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« on: March 09, 2022, 10:14:09 AM »
Being self-taught isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I know that being taught in person by a skilled craftsperson in Calligraphy and Penmanship, is the ideal situation as flaws and errors can be picked up and corrected simply.
However, with a bit of patience and perseverance it's possible to self-teach. In fact, it's sometimes preferable as there are some practitioners out there whose work is inferior and who are passing on their faults to beginners. It can take some time to develop the eye to discern between the good and the not-so-good. There's no regulation and there are many out there just looking for a quick buck.
Take advice from someone whose work you admire and respect or do the following -
For Beginners - a personal method
As regards learning Copperplate (English Roundhand) this was my method, years ago. it was a bit laborious but it did work.
Working from exemplary lettering in The Universal Penman I wrote out the whole minuscule alphabet a few times at x height 8mm. I then studied each letter carefully, being really critical. There were one or two letters which were OK first time. These I put, mentally ,to one side and wrote out just the remaining letters again. I did this repeatedly, discarding the letters which looked Ok until I was left with two or three letters which still gave me trouble, After repeatedly writing just these letters, I finally arrived at the point where I was happy with the whole minuscule alphabet and could write it all easily, without too much trouble. I then repeated the whole process with the majuscules. Once I had the whole alphabet down, I them moved onto combinations of letters and finally, words.
If this is done assiduously, it's possible to self-learn Copperplate lettering in this way and It will stay in the memory and can be used as required, without constant reference to exemplars.