting the horizontal line through my Z and my z, in order to unambiguously differentiate them from my '2' (yes, my handwriting is that bad :embarrassed_smile: ).

 

At the same time I started writing my '7' with a horizontal line through them, like they do in Germania.

This decision caused some raised eyebrows among my some of my elderly relatives (who had had a very strong dislike for all things German conditioned in to them by the events of the 1930's & 1940's), but I find it to be a much more sensible way to write the glyph.

 

My scrawl is embarrassing, but at least I can always tell what numbers I have written

 

(Although, curiously, I find that I write the number 4 in two different ways - with its top open AND with its top closed. I'm just Not Right, am I? :embarrassed_smile: )

Actually, it was much the same as all your examples, including comments from my parents and their references to their experiences during wartime years, I suppose. However, as I seem to remember, it was just my way of being a little bit more 'different' than my peers; notwithstanding my musical tastes; length of my hair; state of my Levi's and that sort of thing. Probably later in my education timeline though, about 16 or so. At Junior school most of us had progressed away from the taught writing system anyway and as long as it was relatively legible, that practice wasn't discouraged.

Frankly, that freedom of expression and the fact that a lot of my friends and colleagues, old and young all write so differently is such a refreshing change.

 

 

[Pippin60]

I've gotten lazy it seems and my Z's are no longer cursive but a printed Z.