What Does Your Handwriting Look Like

[Winchester]

I got my first fountain pen last year but quickly gave it up because it refused to work. In large part because I am left handed and I also have horrible handwriting, I don't do cursive, I remember stopping that in 6th grade and I had developed the habit of finger writing. Something I had not known about until a month ago, it was very obvious then why my handwriting had never ever been good. So I decided that rather than retrain my left hand I will train my right hand and by doing that I will bypass a whole load of issues with fountain pens.

 

So for 4 weeks now I have been writing, mostly doodling and writing random nonsense on whatever scraps of paper I could. I got some tips on proper handwriting technique from links I found on this site as well so I don't fingerwrite with my right hand. It's not a lot to look at but I hope with time I can see my handwriting improving into something I don't have to be ashamed of.

[whitelily]

Winchest: it looks good. I´m trying to work on learning to write with my right hand too - just for fun. You know, being a leftie doesn´t mean you cannot write with a FP. I write "underhand", and so I avoid smudging out the ink.

 

Maybe you FP was not working properly because there is something wrong with the FP - or maybe you were writing with a "wrong" angle?

 

Best of luck.

Edited August 12, 2011 by whitelily

[rcarlisle]

That is beautiful. Is Da Vinci a typeface? Looking at it is like tasting a fruit you've never known of before and finding it delicious and unlike anything else.

 

[TyGuy]

That is beautiful. Is Da Vinci a typeface? Looking at it is like tasting a fruit you've never known of before and finding it delicious and unlike anything else.

 

 

I'm glad you like it While I was flipping through my copy of "Leonardo's Notebooks" (a collection of the personal notes of the famous artist Leonardo Da Vinci) I absolutely fell in love with his handwriting. The only problem is that he a)wrote backwards and b)none of the writing was in english so I had trouble picking out individual letters. I did a quick internet search and found some examples of his writing as seen in a mirror, as well as some typefaces based on his handwriting, and from there I compiled (and modified a bit to suit my tastes) an alphabet that I liked.

[Luke Scicluna]

http://i53.tinypic.com/r8i983.jpg

 

This is disgusting, is it not?

[Hex]

Here tis, after about 1 week of following Write Now, Getty & Dubay.

 

Please be kind

[effika]

Here's mine! This is my "somebody might need to read this" handwriting. Notes to myself are nigh-illegible, and if I know somebody will need to read it, I slow down 2-3x to get things neater.

 

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

 

(My Lamy loves Skrip Blue. It shades and makes the nib glide like a dream on almost any paper. I have no idea how this happened, but I'll keep the two together!)

 

Some things I have learned:

 

I like writing with my Pilot Custom 74, but even just the tiny bounce that nib has shows my writing pressure is extremely variable. It's something to work on, along with my always-changing slope. (My "joined printing" could use some work too in consistency-- I'm slowly working out which words and letter groups I like to join.)

 

I love the way my writing looks using the back of the Lamy's nib. However, it's sharp and the corners tend to catch on the paper if I'm not careful. I think this means I should look for crisp italic, or maybe a cursive italic or stub since that should be smoother. What do you all think?

Edited August 13, 2011 by effika

[paperskater]

I think this thread is in need of a bump.

[MrMGWard]

Quick snapshot of my everyday "speed script" heh. Written with a workhorse Parker Vector (filled with Noodler's Standard Brown) that I custom ground. Easily the cheapest pen I own, but I use it more than any of the others. It's my take everywhere, use everywhere pen. (and it works beautifully in my Moleskine)

 

 

Swavey

Edited December 4, 2011 by Swavey

[brim]

Really nice Swavey! If that's your speed script, would love to see something you took your time with!

[saketb]

Here is my addition to this thread. I love writing quotes on different topics and here is some on 'wisdom'.

Written with Noodler's Flex pen filled with Private Reserve Orange Crush.

 

[ljohnson]

After looking at some of these examples of beautiful penmanship... I think mine could use some work. Here is a short sample of my handwriting :

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6507180837_7416de80ea.jpg

[byronss]

What a wonderful thread! I handwrite so infrequently these days (and almost never post here), but I love fountain pens and own far too many! My handwriting is rarely legible to others when it matters. This sample is with an el cheapo fountain pen I got off eBay. Probably cost me about AU$2. Certainly not one of my better pens, but one of my favourites with my favourite ink colour. My handwriting was never good, but since I started school in 1950-something, it's deteriorated into this mess!

 

http://www.byronss.com.au/images/handwriting.jpg

[dkirchge]

My writing is nothing special to look at, but I'll post anyway. One is a sample of meeting notes on very narrowly ruled paper, which caused me to take more care than usual with my writing. The other sample is from a section of a story I was working on and I wasn't paying particular attention to my handwriting. Both samples were written with a TUL fine point gel pen because that's what I had available at the time.

[_Logan]

I lot better than when I first started, but I'm still working on it! I write quickly, so I don't care for very elegant, slow writing.

 

http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/4233/12231115161.jpg

[crowquill]

Hello,

 

I'm very new to the site, and fairly inexperienced with fountain pens, though I have done a fair amount of drawing with a hunt crow quill pen. I'm adding my newbie handwriting sample, and I'll see how I progress down the road.

 

The first is a slightly neater version of my usual cursive, and I usually have a hard time reading what I've written later. The second is how I typically write, this weird all caps/cursive hybrid (only because I'm rushing so much I don't lift the pen). I also add a lot of extra letters when writing, apparently my brain is moving a lot slower than my hand.

 

It's very inspiring to see all the beautiful writing here, I definitely want to put a lot more effort into my handwriting!

 

http://rikkiniehaus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Scan-161.jpg

 

Translation (and hopefully soon I won't need one): "When I am positing a sample of my writing on Daler-Rowney paper, done in Lamy Safari with J. Herbin ink, I try to be neat, but it still could be a lot more legible.

Normally I write all caps really messy Sometimes I rush so much I add extra letters, like a typo."

[georges zaslavsky]

some drawing made by me despite I am not a natural lefthander

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/georges2/calligraphy.jpg

 

some right hand -left hand comparison

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/georges2/leftright.jpg

[TopPop]

 

I love this, Swavey. Very elegant, and doesn't looked strained.

[kensuguro]

Sort of a "write of passage"? I just joined the forums, practicing spencerian with a noodler's flex. Handwriting's a been a problem since grade school so I'm quite happy for even the slightest improvements.

 

Top is going for spencerian style relaxed spacing between letters. Below that is a more compact version which I would say is more practical in terms of fitting more words in one line. Underneath that is my regular writing.. etchings that resemble the english alphabet. lol. Bottom is the large size that I'm practicing in to write from my shoulder and arm (or the "air writing" use of muscles that I keep hearing about) and to learn the details of the letter shapes. I couldn't even write the big letters at first, but after they settled, it was much easier to shrink that down to normal size. I'm only about a month into practicing, so I'm looking forward to improving much more.

 

btw, the text is from a "conflict of interest for nonprofits" book that was around the desk. :-)

Edited December 28, 2011 by kensuguro

[Stompie]

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj229/Popsjill/Prayer%20Bible/n1222986122_30376235_5965434.jpg

 

Well, here goes some of the stuff I have done - early days, I will post more.