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Everyday Handwriting | Penmanship / A script that feels like home
« on: July 08, 2016, 03:33:51 PM »
I began learning about calligraphy and dip pens with the intent of finding a script for everyday handwriting. My search began by googling "old style cursive" and then stumbling upon Spencerian. This lead to cursive italic, which led to several different broad edge scripts, and then to calligraphy in general. I became interested in calligraphy, but soon found myself loosing interest in anything that I could not use for everyday writing (Foundational and Uncial may look cool, but they just do not lend themselves to rapid note taking or general writing). My progress was slow, partly due to a general decrease in overall interest, and partly due to the fact that I am a left-hand dominant person who was forced to use my right hand when I was in elementary school (which resulted in less than ideal fine motor skills). I felt a bit lost and even began reverting back to my despised Palmer script.
With much work and dedication, I discovered that I could use a slightly personalized version of cursive italic almost as well as I could write with my traditional Palmer script. It was still a bit messy and inconsistent, but it looked much better than my usual chicken-scratch Palmer cursive (I even had some people tell me that it looked as if I had printed out my notes on a computer). But, even though I made good progress with cursive italic, it did not feel like the best script for me. I began to feel lost again.
Then, while randomly wandering around YouTube, I saw a video in which a Spencerian Business script was used. I never had much interest in monoline versions of Spencerian, but I really liked what I saw. This was something that I could write with any pen, and still have it look interesting. I added some lightly shaded, italic inspired, capitals as well as some beginning and ending flourishes and suddenly I had my script. I struggle with consistent letterforms, spacing, and angle much more than I did with cursive italic; and I don't have the speed that I do with either cursive italic or Palmer, but I feel much happier with this script than I did with any other. I have a long road ahead of me, but it finally feels like I am on the right track. I finally have a script that feels like home.
I'm sure that I am not alone here, so I am curious as to what other folks have found to be their ideal handwriting scripts. What scripts did you try that just did not work out? What script did you end up with? What difficulties did you have to overcome on your journey to finding the perfect handwriting script?
With much work and dedication, I discovered that I could use a slightly personalized version of cursive italic almost as well as I could write with my traditional Palmer script. It was still a bit messy and inconsistent, but it looked much better than my usual chicken-scratch Palmer cursive (I even had some people tell me that it looked as if I had printed out my notes on a computer). But, even though I made good progress with cursive italic, it did not feel like the best script for me. I began to feel lost again.
Then, while randomly wandering around YouTube, I saw a video in which a Spencerian Business script was used. I never had much interest in monoline versions of Spencerian, but I really liked what I saw. This was something that I could write with any pen, and still have it look interesting. I added some lightly shaded, italic inspired, capitals as well as some beginning and ending flourishes and suddenly I had my script. I struggle with consistent letterforms, spacing, and angle much more than I did with cursive italic; and I don't have the speed that I do with either cursive italic or Palmer, but I feel much happier with this script than I did with any other. I have a long road ahead of me, but it finally feels like I am on the right track. I finally have a script that feels like home.
I'm sure that I am not alone here, so I am curious as to what other folks have found to be their ideal handwriting scripts. What scripts did you try that just did not work out? What script did you end up with? What difficulties did you have to overcome on your journey to finding the perfect handwriting script?