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.