Author Topic: Practice with ballpoint pen  (Read 22270 times)

Offline himasf

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
  • Karma: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #15 on: June 18, 2016, 10:12:57 PM »
Oh wow!! I think that is just beautiful by itself!!

I think the point with practicing with pencil, ballpoint pen or gel pens is to build muscle memory and learn the letterforms in a more convenient and easy way. Then you can change to a nib and begin dealing with papel fibers and dipping in ink. Just one problem at a time!

But you have a point too on that doubt. Does it really help? I realized some times I do not hold the ballpen in the same way I would hold my holder and nib. It is so easy to use that I forget that you can't rotate nibs, for example. I suppose that do not help at all, creating the wrong muscle memory.

But, I do know that, even it maybe does not count as real dip nib practice, it can be a gorgeous style just by itself and you can use it for informal letters or even "low cost" calligraphy wedding or on-site jobs.

Thanks! I, too, don't hold a ball pen the same as a holder. I got to thinking about this because I recent bought a flourishing pen and realized that my muscle memory for oblique holder ovals doesn't exactly carry over to a straight/flourishing pen. I was like, "OK, ovals, here we go! *switches to offhand flourishing grip* Oh... :-[ what the heck?... ???"   :D You're right tho, ball pen practice may not directly translate to oblique holder and nib but it can be useful by itself. It can just be its own thing.  :)

Offline himasf

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
  • Karma: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #16 on: June 18, 2016, 10:18:06 PM »
Very nice, I don't know anything about spencerian, but I like the look of Your work.

However I hate BICs, they require too much pressure to get them working, I would much rather do it with fountain pet as it requires much less pressure.
If you do not have a fountain pen, please consider getting one of cheap Pilot pens, preferably Penmanship with EF nib. Pilot has an opinion of mass producing FP nibs with consistent quality.

Thank you.
This has been my experience too. One of the reasons why I think ballpoint practice doesn't help with holder and nib skill is that levels of pressure possible with the tools. There are some ball pens that can write with very little pressure tho. But not consistently. I end up using a lot more pressure than I would need with a nib (which is close to nothing). I will look into that Pilot pen. I only own a vintage fountain pen and the nib is too fat for my liking.

Offline himasf

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
  • Karma: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #17 on: June 18, 2016, 10:24:27 PM »
I'm a fan of the yellow (fine) Bic ballpoint, and reckon it's a worthy writing instrument.  I have the Pilot Penmanship, and feel that the Bic beats it hands down for fineness of line and scope for getting some minimal shades.  Furthermore, any old paper will do (very often the margins of the newspaper next to the crossword in my case - try doing that with a fountain pen).  In my experience the Bic will write with minimal pressure, barely any more than is required for the Pilot.  This isn't to do down the latter, or fountain pens in general, but ballpoints come in for quite a lot of sneering when in fact they are cheap and have some useful properties.  Incidentally, I don't believe there is a better make than Bic at any price.

As regards putting one in an oblique, seems completely pointless to me.  Using a dead one to make a holder ... that's a different matter.


I looove the feel of a ball pen gliding on newsprint. Love. Gonna look for that yellow Bic online.

I think I feel the same as you about putting a pen in a holder but I've seen a couple people do this and recommend it on Instagram. To each his own, I guess. Wow, that holder is cute. If I had some flanges laying around I would try that, haha

Offline himasf

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
  • Karma: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #18 on: June 18, 2016, 10:28:50 PM »
Yay for the BIC biro [yellow casing]!! I buy them by the box.

Why don't they sell that here in North America?  :'( I've heard good stuff about those. I just put it in my amazon cart. They'll be here in a month :o

Offline himasf

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
  • Karma: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #19 on: June 18, 2016, 10:36:34 PM »
Wow that is incredible! I like to practice with pen sometimes (I like a pen I randomly found - it's a Staples postscript .7 pen), but I really don't know if it helps a lot? I hold a pen and my oblique holder a bit different, so I'm not sure it helps with muscle memory.

You're so kind.
It probably helps a little. I guess as long as we don't expect the practice to completely carry over to holder and nib then it's totally fine. There's a lot to be said for the convenience for sure. One thing I know based on personal experience is that oblique holder muscle memory doesn't translate to Italian caps with the offhand flourishing grip. I sooo wish it did tho  :o ;D

Offline himasf

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
  • Karma: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #20 on: June 18, 2016, 10:46:57 PM »
You can see examples on my blog
pushingtheenvelopes.blogspot.com...

if you do a search for G-Tec
and there are 70+ examples of envelopes where I talk about G-Tecs

Thanks for the gel ink recommendation. I don't think I've tried those pens but you produce awesome stuff with those. Looking through your site really made me see calligraphy with regular pens can stand on its own. It's a calligraphy tool as well.

Offline himasf

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
  • Karma: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #21 on: June 18, 2016, 10:49:51 PM »
Stunning ~ thank you for sharing Himasf. 
My favorite pen is the uni*ball SigNo & i like pilot pens, too. This looks like fun to try.

Thanks! Ooh, I've only used the white uniball and it leaves a lot to be desired on black paper. But I won't discount the brand just yet because the black might perform differently. Thanks for chiming in!

Offline himasf

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
  • Karma: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #22 on: June 18, 2016, 10:52:07 PM »
I wrote this over twenty years ago when ballpoint type pens were not as sophisticated as they are now...


James

That is awesome. It totally reads "italic" for such a monoline tool. And very dark ink!

Offline himasf

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
  • Karma: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #23 on: June 18, 2016, 10:53:03 PM »
This is spectacular, James ! I'd say if it allows you to write more, it's always good  ;)
Thanks. I like the way you think! (by the way I wrote that during down time at work. shhh!)

Offline himasf

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
  • Karma: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #24 on: June 18, 2016, 11:05:10 PM »
First of all very beautifully done bro,
Secondly  at what speed did you executed that piece.
I do practice with ball pen coz it is found almost anywhere and works on any paper including tissue 😉
My main motive to learn with ball pen is letter forms and  some fun writing.  Secondly time pass 😁
As far as inserting ball point refill in oblique is out of my mind...  I really doubt we'll that help....?...
BTW your penmanship and consistency is something I wanna get at my speed😊


With regards
-syed-

Thanks, syed. Nice to see you here. I'd say moderate speed. It's tempting to speed up a lot because the ballpoint is very forgiving but I write at the speed I need to get the result I want. Does that make sense? I definitely place higher emphasis on letterform rather than speed, and lowercase more so than caps. But it's not slow either. I don't know if you can see in the pic but some parts are written more swiftly than others. The "K" and "T" on top, for example , it's hard to explain but I can tell the movement is more brisk compared to the signature on the bottom where the lines are not confident at all because there wasn't enough speed.

Offline himasf

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
  • Karma: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #25 on: July 09, 2016, 02:14:03 PM »
Finally got around to testing the orange BiC fine pen. It's awesome. Definitely an upgrade over the med point BIC readily available on this side of the pond. Thanks for the recommendation!

Offline Scarlet Blue

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 773
  • Karma: 26
  • I do joined up writing.
    • View Profile
    • Wonky Words
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #26 on: July 09, 2016, 02:54:15 PM »
Ack! You are too good James!!!!

Offline AndyT

  • Super Hero Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 2093
  • Karma: 150
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #27 on: July 09, 2016, 03:02:39 PM »
Ack! You are too good James!!!!

Seconded!

Offline himasf

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
  • Karma: 7
    • View Profile
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #28 on: July 09, 2016, 07:22:26 PM »
/aw-shucks grin emoji
thanks. i swear it's mostly the pen.

Offline FlowerCityLetters

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 679
  • Karma: 36
    • View Profile
    • Flower City Letters
Re: Practice with ballpoint pen
« Reply #29 on: July 11, 2016, 08:59:18 AM »
James! You're amazing.

I need to try those pens.