Spencerian "business Writing"

[caliken]

This was written in the "Modern Business Penmanship" style of E C Mills

 

Ken

 

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd289/caliken_2007/businesswriting600.jpg

Edited August 13, 2013 by caliken

[MisterBoll]

Ken, I love looking at your writing and I hate looking at your writing.

Love = amazed at the majestic splendour of your art. Hate = jealous.

[Sinistral1]

Ken:

 

I'm speechless in my appreciation of your work - truly the art of beautiful writing!

[schin]

Oh so elegant and pleasurable to read..!!

[GemMayhem]

Ken, your work is always an inspiration! Thanks for sharing.

[Scribe_Not]

Yeah Ken. What they said.

 

I am absolutely dumbfounded every time I see your hand.

 

Then, I look at my pen and say... "How Dat Poda Wurk?"

[slacker.lax]

Wow!!

 

I am following that book as per your recommendations Ken! And its been around a year since I have been practicing on that script. And I am truly glad you directed me to that!! The letters are unmistakably precise and beautiful. I need inspiration and what a way to find your great post to bring me up in the morning. Lovely Ken!! I learn so much subconsciously looking at great pieces like yours.

[Iso*]

This is why the clerk/penman was respected. Good business writing - that is of legibility and rapidity was highly valued back then.

[cybaea]

+1 beautiful. It works in the sense of being very legible; does it also work in the sense of being easy to write consistently and fast when compared to other scripts?

[DanF]

I really like this hand, one of the most attractive out there, and of course your example is gorgeous. I am trying to adopt this as my default hand, but maintaining some favorite features of standard Spencerian - the basic upper case letters, t's crossed with the floating lines, not touching the uprights.

 

Dan

Edited August 14, 2013 by DanF

[cybaea]

It is beautiful writing (as always from Ken - thank you Ken!!) but the more I look at it the more I am disturbed by the tightness of the words. Ken has copied the original, of course, but if it was my hand I would add some space to make the text easier to navigate (and possibly easier to read, but in a business text I am more concerned with finding key words and phrases than with narrative reading).

[ericjericj]

As you say, this is an elegant style of handwriting. I admire the sample that you posted and I have tried to imitate it--without even coming close to yours, unfortunately.

 

After some practice, I think I was able to write more neatly with a smaller hand.

 

Could you give me feedback on my lettering? I would appreciate any tips or pieces of advice you could share.

 

Thanks!

 

http://i.imgur.com/v37WnWql.jpg

 

http://imgur.com/v37WnWq

[mvarela]

http://i.imgur.com/zXQFYQK.jpg

[caliken]

 

 

Could you give me feedback on my lettering? I would appreciate any tips or pieces of advice you could share.

 

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/v37WnWql.jpg

 

http://imgur.com/v37WnWq

I think that your writing is attractive in it's own right. However, if you want to get closer to the "Business Writing" style, I suggest that you go to the IAMPETH site and download and print off a copy of "Modern Business Penmanship" by E C Mills. Whilst there are many other examples on this site, it's always a good idea to study from the best, and it doesn't get any better than this.

 

Being British, this style was never available to me in schools or elsewhere for that matter. I taught myself from this wonderful book . As regard a learning method, I suggest photocoping enlargements of several pages, and spend some time studying the shapes in great detail. See how they differ from your own writing. Pay particular attention to the inter-letter spacing and the general spread of the writing with the distictiive ligaturing (which is totally different from Copperplate, for example.)

 

If you practice writing on 'tramline' paper which shows both baseline and waistline, this will help establish an even x height throughout. Also, although this is intended as an everyday writing style, I would suggest slowing down whilst learning until you are fully aware of the different strokes.

 

I hope that this helps.

 

Ken

[Mickey]

It is beautiful writing (as always from Ken - thank you Ken!!) but the more I look at it the more I am disturbed by the tightness of the words. Ken has copied the original, of course, but if it was my hand I would add some space to make the text easier to navigate (and possibly easier to read, but in a business text I am more concerned with finding key words and phrases than with narrative reading).

Though directed at Ken, allow me to answer your questions (from this and a previous post). Business writing (or monoline Spencerian) is, once learned, a very fast script to write. In fact, it is my default handwriting and is the root stock of virtually every cursive hand taught in U.S. public schools for the past century.

 

As for compactness, it is not as compact as cursive italic. I have recently spent some of my practice time reacquiring facility with cursive italic, which I learned around 30 years ago. For my practice, I've use the same copy-book passages I used to learn Spencerian. Lo and behold, the cursive italic lines, written at roughly the same scale as the Spencerian (both written on Seyes lined paper), are about 20 percent shorter, though somewhat slower to write.

Edited August 19, 2013 by Mickey

[caliken]

As for compactness, it is not as compact as cursive italic. I have recently spent some of my practice time reacquiring facility with cursive italic, which I learned around 30 years ago. For my practice, I've use the same copy-book passages I used to learn Spencerian. Lo and behold, the cursive italic lines, written at roughly the same scale as the Spencerian (both written on Seyes lined paper), are about 20 percent shorter, though somewhat slower to write.

Indeed, far less paper is used in writing Italic!

 

I may be wrong, but I think that cybaea was referring to the inter-word spacing in my example. Certainly, I was aware that the words are fairly closely spaced in the writing of E C Mills, but in the interest of accuracy, I tried to emulate his technique as closely as possible.

 

I agree that slightly more inter-word spacing would possibly aid readability.

 

Ken

[Mickey]

Indeed, far less paper is used in writing Italic!

 

I may be wrong, but I think that cybaea was referring to the inter-word spacing in my example. Certainly, I was aware that the words are fairly closely spaced in the writing of E C Mills, but in the interest of accuracy, I tried to emulate his technique as closely as possible.

 

I agree that slightly more inter-word spacing would possibly aid readability.

 

Ken

I don't know that increasing the spacing (inter or intra-word) would help much. I find your example quite easy to read. It's all about visual rhythm. Of course, I typically write even more compact. My eyes are comfortable with it. There is a point, though, where words fall apart into individual letters, the gestalt lost in the trees, likewise sentences. With absolutely no shades, I don't believe the hand holds together as well: too many crumpets for the amount of butter.

 

BTW, the easiest way I've found to expand the spacing is to lower the primary slant to 48 degree and extend the joins to maintain a pleasing proportion. The stretch just happens naturally, without much other thought. In other word, I shift into my Madarasz gear. (If only I could better emulate the rest of his style.)

Edited August 19, 2013 by Mickey