Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Jehu

Pages: [1]
1
Format, yes; stylistically, no.

But that's exactly what I'm after, as I come to the end of the copybooks: Other good resources in a similar style, to continue my development.

2
Thanks, Jean. That's a great idea -- maybe I'll do that.

I'm still working through the Spencerian copybooks (I've just started Book 5), but I suppose there's no reason I can't start dabbling with Mills, time permitting.

Thanks again, both of you.

3
Thanks, Erica, much appreciated. That answers my question! Any thoughts on how long one should spend on each plate?


4
Hey folks,

From internet searches I know that a lot of people recommend E.C. Mills' Modern Business Penmanship to learn and practice business writing/monoline Spencerian.

But how is it to be used? It just seems to be a series of examples and exercises with no guidance on how to put them to practice. Are we just meant to go through each plate one-by-one in sequence? Am I missing something?

Thanks!

5
Wow, thanks for the great advice, Jean.

My concern was that learning another style would ruin my progress with Spencerian, but it is great to hear that not only will learning Italic not be a detriment, it might actually improve it! I have no immediate plans to work on Copperplate, so no danger there.

Thanks also for your critique of my samples. I would never have noticed the 'pinching' of the letters, but now that you point it out, it is clearly an issue. I appreciate the tips on how to work on that.

I think that I will give Italic a go for a month (or two) and see where that takes me. If nothing else, I will have neat(er) printing when it comes to filling out forms.

Thanks again!

6
Thanks for your response, Jean. Your point about warming up is well-taken; I always warm up a bit at the beginning of practice, but of course not when I'm just jotting something down through the day. And both of the samples I posted above are light years ahead of where I was two years ago, so I'm firmly in the "you *can* improve your handwriting" camp!

I'm very intrigued by your comment about learning both Italic and Spencerian, because even if I do give Italic a go, I'd like to hang on to Spencerian if at all possible. Is there any advice on how to do that, or how to balance practice of the two styles? Bearing in mind that I can really only commit about 20-30 minutes a day to focused practice.

(Sorry for the slow responses; each of my posts seems to take a few days to be approved.)

7
Thanks, Erica. Maybe I will look into the book that you recommend... it seems to be a popular one from what little investigating I've done into Italic.

To give an idea, here is where I am currently at when writing carefully:


And here is at a normal writing speed:


One issue is that even when I think I've written somewhat reasonably (i.e., closer to the former than the latter), no one under 30 can read it!

8
Hey folks, I'm looking for some input/advice.

After decades of slowly deteriorating handwriting (terrible printing), I finally committed to do something about it and to relearn cursive. After a bit of research, I settled on monoline Spencerian, which I think looks beautiful when done well. I've been at it fairly consistently for almost 2 years and have made reasonable progress (I'm currently on Book 4 of the Mott Media workbooks). However, it still tends to get sloppy and fall apart a bit when I get going quickly.

Although I love the look of Spencerian, at the end of the day I want a functional and legible, everyday cursive hand that I can use consistently and at speed. My understanding is that Cursive Italic is often recommended for this purpose. I also understand that non-cursive Italic is essentially the same without the joins, so I can rehab my terrible printing at the same time!


So what would you advise? Stick with Spencerian (sunk costs, etc.), or start from square one with Italic and see how that compares? (And please no suggestions for Palmer or D'Nealian... even though they're related to Spencerian, I think they're hideous!)

Thanks!

Pages: [1]