Training wheels - are not touching the ground

Training wheels do not sit on the ground with the two wheels on the bicycle.

They are up in the air - so that the learner can balance on the two main wheels - and they only need the training wheels if they are losing balance and tipping too much.

It is time to start making letters that are even in width and even in spacing.

Writing on top of the slant lines is a good way to educate your eye on EVEN WIDTH of both the LETTERS and the SPACES.

You need to be creating those consistent width of letters and width of spaces on your own. You need to start trusting your eyes.

This page shows how to use the slant lines as a guide to maintain the proper slant, but you do not put the stem strokes ON TOP OF each guide line.

To learn how to be CONSISTENT in the width of letters as well as the spacing - we have been using a technique where we FORCE all the letters onto the slant lines. This helps in the beginning - but eventually, we run into letters that just don't fit the grid.

m-i-n-u-l-t-h-y all fit the grid

the letter a wants to be a little bit narrower - and so will the c-e-o

So, it is time let go of putting the stem strokes on top of the slant lines and let your eyes do the proper spacing. Proper and consistent width of the letters as well as proper and consistent space between letters.

If you do not understand that the width of letters and the amount of space between letters SHOULD BE APPROXIMATELY the SAME -- then you need to review. This has to make sense. Most bad penmanship has letters that vary in width and are too close together.

Here is a close up of the top of the lesson sheet.

I cut off that last comment on the lower right. It says to keep the top of the r  flat.

The top line shows how we have been putting every single stroke on top of the slant lines.

Where I wrote - you will not be directly on the slant lines - you can see that those letters are not directly on the slant lines. However - the letters are consistent in their width - and the space between each letter is about the same as the width of the letters.

Just because I wrote words using letters that we are not yet learning does not mean that you should start doing those letters.

Stick with m-i-n-l-h-t-y-a- and we will add r.

The r is a very good example of a letter that is simply a bit narrower than an n - so that is why it is time to get off the slant lines. We will still want the slant lines on the paper to guide us. But we will not put stem strokes on top of the slant lines.

The r should be roughly 2/3 the width of the n. Half width is a little too skinny.

Most people do not have trouble going up to the waist line and then going over a tiny bit to make the ear. But the thing that often happens is that they make a very quick slope down and then make a narrow pinched r. I think the r looks much better if there is a tiny bit of a level at the top and then a very tight curve into the down stroke.

This is a matter of taste. But, I will keep mentioning it if I see r's that are really narrow with sloping tops.

Here is a close up of the bottom of the lesson sheet.

After you write the words - take a colored pencil and draw slant lines through the stem strokes. Then look at how consistent those colored pencil lines are. You can also use another color to fill in the triangles that are formed by the joining strokes -- 

You end up with a lot of stuff on the page and it can be confusing.

Another way to do this is to put your guide sheet under tracing paper - write some words - and then remove the guide sheet - and draw colored pencil lines over your stem strokes - so you can see exactly how consistent you are on your slant, your width of your letters, and the spacing that you have between your letters.

 

Practice without training wheels + 3 a's

Fold the top margin to the back so that your line to write on is directly under the line you already wrote and are going to repeat - only without the guidelines.

Try to maintain the same spacing of each word so that they are the same length.

Hopefully, it will be easy to maintain the slant even without the guide lines.

After you do one line, refold the paper so that you have a new line to write on .

Repeat each line as many times as you feel like it.

Then move down to the following lines.

PAY ATTENTION TO THIS:

as you keep folding down the paper, it will have so many folds that it will be crazy bouncy.

Each time to fold down, you will have to fold in the opposite direction to make the paper lay flat.

Or you can cut the line off.

BUT YOU MUST do something to make the paper lay flat.

You can not write on a bouncy surface.

It will not work.

Sorry -- this is tedious - but you really need to have the line you are repeating right in front of your nose.

We wil not do a lot of this -- it is just to gauge when you are starting to develop some muscle memory.

Below, I wrote the words, repeating your line - and it was clearly too big and wide to feel comfortable. For me to write comfortably, it will be smaller.

So, I wrote comfortably - and you can see that it is about 75% smaller.

You can also see on this line, I penciled in a top guide line - because the blue lines were too far apart.

You may do that if you wish -- I do not know how your printed guidelines compare to notebook paper.

The point is that it is somewhat un-natural to write so large - unless you normally write really large.

But, it is like body building. If you do not lift weights - you will not build muscles.

The exact sizes are not critical - feel free to find sizes that work for you.

Be vigilant about keeping the spaces between the letters and within the letters complementary.

Below are 3 a's. Hopefully, you can see that the middle one is better looking than the other two.

We can discuss further.

When it comes to a-c-e-o - you will be creating some ovals that are similar.

Each has something unique to define it, but they need to complement each other.

You do not want a big, fat curve at the bottom.

That starts to look like an ugly blob - or - as some people call it

*a full diaper*

You do not like that flat top on the a -- so go ahead and let it curve gracefully.

Just keep a little more space at the top.

The inside of the a is called a *counter*

You do not want a droopy counter.

The Spencerian a is wider on the bottom - but it manages to be a graceful teardrop shape.

We can talk later about why that shape works in Spencerian.

But for business styles, we want that oval to not be droopy.

Some of the business a's do look very oval - and there is not slightly more weight on the top.

So -- down the road, you can relax into a more balanced oval.

But, if you just try for a balanced oval - you will sometimes err - and get a bottom heavy.

If you try for top heavy, you will get some top heavies, and if you err - it will only be to the point where you have top and bottom equal.

You probably won't go all the way to bottom heavy.

And we are trying to avoid bottom heavy.

All your work on copperplate was time well spent and it relates to business penmanship in many ways.

The main way it differs is that it is not CURSIVE.

CURSIVE is also called running hand - and it is meant to be a practical way to write efficiently with graceful curves.

Business hands are more organic than copperplate.

Copperplate is very geometric - so, it takes more work to make all the components super symmetrical.

Business hand allows for more natural, flowing rhythmic movement.

At your age, you are going to blend all the different things you have learned into something that pleases your eyes.

All your hard work is mostly stomping out your bad habits.

The fact that you are sneaking in some prettier letters while you are taking notes is wonderful.

That is what we want to happen.

You can't make the bad habits go away 100% of the time. They are stuck in your muscle memory.

But, you can consciously over-ride them.

It's like a scar. You can cover it with makeup, but, it's always going to be there.

 

The letter a

 

We will refer to two stem strokes on the a.

These are the strokes that are on the left and right side of the letter that are printed on your guidelines.

There is one sharp corner and two two curves that connect.

So, you are making something that is not a circle.

It is also not a football.

In Spencerian, the a looks like a teardrop - and we will not be doing teardrops at this point. 

Someday, you might switch to teardrops.

We are not really trying to make a PERFECT balanced oval.

We are maintaining a thinner, pointy-er bottom.

Most business styles will start you on an oval - but, I prefer you to keep the bottom a little narrower,

so that you are consistent with your triangles at the bottom. 

1-- a curved entrance stroke that joins the first *stem* of the a - at the mid-point (halfway between the baseline and the x-height -also called the waist-line)

2--dotted line shows that you can keep your pen on the paper and go up and over to point 4 (with a little curve) and then go back down, staying on top of the line that goes from 1 to 4.

I usually lift my pen and jump from the entrance stroke over to point 4, but it is entirely up to you. refer to the second a that is pictured below.

3-- shows that you may want a tiny bit of flat surface on the top of the letter. This is optional. The entire stroke can be curved - but you have to be vigilant that you do not lapse into something that is too rounded. You want to create some volume in the letter a but you do not want it too round. 

4-- is the point where the left side stem stroke starts - and I should have had an arrow pointing to that straight-ish part of the left stem right before you hit the base line and curve into 5

There are several different shapes that you can do on the a - and you have to choose the one that you like best. I prefer to start with more width at the top because it will help you with c-e-o

5-- is where you turn a fairly tight curved corner and head back up to 4. There is some secret curve so that it is below the slant of the join line. When you get back to the 4, you reverse direction and head straight down

6-- as you approach 6, do a tight curved corner and do your standard exit stroke from the letter.

7-- the exit stroke will have a tiny bit of scoop and it can blend in with the first stem stroke of the m - as long as you are creating a nice triangle

8-- when you get to 8, you reverse direction and follow the guide line down to 9

9-- here you start your journey to 10 - making an over-stroke that curves over the top of the orange line.

10-- make a tight curve as you go over the top and head down the second stem stroke of the m

11-- after you hit 11, reverse and make another hump to match the one you just made

That last stem on the m has a curve at the top and a curve at the bottom as it heads over to the n.

The i in aminah is missing, but you should understand the construction of i-n-m well enough to insert an i there.

12-- Notice that the branching-join stroke that leads into the 12 - can head into the first stem stroke on the n a little bit down from the top. 

13-- is a repeat of the first stem stroke of the a. Experiment with keeping your pen on the paper and go up and over and then reverse and go back down staying on the same line

-or-

lead into the first stem stroke - and then jump over to the top of the second stem stroke and make that first curved stem stroke.

The two groups of aaa show different ways of shading to identify what kinds of shapes you are making.

The first two are fine - notice what makes them different and the third one is way too round - losing the triangle.

The second group of aaa shows that the amount of triangle on the first two are fine and the last one is not good. Of those three, I think the first one is a little clunky - and would definitely go with the middle shape. The middle one looks a lot like italic because it has a lot of almond shape to it. A lot of business penmanship exemplars stay away from those almond shapes - but I recommend them highly if you are trying to obliterate ugly penmanship. They will grow on you and your decades of ROUND letters will automatically soften the angularity of the italic shapes. So, I hope you are not put off by the extra angularity as you learn the 26 letters.

Here it is all in one piece if you want to print it out.

Overstrokes and understrokes and joins

All of these comments are focused on the lines that transition between the stem strokes.

A stem stroke is anything that is drawn right over the top of a slant line.

They are all written from top to bottom and we call them a stem

because the strokes that take you back up are called branch strokes.

So - your transition from a stem to a branch should be graceful. 

It can be a little pointed - but it should not be a big scoop.

The branch strokes will give you both letters and joins.

On an m and n, the branch stroke has a subtle (secret) curve that gives a tiny bit of volume to the letter.

On the u - after you come down on the first stem and you have to go back up for the second stem

you put in a secret curve - to form that under stroke - that gives the u some volume.

The exit stroke at the end of a word will usually have a bit of under curve, like a u.

The shape of all of the letters is a parallelogram.

It tilts to the right.

All the down strokes (stem strokes) are directly on top of the slant lines.

All of the joins, over strokes and under strokes should go

roughly

on a diagonal - across that parallelogram.

Not exactly straight.

But with that secret bit of curve - either over curve or under curve.

Compare 3A above and 3B below to see the difference in branching

Look below at the difference in the two humps on the m.

Look at other m's that I did not mark up.

Below - notice what happens when you do not keep the main strokes on top of the guide lines.

That second mint is so compressed. That poor little n is squished.

That word *unit towards the bottom had a lot of nice space between the letters.

On the baseline, the tight curves are a little pointy - but if you have a choice between too pointy and a big wide scoop - it is much better to go with the pointy transition.

Position of your hand

Two short videos talking about and hopefully showing that you should try writing with the tip of the pen further from your hand and with your hand -relaxed-  rolled a bit to the right.

If your pen is too upright - and you hand is too close to the tip - you can't really see what you are doing.

Even though this may not feel natural - it can be a good exercise to try.

You will always revert to whatever you have been doing since third grade -- so it is helpful to try several different grips, hand positions, and postures - to find sneaky ways to break out of the muscle memory - and build some new memories.

This is another view of the position of the hand.

You can see how the tip is not touching the paper.

The tip of the pen should be farther way from my hand than where it is in this video.

Imagine it is far enough out that it is touching the paper.

Round-upright-loopy penmanship No 1

It would be hard to find a less polished example of this style - because this one was done in great haste, with no warm up. There is a very cute card inside with several folds - so the pen stumbled over the innards of the envelope. And I was hurrying, because Rainbow was in the driveway. But - it illustrates that if you just color in the counters - it's pretty darn cute. You do not really have to do a good job at this style to make it fun. Hopefully, I will get around to making some better examples. The pencil version in the videos below probably have zero *curb appeal* -- but, trust me - learning some of these quirky little styles are all bits and pieces that will fit together and you rehabilitate your penmanship.

 Here is a style that will help you transition away from your everyday penmanship that has evolved over decades. It is fairly slow - to begin with - because you want a pause between each letter. You also want to make every letter as round as possible. Forget about ovals.

Put plenty of space between letters. As you are heading off to make the next letter, think about where it will start and then make a *scoop* over to that point. Letters either start at the bottom or the top or the middle. So aim - high/low/middle.

While this style might not look inviting - it is good practice for breaking the letters down into the basic units and creating some consistency in the shapes. It is the script version of *ball and stick* which is the term often used when teaching kids to write the lower case alphabet for the first time. You want to be thinking of basic shapes and see if you can use the same rounds and the same loops - over and over.

2nd and 3rd Spencerian samples

 

The top sample is a sentence. The first s (in the first word) is not very good. The next s in the word *is* is better. The small s is always an interruption in the rhythm. The interruptions are not really a problem. We are not looking for a continuous rhythm as you find in music. We are looking for rhythm in the letters that are willing to conform. Several letters do not blend in, but we do not hold that against them.

Try to avoid thinking ornery thoughts about any of the letters. You will translate that attitude into the letters. They can feel you. If you keep thinking, "I always mess up my Ds because Ds are so hard," then you will make consistently messed up Ds. You have approach each letter with verbal directions that lead you through the steps of making lovely letters.

It is fine with Spencerian to write small. Unless it is too small. The main thing is to put plenty of space between the letters.

1st Spencerian example

As luck would have it, we made it through the morning errands and have a whole hour of free time before the after-school chaos begins. I was able to shoot some video that is more like Spencerian. Hopefully, it will show the rhythm better.

Feel free to switch to this if you have been working on the upright italic. I don't think there is any harm at all in switching around - at the beginning. You need to try everything before you find the style and method that is fun and engages your brain/eyes/limbs.

I shot video of those top few lines - but there was no point in anyone watching how they appeared because they are a mess. It was my first penmanship of the day and hopefully, you will see that even I have to warm up. Warm up is something that I accept as part of the process. If I ever think that I can just write the way I want to - right from the start - I learn EVERY SINGLE TIME -- that whatever I do first - is UGLY. Maybe not to your eyes -- but to my eyes, it is not what it should be -- warm up work has all kinds of problems. So don't think that there will ever be a time that you do not need to allow yourself some warm up.

THINKING ABOUT MANY THINGS AT THE SAME TIME

Maybe you want to call it multi-tasking. Think of some way to train your brain to remember that there are multiple parts of your body working at the same time. As you may recall, I prefer to give my eyes the role of leadership. If you can't see what you are doing and critique it -- you will never improve. If you can't see that there is variation in the slant or variation in the spacing -- then you can't fix those things.

During the first few lines, I was trying to think of ways to *teach rhythm.* I have no idea if I will ever be able to talk at the same time I am shooting my videos. I know from YEARS of teaching that I have said NUMEROUS times in classes -- as I was talking and writing at the same time, "That's ugly, I can't talk and write at the same time." Then I would rewrite - without talking - and it would look fine.

First you need to SEE my rhythm. It looks jerky. Obviously there are certain letters that interrupt the rhythm. I can't give people a perfect set of words to teach rhythm. Each person has to work on it and figure out how to establish a rhythm. Hopefully - each person will explore the letters that are the easiest first -- and add a few at a time.

I know this is tedious -- but, it's not brain surgery. It's you pushing a pen (or pencil) up and down and across at the same time.

So --- do some over-strokes

some under-strokes

ininin

imimimim

inminimini - random i-n-m  --don't think about them

mumumum

nununun

numnununnmmnununmm - random n-u-m. -- don't think about them

If you want to  -- fill an entire page with a pattern - just for the fun of it.

If you are in a bad mood while you are doing this, it will show -- so don't do it if you think it is a dumb idea and a waste of your time.

Only fill an entire page if it mesmerizes you and you want to enjoy the feeling of accomplishment that you did it. When I get home, I will do it - to show you how pretty it is.

Then I will show how to fold it into a pretty envelope and make mail art.

A short lecture

 Since I am nearing the end of my trip, I have run out of time to do new videos and exemplars - but I do have time to talk about some things that might help.

PENMANSHIP AND CALLIGRAPHY ARE NOT THE SAME THING

Many people who become fabulous calligraphers report that their everyday penmanship is terrible - and they are convinced that they cannot repair it. I do not argue with them. Their minds are made up. It is their loss that they do not want to apply what they have learned to their penmanship. Mostly, they just need to slow down. But, they have their perspective and they are free to maintain it.

Your penmanship has been with you since approx the third grade - or whenever you learned cursive. It has been with you for so long that you have all kinds of muscle memory. While you can find examples of business penmanship or any other style of cursive - and you can learn the strokes - the way you learn calligraphy - that is only step one and you will not be curing the problems that you have established over the years.

With calligraphy, people learn the basics and they make them carefully and slowly. There is a lot to think about. But given time, the strokes will be memorized and they will speed up. At this point, they need to work on the rhythm. Any of the rock stars in the world of calligraphy will talk about the importance of rhythm. It is one of the main things that makes rock star work stand out next to *beginner* work. 

HOW TO FIND YOUR RHYTHM

The italic might not be a good fit at all.

Spencerian might be perfect.

There is also a very round style that works for some people.

You won't know until you try all of them to find which one works best - or feels best.

WRITING LARGE

I know it feels funny to write so large - so - feel free to write at a height that feels right to you - and see what happens.

You have to hit the guidelines. Creating muscle memory at a specific height is important. 

LETTING YOUR EYES TAKE CHARGE

People already know how to form cursive lettering - to reform your cursive you need practice where the strokes flow gracefully - up down up down --

You are working to reform years and years of writing in a haphazard way.

Your memory and hand are fighting with your eyes -- and they need to work together - eventually.

Your eyes have to take charge - in the beginning.

It's a battle -- but, as soon as your eyes decide that they can make your hand and brain hit the marks - your hand and brain will fall into line.

Eyes have all kinds of power -- but it is hidden power -- and the hands and brain like to gang up -- and take over.

Let your eyes show hand/brain who is boss!!

Eventually, they will all work together.

We need for you to bounce along with a happy feeling in your hand/wrist/arm/eyes/head

Try combinations of just two letters if you are having problems finding a rhythm.

FIND A PARALLEL

With people in classes - in person- I always try to talk to them about other activities they have mastered that took time.

Whenever we find something that took time, they can make the connection to that feeling of struggle - and then breakthrough.

Some people get too focused on the end product --

We have to get you to relax and bounce along - almost mindlessly.

Think about how cute little kids are when they decide to dance... and are not self conscious.

I guess there are adults who are the same way --

you do not need to have formal training to enjoy dancing and people can see that you are relaxed and enjoying it.

That is what we are looking for in penmanship.

Joyful bounce.

INSPIRATIONAL WORDS

Once we get through all the letters - we will look for words that bring you joy that include all the letters.

For some people - writing words that are inspirational is way better -- so feel free to send me words (or short phrases) that you like and I can do exemplars based on those words

ZigZag italics on graph paper

 One way to jolt your old habits is to try a zig-zag style of penmanship that has some overlap with italics.

The most important thing is to start feeling a rhythm. To do this, start with a row of understrokes like iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii   (video 1) -- then do a whole row of over strokes (video 2)

If it feels really awkward, do a couple more lines, and then move on. At the beginning of each practice session, do a row of each as a warm up. The goal is to cultivate rhythm as well as precision. Go as slow a necessary to hit the guidelines. Let the speed come naturally.

Excuse my primitive *graph paper* - I am currently on a trip, helping with household stuff at my daughters. Two weeks without my art supplies. So, I drew some vertical lines on notebook paper. I didn't even have a ruler. I should have used a second piece of paper as a guide for making the lines more even, but didn't think of that until the page was done.

Video 1 -- under strokes iiiiiiii

Video 2  -  overstrokes

Video 3 - ininininininin. no spaces

Video 4 - intintintintint. - no spaces

Video 5 - when my brain was thinking *intintint* it was choppy and hard to keep the rhythm. Switching to tintintin - so that the word *tin* was in my head made it a lot smoother. Do not put in any word spacing yet. We have to find something rhythmic that works before we break into words.

Video 6 - this was supposed to be lintlintlint - I messed up at the beginning - 

Video 7 - this one is hinthinthinthint - My brain was doing a natural pause at the end of the word - wanting to stop and cross the t - so go ahead and stop at the end - but do not leave extra space after the t. it can have a short tail (exit stroke) then just pick up the h on the next vertical line.

Video 8 - mintmintmintmint - no extra space between words. Pause if it feels right to stop and cross the t.