Where to start to improve fountain pen handwriting?

[Azulcaneta]

New to the hobby and curious if anyone has a good starting place to develop a terrific fountain pen writing style. Penmanship is decent not great and would love to improve the craft.

[miwishi63]

I downloaded and printed a basic cursive writing guide that is posted above my desk. It was the closest I could find to what I learned when I was a wee lad. Also, learning to write slowly and deliberately helped.

[A Smug Dill]

Practising on paper is the good starting place.

 

But, if you meant a book or resource you can just acquire, Italic and Copperplate Calligraphy: The Basics and Beyond by Eleanor Winters is pretty good.

 

[txomsy]

I'd probably take it easy. You may start at operina.com where you will find a number of handwriting improvement texts for free.

 

[InkyColors]

If you want to improve your regular cursive writing The Lost Art of Handwiting by Brenna Jordan is good.

[Azulcaneta]

thank you for the great suggestions!

[ParramattaPaul]

On a practical note, much can be gained by relaxing and slowing down. Take your time forming your letters. Relax your hand, arm,and shoulder as you write. 

[Karmachanic]

Start by deciding which hand/style/script you wish to learn and go from there.

[Azulcaneta]

Thanks. First I have figure out what the options are:)

[Mercian]

  On 3/24/2022 at 11:01 PM, Azulcaneta said:

New to the hobby and curious if anyone has a good starting place to develop a terrific fountain pen writing style. Penmanship is decent not great and would love to improve the craft.

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If you wish to develop clearer handwriting that is elegant, I recommend the book Write Now by Barbara Getty & Inga Dubay.

It teaches a clear handwriting style that is based on ‘italic cursive’ handwriting.

Their letter-forms are consistent, distinctive, and they are clear and quick-&-easy to read and to write.

They have a website, and various online resources available to assist you in learning their ‘method’.
Linky.

 

If you wish to learn a specific ‘copperplate’ style, or late-nineteenth-century ‘Business’ handwriting, I recommend that you look through the various resources on the IAMPETH website, and choose to learn whichever style that you prefer.

 

Sadly, the only way to succeed in learning any new handwriting style is through many hours of repeated practice.

I suggest that you start by scheduling regular practice sessions of twenty-thirty-minutes at a time, at the same time daily (or every-alternate-day).

 

But the best advice has already been given to you - relax your grip upon your pen, and then s-l-o-w d-o-w-n your writing.

This will assist you by enabling you to concentrate on forming your letter-shapes correctly.

This self-discipline is vital, because when you are trying to improve your handwriting, what you are actually attempting to do is to re-program your ‘muscle-memory’ after many years (in my case, several decades) of ‘bad habits’.

 

Good luck 

[Kumachan]

Thanks for all the suggestions!  After writing in print, for decades, I'm trying to get back to writing in cursive. My cursive is atrocious, right now, but like everything else in life, it's all about the time and effort I put into practicing. 

[ParramattaPaul]

Also, this book: Improve Your Handwriting (Teach Yourself): Sassoon, Rosemary, Briem, Gunnlaugur S. E.: 9781444103793: Amazon.com: Books

[A Smug Dill]

  On 3/25/2022 at 9:04 PM, Azulcaneta said:

First I have figure out what the options are:)

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Then perhaps you'd want to look into The Calligrapher's Bible: 100 Complete Alphabets and How to Draw Them by David Harris.

[txomsy]

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about a style at the beginning. I would rather concentrate in picking up the right attitude and starting practice.

 

There have been enough styles (as the 100 alphabets can show, and many more) to prove that the style is not the point, but the means to an end. It is the end that matters.

 

You can think of it as an old Japanese Samurai: calligraphy was one of the "tools of the trade". You may lead a risky, adventurous, messy life (you can in almost any human endeavor), but the more intense it is, the more important it becomes to relax at some point, take it easy, enjoy paucity and pride in a nice-looking work well done. Take your writing as your "zen" beauty moment. No need to hurry, no need to angst, just be quiet, relax and enjoy.

 

Then simply aim for good looking.

 

The main problem, when one starts, is knowing what is it that makes some writing "good looking".  Tradition will tell you that consistency of letter height, shape, disposition and spacing is paramount: try to make all your letters consistent, repeatable (that all 'x' -for whichever 'x'- look the same), that all letters align to a uniform, horizontal base line, all having the same slant, all taking the same space and ensuring enough and consistent space is left between words, etc...

 

Then you'll look into "modern calligraphy" and see letters that do not align exactly to a straight line, changing shapes, whatever, and still look "nice". One may argue and systematize it (if you are that kind of person) noticing the whole line is horizontal, deviations follow harmonious curves, etc...

 

So, it's the overall harmony that really makes it, not the rules. Whatever. The point is it looks nice, whether it follows rules or not.

 

So, relax, make it your "zen", private, quiet. leisure moment, enjoy, take it easy and look at the ensemble (not the individual letters) and seek that it all looks harmonious for you. Oh, practicing individual letters in a single style may also work and does for many, so if you are that kind of person, start there. In the end you will end up caring for everything (as for a flowering bud) anyways.

 

Some notes: most of us write horrible with a "cold" hand or in a hurry; like sports, writing benefits from some "warming up", focus and concentration. Don't worry. Relax. Take it easy. Enjoy. Let it sink.

 

So, just get going.

[Estycollector]

There is a writing style in which the first capitalized letter is a printed version that I have found helpful. Making a decent "f" or "t" can be intimidating. 

 

As has already been said, relax, and I will add, just use an FP as you would any pen or pencil type. 

[txomsy]

  On 3/26/2022 at 1:21 PM, Estycollector said:

As has already been said, relax, and I will add, just use an FP as you would any pen or pencil type. 

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But for the pressure, you do not need to press an FP against the paper, just let it glide, you'll also notice that loosening the grip gives your hand more freedom and is less tiring.

[Paul_LZ]

  On 3/25/2022 at 1:54 AM, A Smug Dill said:

Practising on paper is the good starting place.

 

But, if you meant a book or resource you can just acquire, Italic and Copperplate Calligraphy: The Basics and Beyond by Eleanor Winters is pretty good.

 

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As usual, great advice. I am going to order that book!

[Vintage_BE]

Should you decide to learn “American” cursive, here is a link to a free course based on very helpful YouTube tutorials (I took the course myself and was quite impressed): https://consistentcursive.com. Good luck and, as prior respondents wrote, take it slow and enjoy the process.

[PPPR]

  On 10/3/2022 at 4:49 PM, Vintage_BE said:

Should you decide to learn “American” cursive, here is a link to a free course based on very helpful YouTube tutorials (I took the course myself and was quite impressed): https://consistentcursive.com. Good luck and, as prior respondents wrote, take it slow and enjoy the process.

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If memory serves, that style used to be called business writing to distinguish it from Spencerian when it was created. There were many versions of the business style. I was taught the Palmer Method in school.