The Lost Art of Handwriting
Page 3
Sometimes our handwriting can be hard to read. What exactly makes handwriting legible? Most of the exercises in this book help to sum up the answer in one word: consistency. There are five areas of consistency we will be taking a look at: consistency in size, slant, spacing, style, and pressure. As your eye becomes more trained, you will be able to spot inconsistencies in your handwriting, and target your practice time on those areas.
Size
First, let’s consider consistency in size. When you look at a sample of your handwriting, do you see any letters that stand out because they are larger or smaller than the others? Are the words on the top line approximately the same size as the words on the bottom of the page? Inconsistencies in size will interrupt the flow and can even affect legibility. For example, a cursive L can easily look like a cursive E if the loop sizes don’t maintain a consistent height, and words with these letters will be harder for the reader to decipher.
fun facts
In 1748, Benjamin Franklin (borrowing many details from George Fisher’s Young Man’s Best Companion) published models of impeccable handwriting in The American Instructor. John Jenkins’s book The Art of Writing, published in 1791, also broadened the scope of copperplate engraving in America. Both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were printed from plates that scribes of the day had etched using the script style that became known as Copperplate.
The quote on page 34 by Teresa R. Funke is a perfect fit for practicing consistency. It contains an abundance of loops: eleven e’s, seven descenders, and more than twenty ascenders. Making a conscious effort to be consistent with the height and width of similar letters can take some getting used to. Once you get in the habit, you will improve legibility and also achieve more fluid and precise handwriting. Using paper with guidelines is extremely helpful to keep your letters within boundaries; it also helps you keep an eye out for uniformity in the size of your counters and ascender and descender loops.
Slant
Another area of consistency is the slant of your letters. Look at a piece of your handwriting. Does your angle stay consistent? This isn’t as crucial to legibility as consistent size is, but it will make a big difference in the cohesive appearance of your writing. Let’s take a word like fulfillment, with a lot of ascenders. These ascenders look cleaner and more appealing when they are parallel.
If you’re not sure about your slant consistency, here’s a great way to check: take a sample of your handwriting that has a few lines of text, or create one with any of the quotes provided in this book. Using a ruler, extend the straight vertical lines (for example, the downstrokes that appear in the letters f or l) a few inches above and below with a pencil. When you’re done, you’ll want to see pencil lines that are fairly parallel, not crisscrossing in several directions.
Spacing
The next tenet of legible writing is an especially important one: spacing. This takes extra mindfulness, since good spacing is necessary in four places: within the letter itself, between letters, between words, and between lines. It’s not quite as important how much space you decide to leave, as long as the spaces stay consistent and the words can be read efficiently.
If you need help critiquing your spacing, try this tip: take a page of your handwriting and turn it upside down. When you’re not distracted by the meaning of the words, you can see them more as shapes and observe the balance of white space as an artistic exercise.
Style
Consistency in style is another area to keep in mind. We all develop our own style of writing, with nuances that express our personal preferences. The goal for your handwritten page is not to be consistent with someone else’s style, but with your own. If you begin writing with smooth and loopy letters, try to keep the same letter forms going, instead of switching midway to, say, a sharper, angular style. It’s handy to utilize lots of different styles for different projects, as long as they aren’t competing with each other in the same piece of work.
handwriting heroes
You never know when handwriting will be a literal lifesaver. John F. Kennedy and his crewmates were stranded on an uninhabited island in the Pacific during World War II. He carved a message into a coconut shell requesting a rescue from the Allied troops and sent it with two Solomon Islanders who were paddling by. The coconut husk was later returned and made into a paperweight that he kept on his desk in the Oval Office when he became president.
Pressure
Finally, think about the amount of pressure you use when writing. Many of us are more heavy-handed and have to make an effort to use a lighter touch. When you find what works well for you, try to maintain a steady, even pressure. This will prevent any noticeable variations in the weight of the letters. Also, consider the amount of pressure you use when you are selecting writing tools. The right combination of paper and writing utensils can make a huge difference in producing good results.
fun facts
While we are accustomed to beginning our sentences on the left side of a page and moving right, some scribes orient their text differently. Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian are a few of the world’s languages that are written from right to left. Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean writing has another notable difference: characters are written vertically, from top to bottom, while also starting on the right side of the page and moving left.
Speed
As you practice writing, take note of your speed. In fact, a key to mastering consistency and neatness more quickly may be an ironic one: slowing down. Writing more slowly, especially when you are learning or changing deeply rooted habits, will give you time to recall good technique and build muscle memory. Practicing slowly will help with accuracy and control, as well as with the areas of consistency we’ve just covered.
Margins
Margins provide necessary white space to make your piece of writing look cleaner, and give it room to breathe. Paper that is marked with margins helps to prevent crowding your piece with words that run too close to the edges. It’s a good idea to allot generous margins, in case of the few letters here or there that must run over the right margin a little to finish the word. Start by observing margins when you look at text, other people’s handwriting, and your own. When we are convinced of the appeal of margins, it’s easier to incorporate them into our own writing.
Putting It All Together
Being mindful of all these areas of consistency while you’re writing is a juggling act, but don’t get overwhelmed thinking of everything all at once. Look at your handwriting objectively and select one area that you’d like to work on first. Ignore any other habits for the time being, and just work on that area until you see improvement. But don’t stop there—keep practicing until you can achieve the results you want effortlessly.
Building your confidence is motivating, and it will propel you to surmount the next hurdle. Maintain your practice with the fun ideas discussed later in the book, and remember to celebrate your progress along the way.
fun facts
The iconic Coca-Cola logo is a famous example of Spencerian script, which was the typical style of handwriting taught in America from about 1850 to 1925. The logo was designed in 1885 by Frank Robinson, the founder’s partner and bookkeeper, who was especially in favor of the name having two capital C’s. Today it is one of the most recognized logos in the world.
PRACTICE WARM-UP
TRY IT: Copy the quote on the blank lines.
SIZE PRACTICE
TRY IT: Copy the quote in order to practice size consistency.
SPACING PRACTICE
TRY IT: Practice writing the word minimum, a common word used to check your spacing. Aim to keep the space within the letters, like the hills of the m’s and n’s, equal to the space between the letters. Then try writing the quote on a piece of practice paper for extra practice.
SLANT PRACTICE
TRY IT: Write the word fulfillment to practice slant consistency. Then try writing the quote on a piece of practice paper for extra practice.<
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STYLE PRACTICE
TRY IT: Write the quote and concentrate specifically on keeping whatever style you start with consistent throughout your piece.
SPEED PRACTICE
TRY IT: Write the quote and concentrate specifically on writing slowly to practice accuracy and control.
MARGINS PRACTICE
TRY IT: Observe the margins as you write this quote.
Getting Started
Cursive
Printing
Putting It All Together
Lowercase Letters
Lowercase Warm-Ups
Lowercase Families
Underhand or Overhand Stroke Examples
Lowercase Warm-Ups
Handwriting exercises may not seem very exciting, but they’re a shortcut to developing smooth writing. You’ll improve your consistency in size and spacing, and learn good technique regarding the shape and direction of strokes. Get in the habit of doing warm-up exercises each time you practice. Slow and methodical practice will prepare you to write faster, yet still legibly, when you need to get something down on paper quickly. But for now, take your time; it will definitely pay off!
• Parallel lines (line 1): Make sure the strokes start at the ascender line and touch the base line, and keep them straight, parallel, and equally spaced. Practice them in a downward direction, then reverse it and make a row of parallel lines using upstrokes. Do you find one harder than the other?
• Underhand and overhand curves (lines 2 and 3): Try to keep these strokes consistently sloped and uniform in height.
• Hills, valleys, and curves (lines 4–7): Work on maintaining uniform shapes. Evaluate the white space, as well as the lines, when you are finished with a line of exercises.
• Ovals (line 8): This important exercise will help you with the rounded shapes found in both the lowercase and uppercase letters. Check your ovals for consistent slant, shape, height, and symmetry.
• Loops (lines 9 and 10): Practicing loops will help you with the ascender and descender letters. Work on forming even loops with smooth, rounded tops, and keeping all the counters (enclosed white spaces) as consistent as possible.
• The j shape (line 11): The j shape exercise gives you a chance to work on your descender loop. Check to see if you can achieve rounded loops, even counters, and smooth transitions from the descender line up to the waist line.
• The eyelid shape (line 12): This exercise is the exit stroke of the b, o, v, and w. Practicing this stroke as an isolated form will help when it comes time to putting strokes together to form the letter, and also when you practice joining cursive letters later on in the book.
LOWERCASE WARM-UPS
TRY IT: Trace over the gray letters to practice.
Spacing Exercise
This exercise is really effective for building consistent letter forms. Write the line of nu, giving special attention to consistent spacing within and between the letters. To double-check, turn the page upside down and see if all the white spaces between letter strokes are fairly uniform in size.
nu LETTER COMBINATION
TRY IT: Trace over the gray letters to practice.
Exercise with hy
A great way to check for consistency is to turn your line of joined h’s and y’s upside down. Do they look the same? If it’s a challenge getting the ascenders and descenders to look uniform, try slowing way down. It’s tempting to want to make loops quickly, like roller coasters. Try writing them in slow motion and observe the difference in your results.
hy LETTER COMBINATION
TRY IT: Trace over the gray letters to practice.
Loopy Exercise
Make a line of short and tall loops. Lowercase e’s and l’s are often mistaken for each other, because their only difference is height. This exercise will help you build fine motor control and aid in legibility when you need to write fast.
“el” LETTER COMBINATION
TRY IT: Trace over the gray letters to practice.
Lowercase Families
To help you learn and practice more effectively, the lowercase alphabet is divided into five family groups based on the similar features of the letters:
• The waves
• Rounded letters
• Loopy letters
• Odd cousins
• Loop variations
The following exercises will help you build muscle memory, as you’ll be working consecutively on the same type of strokes found in that letter family.
THE WAVES
VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Trace over the gray letters to practice. Create your own letter in the blank spaces provided after the gray letters. Then try the variations.
ROUNDED LETTERS
VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Trace over the gray letters to practice. Create your own letter in the blank spaces provided after the gray letters. Then try the variations.
LOOPY LETTERS
VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Trace over the gray letters to practice. Create your own letter in the blank spaces provided after the gray letters. Then try the variations.
Odd Cousins
These letters often require a little extra attention, since they have some unusual stroke patterns to master. The good news is, there are alternatives to the traditional cursive style so you can experiment to find what works best for your hand. As you can see in the samples on the following exercise, a printed version of these letters works fine when paired with other cursive letters.
Loop Variations
Try this subtle variation in the ascender loops derived from the graceful Copperplate style on the following exercise. This will help if your loops tend to be hard to control, too large, or irregularly slanted. The variation adds a slight pause and direction change: instead of going directly from the base line to the ascender line, stop at the waist line, slightly shift your angle outward, and form your loop. I usually don’t take the time to do this in my everyday handwriting, but if I’m writing something fancier, I love to use these alternative loops. They are more elegant and will also give you a head start if you go on to study brush calligraphy or modern script lettering.
handwriting heroes
“Writing is a consequence of thinking, planning, dreaming,” explains author Joyce Carol Oates, who writes out her books by hand. Elin Hilderbrand also composes her books, two novels a year, in longhand. Other bestselling authors who pen their books in handwriting are Amy Tan, James Patterson, Stephen King, and Danielle Steel.
ODD COUSINS
VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Trace over the gray letters to practice, then use the blank lines to try to write your own version of star and rest.
LOOP VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Trace over the gray letters to practice. Then write the quote.
Underhand or Overhand Stroke Examples
Entrance and exit strokes in cursive letters are the lines leading into the letter or exiting after the letter is formed. The strokes can be written using two different orientations that can be described as underhand or overhand.
Practice these underhand and overhand strokes, as isolated strokes and in letters, until they feel natural and fluid. It’s beneficial to know both of them, as the variety adds interest to fine handwriting.
• Lines 1 and 2: The two options apply to both the entrance and exit strokes of letters.
• Line 3: An underhand stroke is used for both the entrance and exit stroke of the letter.
• Line 4: This line uses an overhand stroke for both the entrance and exit stroke.
• Line 5: The entrance stroke is underhand, while the exit stroke is overhand.
• Line 6: An overhand entrance stroke introduces the letter, followed by an underhand exit.
Experiment with all these combinations in your handwriting to see what looks best—a lot will depend on the context of the letter. These strokes might not seem that exciting at first glance, but these simple variations provide an amazing opportunity to change up yo
ur writing.
After you master the basic entrance and exit strokes, there’s room for adding personality. The strokes can be written with varying lengths, depending on their placement in the text. They are also the perfect spot for adding flourishing, as long as they don’t interfere with legibility.
practice tips
Pangrams are sentences that use all twenty-six letters of the alphabet at least once. They are perfect for handwriting practice because you will be using each letter. Use these examples or make up your own pangram for an extra challenge!
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The five boxing wizards jump quickly.
How vexingly quick daft zebras jump!
ENTRANCE AND EXIT STROKE WARM-UPS
TRY IT: Trace over the gray letters to practice. Then write the words You are enough on a separate piece of paper.
LOWERCASE ALPHABET
TRY IT: Practice copying these lowercase letters.
LOWERCASE WITH A CLASSIC PANGRAM
TRY IT: Copy this pangram for extra practice.
LOWERCASE IN QUOTES
TRY IT: Copy these quotes for extra practice.
Getting Started
Cursive
Printing
Putting It All Together