practice How's your improvement progress?

[Mar_]

I've never truly focused on my penmanship till 20' Christmas when I entered the hobby.
My handwriting was and still is pretty poor but I'm keeping at it.

I'd love to see all else who are improving their hand! 
Post your progress in here alongside me!
In a months time, we can review where I started, you started and where we are then, reflect and admire the improvements.

Feel free to post as much as you want in this thread, your methods of practice or what you've gotten to, where you started, aslong as it relates to your progress, or method of progressing.

- My photo here is really low quality, I apologize*

So, context to this practice.
Practice : Writing Music Lyrics. ( Song : That ain't heaven - Joe Nester)
Pen : Hong Dian Forest Series - Black Forest w/ a Fude (bent) nib.
Ink : Parker Quink* Blue-Black

So, I started w/ the normal writing but I got tired of the broad line, so I flipped it and reverse writ with it turning out to be F or EF?
I'm still really really rough with my handwriting consistency, and font but i'm getting there.
This was writ at a swift pace so I can try to get comfortable writing at speed instead of doing one letter at a time practice sheet speeds.
I messed up on a line and welp, ohwell.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Mar_

[Mar_]

Note - my handwriting right now at this stage is rather poor. Not quite as good as some of my practice pages (i'm writing swift on this practice page too, note that) This is a step out of my comfort zone to share.

[OleJuul]

Looks good. Nice to see someone not into fancy cursive writing. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I like something that's easy to read. To me the letters should be clear even if it's written in another language.

 

I've been working on a font much like yours for a while now. I insist on sticking to a vertical non italic look, but regardless of that, I've found that a slant makes it automatically look neater. I think that's why people do that.

[Mar_]

1 minute ago, OleJuul said:

Looks good. Nice to see someone not into fancy cursive writing. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I like something that's easy to read. To me the letters should be clear even if it's written in another language.

 

I've been working on a font much like yours for a while now. I insist on sticking to a vertical non italic look, but regardless of that, I've found that a slant makes it automatically look neater. I think that's why people do that.

I'm working on both. but yeah I'm trying to improve writing fast and clean with the font i've worked on. but i'm still far from where I want to be. I'm getting a few new pens, one in two days - a parker sonnet that I got from a pif post. I am hoping that with the ability to have a normal nib my handwriting will be a tad easier to develop a consistency w/ 

[Mar_]

Welp, another post. I love writing lyrics, and i'm improving slowly, this is w/o reverse writing the Fude Nib. 

Grave Digger - Blues Saraceno
NOTE : I didn't finish all the lyrics on this one page, but I didn't snap a second image. 

I plan on doing many more! - I won't bore you with 1000s of posts though  If I find improvements, i'll update yall!

Edited January 24, 2021 by Mar_

[arcfide]

[Mar_]

7 minutes ago, arcfide said:

 

My lord, I love the font, it's a tad hard to read at quick glance, you'd have to actually look at it and focus on what it says (atleast for me) I love it though! Nice ink, nice paper, font and slant. I know you'll master those u,n's - I love how you responded like this, I've seen a few do this but I didn't expect it. 

ALSO! you've got a indiana flag on your profile... we're indianians  (well, i'm from kansas, moved to indiana)

[arcfide]

8 minutes ago, Mar_ said:

ALSO! you've got a indiana flag on your profile... we're indianians  (well, i'm from kansas, moved to indiana)

 

Hahah, you don't yet call yourself a Hoosier?  I'm also not native born. 

[Mar_]

2 minutes ago, arcfide said:

 

Hahah, you don't yet call yourself a Hoosier?  I'm also not native born. 

I didn't know the term! 

If any curiosity, I'm in a small town in Randolph County.

- Anyways, for real, that font though, it's great I can't get over it..., it's one that would grab peoples attention due to it's sharp appearance  

[Mar_]

Getting better  Slower, much slower, but much better. I need to balance it.

[OleJuul]

Looking good.

 

Speed is a real problem, just like learning a difficult piece of music. In that field it is taught to practice as slowly as it takes to not make any mistakes, and then speed it up over time. The reason is that if you make mistakes while practicing, then you're practicing your mistakes.

[Mar_]

Thank ya!

Yeah... I know I know. I used to play viola for the longest time.
 

[Mar_]

Well? Not the best I can ever do, just for sure not the worst.

[arcfide]

If I can make a recommendation, are you after a particular look or is speed more important to you? Forgive my impertinence, but it seems to me that the hand you are developing could have a very nice, crisp, clean look once you progress, but it doesn't strike me as the sort of script that is likely to degrade gracefully under speed pressures as you try to increase the speed. I think it's important when you are practicing slow to remember what will be involved when you go fast, to ensure that you are practicing motions that can be effectively replicated at speed. 

[brokenclay]

First a minor terminology nit: a "font" is a particular style, weight and size of a metal or wooden typeface or the digital equivalent. What you create with a pen on paper is a "hand" or a "script".

 

Second, you might try working on paper that has guidelines, concentrating on keeping the bottoms of your letters on the same line and evening up the heights of your letters as well as having a consistent slant, or if you want to develop a vertical hand, making sure your verticals are truly vertical. You can experiment with different rulings by printing out samples from sites like https://generatedpaper.com/en. Try Seyès ruled, a small grid, or lines with a dashed middle line (where the top of letters like m, e and a go).

 

 

[Mar_]

3 hours ago, arcfide said:

If I can make a recommendation, are you after a particular look or is speed more important to you? Forgive my impertinence, but it seems to me that the hand you are developing could have a very nice, crisp, clean look once you progress, but it doesn't strike me as the sort of script that is likely to degrade gracefully under speed pressures as you try to increase the speed. I think it's important when you are practicing slow to remember what will be involved when you go fast, to ensure that you are practicing motions that can be effectively replicated at speed. 

Both Speed and Visual appearance. I see no disrespect in the message, I enjoy criticism. The letters all can, the only one I really alter the most when writing fast is Capital A's I remove the crossed line at the base of the letter. I also reduce the looping behind the "staff" of each letter? There are times where my T's upper and lower can change a lot, and a few other letters have variations (indecisiveness). I appreciate your words though  I'll keep these notes running through my mind while I run my practices.
 

1 hour ago, brokenclay said:

First a minor terminology nit: a "font" is a particular style, weight and size of a metal or wooden typeface or the digital equivalent. What you create with a pen on paper is a "hand" or a "script".

 

Second, you might try working on paper that has guidelines, concentrating on keeping the bottoms of your letters on the same line and evening up the heights of your letters as well as having a consistent slant, or if you want to develop a vertical hand, making sure your verticals are truly vertical. You can experiment with different rulings by printing out samples from sites like https://generatedpaper.com/en. Try Seyès ruled, a small grid, or lines with a dashed middle line (where the top of letters like m, e and a go).

 

 

Thank you for the education!

I agree my inconsistencies are irritating 😛 I am working on it. With my practice, I still try to find the best most efficient angle to have my notebook in front of me. Seems like my preference changes constantly. I need to stick with one (I know). I also need to build consistency with my pen hold and font size. I only have Dot Grid around me right now, I plan on going out hunting shops for some paper here soon. Thank you for dropping a bit of knowledge in the comments, really appreciated!

[brokenclay]

If you have access to a printer, and if the notebooks you currently have aren't of terribly opaque paper, you can print out a template and use it under your notebook page as a guide sheet. Try a couple different angles and line widths to see what fits your current handwriting style. 

[Mar_]

6 minutes ago, brokenclay said:

If you have access to a printer, and if the notebooks you currently have aren't of terribly opaque paper, you can print out a template and use it under your notebook page as a guide sheet. Try a couple different angles and line widths to see what fits your current handwriting style. 

Unfortunately I don't have access to a printer  - My paper wouldn't show through either I don't think. - Bless on the assistance of information though I can draw some guides too though, that's an option.

 

[brokenclay]

Then break out a ruler and draw some lines on your dot grid paper. It will help tremendously, I promise. Work on making all your oval letters the same size ovals (a, c, e, o, etc), and all your letters with straight lines the same angle and height (b, d, h, k, l, etc).

[Duffy]

@Mar_: So....are you still practicing? If so, how is your progress going ?