Uppercase Letters
Uppercase Warm-Ups
Uppercase Families
Extra Practice
Capital Letter Variations
Uppercase Warm-Ups
Like the lowercase warm-ups, these exercises will pave the way for you to form accurate letters later on. While the practice lines and shapes appear undecipherable, each one of them is actually part of an uppercase letter, and will help you break down the complexities of difficult stroke combinations. It’s also helpful to review the exercises periodically as you work through the book; they are useful for warming up before more difficult practices. For strategic practice on letters that are difficult for you, pinpoint the exercises that correspond with those letters, and run through those more often.
Uppercase Families
The uppercase letters are divided into eight family groups, based on their similar features:
• Flagpole letters
• Round letters
• Reverse loop letters
• Fish hook letters
• Candy cane letters
• Ostrich fern letters
• Cinnamon rolls
• Odd cousins
Check out the variations also—it’s good to have them in your toolbox to change things up, or to be able to find a better fit for a particular word.
You’ll see that while the round letters are drawn in a counterclockwise motion, the reverse loop letters, I and J, are the opposite. This takes some practice to get used to, but skill in writing both directions comes in handy, especially when you start to add flourishing.
The first stroke of the candy cane, ostrich fern, and cinnamon roll letters are similar, but they have subtle and important distinctions. Each of these strokes is represented in these Uppercase Warm-Ups for you to practice if any of these letters feel challenging.
UPPERCASE WARM-UPS
TRY IT: Practice tracing these lines on the gray versions. Extra lines are provided for more practice space.
FLAGPOLE LETTERS
These have a curved swoop up, like a waving flag, and a straight spine, like a flagpole.
VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Practice tracing these letters on the gray versions. Extra lines are provided for more practice space.
ROUND LETTERS
The round letters all contain at least one curved line that is written with a counterclockwise motion.
VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Practice tracing these letters on the gray versions. Extra lines are provided for more practice space.
REVERSE LOOP LETTERS
These move clockwise, rather than the counterclockwise motion we use for the round letters.
TRY IT: Practice tracing these letters on the gray versions. Extra lines are provided for more practice space.
FISH HOOK LETTERS
These are named for the curved descending line that ends in a hook.
TRY IT: Practice tracing these letters on the gray versions. Extra lines are provided for more practice space.
CANDY CANE LETTERS
These start with a loop but have a straight back. You can see the candy cane shape in the base of the letter.
TRY IT: Practice tracing these letters on the gray versions.
OSTRICH FERN LETTERS
These start with the same loop as the candy cane letters but descend in a reverse S shape.
VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Practice tracing these letters on the gray versions.
CINNAMON ROLLS
These also start with the same loop but swoop all the way directly under the loop and make a comma shape.
VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Practice tracing these letters on the gray versions. Extra lines are provided for more practice space.
ODD COUSINS
The odd cousins have eccentricities that don’t fit into the other family groups. These interesting letters can require extra practice because their lines and shapes are not as common as those found in other letters.
TRY IT: Practice tracing these letters on the gray versions.
CAPITAL LETTER VARIATIONS COMBINED WITH LOWERCASE LETTERS
TRY IT: Practice writing these quotes, which feature capital letter variations and combining lowercase letters.
Extra Practice
Uppercase letters, also called majuscules, are an exciting study in possibilities. By allowing sufficient time to practice and master each family group, you’ll have the tools to take your handwriting to the next level. If you find yourself struggling with the uppercase letters in your practice time, refer back to the exercises you just completed. They will help you with the correct stroke sequencing, which leads to fluid writing.
MAJUSCULES
TRY IT: Practice writing all the capital letters.
When you have a handle on these basic capitals, the variations in the upcoming sections will give your handwriting extra flair and versatility.
MAJUSCULE VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Practice writing the capital letter variations.
MAJUSCULE IN A QUOTE
TRY IT: Practice writing this quote.
Capital Letter Variations
If you’d like to try your hand at other styles, following are several alphabet exemplars provided for you to practice recreating.
COPPERPLATE CAPITAL LETTERS
TRY IT: Copy these Copperplate capital letters on the blank lines.
SPENCERIAN CAPITAL LETTERS
TRY IT: Try writing these Spencerian capital letters.
SPENCERIAN LOWERCASE LETTERS
TRY IT: Copy these lowercase letters on the blank lines provided.
While the classic Copperplate and Spencerian hands are traditionally executed with a dip pen or brush marker that allows for thick and thin lines, all of these exemplars were done with the same width line (using a fountain pen) to make them accessible for you to use in your everyday handwriting. They can be used with whatever writing utensil you have on hand for signatures, letter writing, list making, taking notes, and journaling. You can pull from different styles to suit your preferences and abilities. Keep trying letters that seem “too hard” for you. You might be surprised to find that suddenly one day they are the perfect fit for what you are writing, or just what you need to get out of a practice rut.
SPENCERIAN QUOTES
TRY IT: Copy these quotes to practice Spencerian letters.
Other Capital Letter Variations
Here’s another alphabet I compiled that is a simple yet elegant option. It’s more similar to the Spencerian hand than the Copperplate hand, but has a less ornate, more minimalistic style. Sometimes you don’t want to use fancy capital letters for your signature or other writing.
CAPITAL LETTER VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Practice this alphabet and, for more fun, use these simple, elegant capitals with words to discover your favorites.
When I practice different capital letter variations, I like to use them in a word to bring the letters to life and see how they “get along” with other letters. In the following pages of uppercase variations written with words, there are several styles of capital letters for you to practice in word form. Then, at the bottom of the exercises, try your own variations written with words.
CAPITAL A VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Copy these variations on the letter A.
CAPITAL B AND C VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Copy these variations on the letters B and C.
CAPITAL D, E, F, AND G VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Copy these variations on the letters D, E, F, and G.
CAPITAL H, I, J, K, L, AND M VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Copy these variations on the letters H, I, J, K, L, and M.
CAPITAL N, O, P, Q, AND R VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Copy these variations on the letters N, O, P, Q, and R.
CAPITAL S, T, W, Y, AND Z VARIATIONS
TRY IT: Copy these variations on the letters S, T, W, Y, and Z. (U, V, and X are not included because those letters aren’t as common, and examples are found elsewhere in
the book.)
Getting Started
Cursive
Printing
Putting It All Together
Creative Endeavors with Cursive
Joining Letters
Connecting Capitals with Lowercase Letters
Common Pitfalls
What to Do with Double Letters
The Ups and Downs of Flourishing
Signatures: What’s in a Name?
Joining Letters
While we probably don’t give it too much thought, admirable handwriting is marked by proper letter joins. With most letter combinations, joining the letters flows fairly naturally, but there are a few difficult letter joins that require extra thought and attention.
Twenty-two of the twenty-six letters have an exit stroke that starts at the base line. Because of this opportune placement, most of the letters in the alphabet lead in to the next letter fairly easily. If you’d like an exercise that tackles the alphabet systematically, you can write through all the possible pairs with each letter. I’ve provided two-letter combinations for all the vowels and for p, r, and t for you to trace and replicate to get you started. You can also practice letter joins with words and phrases. You’ll see that the angle of the line connecting letters will change based on what type of join it is. Two parallel letters (like t’s and l’s) will require a differently angled join than a straight letter with a round letter (t and o, for example), or two round letters (a and d).
fun facts
Have you ever wondered about the common expression used to predict calamity, “I can see the handwriting on the wall”? This idiom originates from an ancient biblical story in the book of Daniel, written between the fifth and third centuries B.C., in which King Belshazzar was warned by a mysterious hand that appeared out of nowhere and scripted a prophetic message on the palace wall.
LETTER JOINS USING A
TRY IT: Practice writing these various letter joins. Then write the phrase.
LETTER JOINS USING E
TRY IT: Practice writing these various letter joins. Then write the phrase.
LETTER JOINS USING I
TRY IT: Practice writing these various letter joins. Then write the quote on a piece of practice paper.
LETTER JOINS USING O
TRY IT: Practice writing these various letter joins. Then write the quote.
LETTER JOINS USING U
TRY IT: Practice writing these various letter joins. Then write the quote on a piece of practice paper.
LETTER JOINS USING P
TRY IT: Practice writing these various letter joins. Then write the phrase.
LETTER JOINS USING R
TRY IT: Practice writing these various letter joins. Then write the quote.
LETTER JOINS USING T
TRY IT: Practice writing these various letter joins. Then write the quote on a piece of practice paper.
Letter Joins Using b, o, v, and w
The letters b, o, v, and w are the four letters that deviate from the norm. These letters have an exit stroke at the waist line—a small swooping stroke that looks like the smile on a smiley face. In spite of its happy shape, this exit stroke sometimes makes it difficult to connect with other letters of the alphabet. The key is to make this line distinct enough to maintain legibility as it melds with the next letter.
For example, take a look at the b-e combination in the following practice exercise. The exit stroke of the b becomes part of the loop of the e, but there is enough space between the two to distinguish the two letters. In the b-r combo, the angle of the exit stroke curves upward to allow for the first stroke of the r.
The o-r and o-s combinations are typically awkward. For legibility, both the r and the s work best starting at the base line, but here they are forced to start at the waist line. I find it helps to drop the exit stroke of the o a bit (just enough to not look like an a) to allow room for an exaggerated entrance into the r and the s. The w-r combo is similar.
handwriting heroes
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was left-handed, and wrote in a mysterious style of mirror-writing from right to left and backward. To be read normally, it needs to be reflected in a mirror. Several theories have emerged about why Da Vinci wrote in mirror-writing. One is strictly practical: as a lefty, he avoided smudging the ink. Another possibility is that by having to think about his backward writing, his brain may have been more likely to remember the content, a technique known as “reinforced learning.”
Letters with Descender-to-Ascender Joins
Another letter connection to watch for is the descender-to-ascender join. For these letter pairs, your pen needs to travel from the descender line to the ascender line in one long movement, with the goal to keep this stroke smooth and steady enough to blend in with the rest of the word. The most common examples of this join are found in the g-h, g-l, and y-l letter combinations.
LETTER JOINS USING B, O, V, AND W
TRY IT: Trace these letter joins on the gray versions.
DESCENDER-TO-ASCENDER AND OTHER JOINS TO PRACTICE
TRY IT: Practice these letter combinations until you like their look and feel.
Extra Practice
Copying the words and phrases will help you test out various letter joins and build good habits. For extra practice, write all the words you can think of using the joins you find the most challenging. Letter joining and letter spacing are close cousins, since the angle of your join impacts the white space between your letters. Remember to analyze your spacing between the letters periodically while you practice, checking for consistency within and between the letters. I like to turn my page upside down to check spacing—it’s a great way to get a fresh view of the white space, without the distraction of reading the words.
With concentrated effort, even the toughest letter joins will start to feel more natural. Your handwriting will be more legible and appealing. And you’ll be rewarded with greater ease and speed in your writing.
If you want to make progress with a difficult letter, try this tip. For me, lowercase cursive r’s are a difficult letter to master, so I like to write through the alphabet putting an r between each letter, for example: arbrcrdrerfrgr…
Using this method, you get a chance to practice the challenging letter in relation to other letters, and inadvertently find out which letter joins and spacing issues need the most attention.
PRACTICING A CHALLENGING LETTER
TRY IT: Practice by putting a letter you want to master between each letter in the alphabet.
Connecting Capitals with Lowercase Letters
When you look at your everyday cursive writing, do you typically join capital letters to lowercase ones, or lift your pen and leave a space between them? Either way is acceptable, and you’ll likely find that you incorporate both methods, depending on the uppercase variation you choose and the combination of the two letters.
Here are examples of the same name written two ways: first, with the uppercase and lowercase letter joined, and second, with a separation between the two letters.
If your objective is to write quickly, you may prefer joining the capital to the lowercase letter to increase the flow of your handwriting. However, a pen lift after the uppercase letter and a break in the space before starting the next letter is more conducive to adding flourishing or other design elements. Keep in mind that some combinations of letters might not join as smoothly, such as a capital F followed by an i, as in Fiona.
As you can see in this example, after the cross bar of the F, it makes more sense, and is more legible, to start fresh at the base line with the next letter.
When you are writing words with capital letters, keep your mind open to new ideas. I like to think of capital letters as the lead parts in a play, with great capacity to bring energy, creativity, and personality to a word or piece. They are also one of the most versatile aspects of handwriting. You can have a lot of fun with capital letters and still not compromise legibility.
It can be monotonous practicing lines of
the same letter over and over. To make it more interesting, go through the alphabet using the names of people or places, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada…Zimbabwe! This way you will be practicing both uppercase and lowercase letters, and also working on spacing and joining letters.
practice tips
Starting the letters at the correct spot and knowing the right direction and sequence of the strokes is helpful, although people have different preferences regarding this. You may find it’s easier, for example, to start a stroke at the bottom, even though the traditional ductus shows the stroke starting at the top. You don’t have to be a stickler about the rules; as long as the end result is legible, use the sequencing strategy that works most naturally for you.
MAKING PRACTICE INTERESTING
TRY IT: Go through the alphabet and think of a name or place for each letter.
Common Pitfalls
Identifying and correcting some common pitfalls will bring steady improvements to even the most illegible penmanship. Understanding letter formation establishes a good foundation and naturally solves many problems related to messy penmanship. Recognizing particular areas to troubleshoot is the next step to reversing any bad habits you may have developed. Check a sample of your handwriting for any of the following:
Issue
Remedy
Not closing counters in letters like a, o, g, and d.
Review the following section “A Case for Closing Counters.”
The Lost Art of Handwriting Page 4