1
I am not sure exactly what you mean about the ascenders looking broken. If you are making the stem and then going back to add the arched-hook at the top, maybe you mean that where you join them, it is not a seamless transition. If so, the problem might be the nib and ink more than your technique. In general, you are getting the shape of the ascender and arch much better than the average beginner. Making that seam invisible is sometimes not possible when the ink is transparent. Also, it looks like the paper bleeds a bit. With a black ink, and non-bleedign paper, you would not see the join - as long as the nib was positioned correctly when you started the arch-hook. If I am missing what you mean by broken, please clarify.
2
The apostrophe should be a little higher - but not all the way to the top. The beauty of hand done things is that you can position elements where they look best and you do not have to follow an exact measurement. So, the placement should be somewhere that looks like it is cozy with the letters, but not too close. Near the top, but not even with the top of the ascenders. Some people insist that the apostrophe should be higher than the ascender, but IMHO that draws too much attention to it - I have never claimed to be an authority on these matters...some of us are rebels and do unorthodox things because we like the way it looks.
3
Italic can be pointy or it can be more rounded. Most of your letters are the pointy style. Your c, e, and o are rounder. So, you need to find an exemplar that shows the pointier versions of those letters. I believe you said that your teacher wrote out the letters by hand for your exemplar. Her exemplar might be inconsistent. Whenever I do a handwritten exemplar, my italic is full of inconsistencies. So we need to get you a polished exemplar - and it would be nice to get both a pointy version and a rounder version.
For consistency in slanting...if your paper is thin enough that you can see through it, you can position piece of ruled paper (under the page you are writing on) and have slant lines showing through to follow. If you look at your c, e, and o - and look at where the most weight is on the left side of the letter, on many of them, the weight is down at the 7 o'clock position of the curve. It should be higher. Imagine the letter i - but give it enough curve at the top and bottom to make it morph into the first stroke of a c, e, or o. If you look at the bowl on your best d, that is closer to what you want.
You also need to be looking at the shape of white space (the counter) that you are creating inside these letters. Once you know what that shape is supposed to be, you can maintain consistency by looking at the corner of the nib that is creating that shape. That will guide your nib better than looking at the entire width of the stroke. This is hard to describe in words. If someone who can shoot a video wants to do that, it would be very helpful.
The s is a whole subject by itself and we need to get you a consistent exemplar before we address the s. Rather than sticking with the pointed style, you might want to switch to the rounder style. Because you have a good grasp of the ascender arching-hook, and you would probably do very well and putting those graceful curves into all the letters. Eventually, you will enjoy knowing both.
Maybe someone can direct us to an online source for a really good italic exemplar. There are so many out there that are a little off. Maybe I should contact Sheila Waters and ask her if she would mind putting her exemplar out on the internet just to resolve the issue of how many *clunky* ones are out there. In a perfect world, everyone buys her book...but, I realize that's not going to happen.
Chester - it is nice to see that my first set of suggestions were helpful. I agree that the shorter ascenders and descenders look better. The consistency is something that is hard to teach. Many times the student just needs to slow down. Also, you have the added pressure of trying to make everything fit on one line...so you are not *free*.
If you had no constraint on the length of the lines - you might find it easier to be consistent.
To do that with these words, you would need a smaller nib. However, the smaller you go with cartridge pens, the less detail you can get. It would be really nice to see you work with dip pens. The more precise strokes and details often make it easier to achieve consistency when you switch to dip pens. Plus, they help with slowing down. Is there any chance of you getting nibs? (I see a cartridge pen in the image, so I am assuming that you are working with cartridge pens, right?)
I look forward to the next thing you post :-)
And I hope others chime in. My opinion is just one - and there are many ways to approach these topics.
