I so agree with you about the letter D. It's a tough one to pull off. Fun episode, and good to keep striving for improvement, with perfection off the table.
I cannot tell you how many times in my life I have been asked.....is that a D ? . D is my middle initial and apparently only recognizeable to me. Dont care , I like my D and that is that !!! Neal
My sort has been some sort of script. Cursive is just the current version most people use. I've not used cursive since early high school. I learned roundhand (occasionally called "copperplate," which is very similar) for almost 40 years, now. (Could have learned Palmer, Spencerian or something else, but I love the look of roundhand. Might be the 18th century through Victorian looks.😉) There's definitely variations. Even the business writing of the past, though very similar, had variety, hand to hand. Not every letter was done exactly the same way, and the capitals do tend to have the biggest variation. A great topic! Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for watching and for sharing your experiences. I am often looking back at old letters at how people wrote in all of their varieties. Stop by again soon.
My name is D...... D... so yes the "D" is difficult to get happy with and come up with one to use for a lift time... I find that rounding out the loop down downstroke is helpful. Just wonderfully simple appropriate content here, great to follow along. I think I will book mark this one for re-visiting...
It is always interesting to observe how others form their letters; both uppercase and lower case. Dramatically changing one's writing style can be quite difficult. Great video!
I think it's harder to change your style of writing when you are older. I learned cursive writing at school, so to me it's easy as pie. I also noticed that the younger generation even has trouble reading the running writing (Cursive) wth. Besides, we had writing as a subject at school. Loved it.
I recently relearned cursive handwriting. So much better than my print! Thank you for your videos. I recently got a Pilot Kakuno, great pen for the price. I’m just getting started in fountain pens but I hope to get a TWSBI Eco soon!
I think it‘s very good, that all our children still learn (a slightly modernised form) of cursive in school here in Germany. After writing with a pencil in 1st grade, all children have to write with fountain pens, they even make something that is called “fountain pen driver licence” 😂 Cursive the “normal” way to write for us, even if the way on writes alters when one gets older and many letters aren’t strictly connected anymore. Sadly in the higher grades many kids start to write with ballpoint 🙄. The base is there and as adults we don’t have to relearn this way of writing. I personally think that’s not only a more beautiful way to write, it is also way faster.
@@andreaschneemeier6760 we had to get our "pen license" after our handwriting was deemed neat enough. We learned a modern version of cursive in primary school in NZ. I asked my mum to teach me the proper way and then got in trouble for linking my y's, g's and j's 😅
I don't usually ever print unless it's stated to do both or it wants me to print and even then I have to force myself haha. That 3rd W is really a work of art Hemingway.
Hi HJ! REALLY enjoyed this one! I have been an inveterate scribbler, but am trying to slow down and develop my cursive skills. Thanks for the nice video!
I love this! I spent years learning brush pen lettering and I'm really good with lower case, but capitals are so hard! You've inspired me to go back to the practice table!
I love writing Ds. I come straight down but my upright is slightly shorter, do the little loop to the left at the bottom and do a big swoop to the right , over the top of the initial down stroke without touching it, then do a swirling flourish in a spiral. I love your Ms.
Beautiful video. You gave me the best gift today….. plenty “shall we’s?” I have to just write Capitals if I think about it too much they look weird. The quality of your content always stunning, everything you do is very stylish and classy. Watching your videos I always think “if Ralph Lauren gave lectures in ink, hand writing and travels with his journals. Thanks again for your hard work and attention to detail. Wishing you and your family a very merry Christmas 🎄 kind regards Craig.
Craig, My Friend, you are so very kind! Thank you for the kind and complimentary comment. It is much appreciated. I never realized how much I said, “shall we?” until I started the Channel. Thanks for the encouraging words. All the best and Merry Christmas!
My letterforms are a bit different from yours-perhaps a reflection on when I was taught cursive and by whom. Since you use boat/sailing terms, here’s my metaphor for a D.: think more spinnaker. Give the D more belly and curve more as you go to the top. I was taught to end mine with an upward swoosh at the top.
My cursive handwriting is not good, which is why I came to watch your video. I especially liked your J as I have trouble with that letter. Thank you! On the subject of the letter D, my suggestion would be to try for more balance between the chest and the belly of the curve. The ones that had a sharper angle and were narrow at the top were my least favorite. Thank you for experimenting on camera for us!
Thanks for the advice and kind words. It is definitely a process and I make no claims about my writing being good. It’s just better than it was. It’s the creating-an-aesthetic and then sticking with it that is hard. Thanks for watching!
All my handwriting is always 100% cursive. This was very interesting viewing. The capitalized letters that still somewhat frustrate me in my cursive are W, J, K and M. I still can’t get them down on paper the way I really want to. That said, I actually love the look of many of my capitals, especially Q. 🙂
Great penmanship review. I'm getting back to using fountain pens and have been looking at a variety of videos and am amazed that I come across so many folks reviewing a pen or ink and when they demo, they print! Yikes! It's no fun using a fountain pen if you print. Someone needs to tell them. LOL And if they don't know how to write cursive, it's never too late to learn and practice.
"The joy of the struggle is obsessing." Spoken like a true dark academic. I've been writing capital Ds probably more than any other letter and I haven't made peace with it, yet! Joy of the struggle indeed. Thanks, HJ! Lots of fun.
I have always struggled with D and G in cursive ( even after teaching transition to cursive for second grade students for more years than you want to know.)
Thank you for a very enjoyable video. It's great to see someone having fun with cursive. I think my early school experience has left me with some stress around writing using cursive. I do find forming the capitals the biggest challenge. It's interesting to see some options that are maybe a bit more readable than some of the "standard" forms. I'm still slowly working on my penmanship so this is very helpful and timely.
I’ll try to put up a new video which might help you refine or learn to like the letter D. My main advice to any would be to remain consistent throughout a written page. If your letters that start with a loop, keep the loop there every time you use that letter. And if you have a beginning lead in on a particular letter, use it on the other related letters, too. The B, P, R, K, V and W could all share that same lead in to the first downstroke.
What fun! Thank you so much. I kept racing ahead to see if I remembered how to do it. When I arrived at letter Q my mind was blank. lol Tells me I need to practice more often.:)
I like your A and it resembles mine. I love cursive, since my 10th birthday I adopted more elaborate capital letters having discovered them in my Father's Larousse Encyclopedia that was a wonderful publication back then (the large leather bound ponderous green tomes). Love it if everyone tried improving their handwriting to the point that it becomes elegant. In fact fountain pens lend themselves more to this type of writing than ballpoints or rollerballs would because they are closest to writing with a quill.
The Australian cursive 'D' would probably suit you. I tend to pick and choose between Australian and American, for example I like the American 'A' more, but the 'G' is odd. Australian cursive has descenders on the G and J. Yep they are big. To do the Australian 'D' start a little below the top line, almost straight down (slant it forwards just a little) and do a clockwise loop on the bottom line, then a big curve for the D (make sure you touch the bottom line again) then over the top of your downstroke and a half anit-clockwise loop through the descender. Lots of possibilities for flourishes with the final loop. It looks grand and is fun to do, takes a bit of practice to get the proportions of the big curve right. You kind of almost got there in the end - try not angling the downstroke so much and don't start right at the top, make the clockwise loop smaller, flatter, make the D curve rounder, and don't finnish your top half loop outside the D unless you are turning it into a flourish. (your 'D' attempts 6,7 and 9) You might also like the Australian cursive 'X' There are no straight lines, It is done in two parts, and it's easy to join the next letter. Upper and lower case are done the same way, but the capital version is double size.
Great video - again 👍. New pen arrival! Today my next Wancher came from Japan. The super simple “True Ebonite” (Dream pen). It's always crazy what aesthetics the Japanese get into even very simple products. Great fountain pen... an now i try what you made today with the new pen. Greetings from Germany
I like the style of having capital cursive letters not connect to the following letter, but I worked to make all my capitals connect & be unicursal. I also like putting descenders on all the capitals which have them in lowercase
I've also wondered why so many of my vintage nibs have a "stubbish" character even when they are not stubs. Looking at how much better these forms look with line variation likely answers that question. Probably not a great surprise to see alignment between nib design and popular forms of script.
@@HemingwayJonesI agree with making the D more like a fat Palmer P. My Ds and Ps start with a very short, almost straight upstroke, strong downstroke that then loops back and over the top. A P loop hits the middle of the down stroke and the D loop hots the bottom line. I agree the Ws are the best.
I'm 73 and I was taught cursive in parochial school and the T and F were very different than the modern versions. I have not found any modern example of these letters that is the same as how we were taught to make these letters back in ancient times (1957). We were taught to draw a line similar to the first line in your A, then a line straight down from there. Then the top cross line starting with a small loop. The F was exactly the same with the additional cross line mid-height. Who changed the look of these letters since 1957-58? Is there some governing body that decides what current cursive should look like?
I have seen those and that kidney shaped “F” that sort of laid on its side. I can barely explain that one and I never see it around. It was how I was taught in the 70s via the then Palmer Method and whichever edition that text book was in. I don’t know who decided or even what texts there are for students in grammar schools these days. It would be very interesting to know. Thanks for watching and for this wonderful comment.
Hemingway - you are so right! The capital cursive D always looks somewhat sad ... and like a man with a comb-over. Or ... derpy ... whether its little top loop points up or down. Always smiling through tears (!)
Handwriting is fun. I keep a junk, well what I call a junk-notebook, beside me at my desk, so I can practice writing. I like to write or print the alphabet over and over again, to play with my pens to see how they feel in my hands. I get frustrated because the teens in the house don't know cursive at all it's like a different language to them.
Suggest you take your thumb off from your index finger and put it on your pen. You will gain much more control and loosen up your stilted writing. A lot more fun .Just give it time.
Awful teaching to allow you to grip a pen like. Obviously it was not right back in the day to hit children to make them use the right hand nor to force a grip change but you could have been oersuaded surely. And stop waving your hands around on camera. The gestures mean nothing and distract utterly from the content.
Absolutely! It looks very akward to me to hold a pen like this. You definately would have so much more control when your thumb is on the left side of the pen and meets with the tip of your index finger on the top while the pen is resting on the middle part your middle finger. I have never seen so many people holding pens in the most absurdest ways than in the US.
My kids wrote with the thumb in this position, but then their writing looked awful and the teachers never corrected them. When I went to school the teacher showed us how to hold the ink pen or pencil correctly. They probably don't teach the kids nowadays, they all seem to put their thumb in the wrong place, and keep writing in this fashion till adulthood. We learned much more back then in school than they do now. No kidding!
A, E, S, T, and Z drive me up a wall. It has led me to just write in print more. I'd love to be able to write in some beautiful script one day, but I have grown accustomed to my own style of writing. I like to call it "print, with a minimal amount of cursive characteristics" lol.
Uppercase longhand is my favorite way to commune with the legacy of literature, assuming Vaudeville is literature. With no intention to gloat about it, my uppercase E's show how naturally I put the curse in cursive. Flowing with the rippling grace of earthworms with lumbago, my E's evoke Duchamp's little known precursor to Nude Descending a Staircase, Grampa Stumbling Down a Boat Ramp. In fact, my uppercase E's inspire me to write. All I need is a worthy nom de plume. What a shame e.e. cummings is taken. It would have been perfect. And, by the way, Merry Christmas to all!
Ha on the Duchamp analogy. Didn’t e. e. cummings use lower case e? Out of the same frustration, or was that his editor and/or publisher. Maybe E. E. Goings for you? Enjoyed your comment.
Truthfully, I've heard e.e. cummings use of lower case was more of a stylistic artifact of certain print volumes, not a statement of self deprecation. But, such is the story, so I thought I could borrow it. Thank you for your kind words. I, too, enjoyed your comment!@@christophermckellar1352
Interesting video Hemingway. When you're writing cursive, and you start with a capital. Do you run the capital into the lowercase? If so, wouldn't it be advantageous to finish the capital in a tail on the lower right? I like that you're trying your own style, instead of copying an established font. Thanks for the inspiration.
Funny, I was looking at how Americans (used to?) teach cursive and that Palmer method, and I was surprised how different some of the letterforms of the capitals are, specifically. Some are surprisingly different to what I was taught in France in the late 90's/early 2000's. Also, it seems we're the only one in the world to use our Seyès (french ruled?) lined paper. With super rigid rules about how high and low parts of letters needed to be
I have that paper! Lovely stuff. There are definitely rules, but you know me... rules? For me, it's expression over rules. I love the French way though.
@@argonwheatbelly637 Oh, so that what's its called ? D'Nealian ?! It's truly awful. I cannot find a "fancy" name for what I know beside "French cursive". There are two kinds of majuscule Q, one that looks like a big lowercase Q and one that looks like a "fancy number 2". I do the "fancy number 2" one. Though, my handwriting of everyday is very different than the school models obviously, it's been 23 years since I was a schoolboy learning these.
Another great video! I like my M, N, V, W, and especially my L. The rest I use as a more or less “siege mode:” using just lettering aka “print” characters. Still searching for some others. Thanks again for your hard work and artfulness. Was that last painting a Pre-Raphaelite work? Which museum?
Thanks so much! I am so glad that you enjoyed this one. Handwriting is so much fun. That painting is a PreRaphaelite from the MFA in Boston. Rossetti. There is an entire Pre Raphaelite thread running through this Channel. Thanks for watching and for your kind words.
@@HemingwayJones thanks for the information and for including it. I mostly know the Pre-Raphaelites from books and online. I have a large book of them and enjoy them very much. I just had a thought. I wonder if there are photocopies of that book of poems that, was it Rossetti?, Buried with his wife and dug her up later to get the book of poems back. Would love to see that handwriting!
Sorry, didn't watch as the only cursive I use is signing my name. And even that I've shortened as with the passing years my hand balks at putting in the correct number of humps. Paradoxically, my typing speed remains the same, nice and fast. It's a gorgeous, sunny, mild morning here in San Francisco, which has me smiling: I wish all peace and joy on the solstice. Now I gotta go clean out some pens.
I have received my Diamond 580 and I wonder; should I post the cap? I do it with other post-able pens but I'm sure the 580 isn't supposed to post. I do it anyways, is that ok?
It’s fine to post. I used to post mine for years and nothing happened. It’s long enough not to and I find it back heavy now, but in the past, I posted everything, so I get it. What’s important is that you like writing with it and are inspired. Enjoy that wonderful pen!
Us Germans, … we are very lucky, because we have the chance to write more capital letters, other at the beginning of each sentence, since every noun in the German language is written with a capital letter at the beginning. 😂🎉
I think it’s terrible that schools are not teaching cursive writing any longer. It’s important for small children’s eye/hand coordination. My cursive isn’t like yours it’s legible, but very personally stylized so I hardly use it anymore. But it is fun to write that way.
I write like my Grandmother did, and I guess that's Mid-Century. To make a Mid-Century Capital D, just do what you did with your Mid-Century capital B, but one big belly.
My caps look quite different from yours. I hold my fingers different than you do, we were taught to hold the pen the right way but loose so as not to pinch. This keeps your writing hand from hurting. Good luck.
A few humble suggestions regarding the aesthetics of a cursive alphabet: Embellishment should never impair legibility. Majuscules like "B" and "D" look better with puffed up chests rather than with droopy beer bellies. Majuscules should be about 80% the height of ascending minuscules, and descending minuscules should match the heights of ascenders. The width of letters should follow the example of lapidary capitals - as can be seen on the Trajan Column. (A narrow "C", "D", :G", "M", "O", "Q", or "W" looks squeezed.) There should be an internal consistency in which letters share strokes, slant, and rhythm. The lower case "t" is not an ascender.
They sound like excellent contributions to the conversation. I agree that “D” shouldn’t droop. That’s a big part of my issue. Thanks so much for watching and for your knowledge and enthusiasm.
With all of the crazy politics in the right it is good to seize the capital letters (rather than the Capitol) and to avoid the Palmer (method) raids. Full Marx for das Kapital. My (upper) case rests your honor. Sorry for the puns or historical jokes. Happy holidays.
Many of my capital (majuscule) letters are print forms or mixed print/cursive. partly because they are written very fast and very freehand. My favorite form of Chinese calligraphy (of which I cannot read a word!) is grass hand, which is nearly illegible, even to someone that reads Chinese. But it fits in with my jerky, fast flowing style. OTOH, students always complained about my (blackboard/whiteboard) writing. I find paleography facinating. handwriting really is a (fairly fast)_ moving target: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeography
Stay tuned, My Friend, we are doing Cross Writing in the coming week! I think you will really enjoy this! (You’re the first one to know). Thanks so much!
How dare you promote such SMUT ! This is the 21st century sir! They no longer teach cursive to students, or that’s what my cousin’s kids tell me. You’re flirting with a one way flight to a certain bay in Cuba señor. The ancient Greek word “Logos” meant “thought, “AND it also meant “word,” for indeed the two words are in essence signify the same thing. However, since they no longer teach kids the former, i.e., “thinking,” (for a teacher can’t teach what he knows not), there is no reason to teach the later, “words,” at least not in their cursive form. Besides, cursive is too damned bourgeois…I find it “offensive,” “Inappropriate” and it’s kind of “sexist” too if you think about it, but don’t think too much, because they don’t like that. Your promotion of cursive already has you on a sheet of thin Siberian ice comrade…Tread lightly “citoyen,” et vive la république !
@@HemingwayJones Well good luck with that in the USA today, not to be confused with “USA Today,” the rag newspaper that Google’s AI spell check thinks I’m trying to type, because it keeps capitalizing the T in today ( fun fact about me- I have NEVER, EVER, in my ENTIRE life read a news paper…I’m very proud of that). Even as a dumb kid/teen I knew it was nonsense. Anyway, as I’m about to launch into another tangent…As I was saying, good luck with that project, because the only hand written verbiage you’re likely to find in this republic of rigor-mortis, the USA of course, will be found in the train yard, sprayed in paint from a can, all over the rusty box-cars, in the form of gauche graffiti. However you’ll find no cursive, since they don’t teach it in “our” age of enlightenment, and because I guess it’s easier to write in large rotund and obnoxious uppercase letters with a can of cheap spray paint, and as far as paint, they write their words in multiples of mismatched colors, which irritates the hell of me; however, I think that qualifies as “modern art” though, so I should shut the hell up about that. But, that’s the only place I see words written by hand these days, but unfortunately for your project, it’s not done in cursive. The only other cursive that exists in the Age of Aquarius ( water does indeed rust; just look around you) can be found on endorsed cheques, or you might find cursive on some Gen X’ers shopping list in the garbage can outside of WalMart. Really, now that I think about it, I’m surprised these pen companies are even in business still. People don’t write, however they do type ( a hell of a lot better than me), and because of the internet, people probably write better today than they did through the late 20th century, though i’m not so sure that’;s a complement, but I was trying to be nice, instead of being a constant complainer. I wrote a better response, full of smart-ass commentary, yet relevant and thought provoking, and a very long post too, HOWEVER, as I so often do, I hit some key, I know not what key, et voilà - all my words and ideas vanished. I do that a lot, and it pisses me off. It takes me forever to think of and type a response. Then I have to do it all over, and the second never captures the spirit of the original. Well, unless you moonlight as a magician, who can do REAL magic, you’ve set out to do what seems to me to be impossible for the reasons given.
I love the Sunday NYT. I have been reading it since the 80s. Endlessly fascinating and has introduced me to so many of the things I showcase here on the Channel. I am editing the video right now and it's more of an essay from my point of view, so it's very much my voice, with some articles and whatnot for support, as to whether Cursive is dying, dead, or something else. It will be my breezy, fun, and compelling style. Please promise me that you will give me your polite, but honest opinion when it comes out! I'd appreciate your perspective very much! Thanks for the comment and for watching.
@HemingwayJones no problem. I serve no purpose on this planet other than telling the truth, unless I'm in trouble with the police, then I HAVE TO lie lol. The only things I've ever read were things I MADE myself read when I was in my mid 20's, like classics, the stuff they should have been teaching in school but weren't...Like the Iliad, Mark Twain, Dracula, Frankenstein, all sorts of things ( never read Hemingway though) I forgot what I read, but a bunch of classics. I hate reading ( I can't even spell; I must be dyslexic) but I MADE myself do it Though I did read Aristotole's Ethics, recently, I took a class on it. It changed my life. I knew I wasnt really stupid then, because everything he said, well almost everything, I'd always thought, then I KNEW I wasnt so screwed up. Dante ( the guy who wrote the Inerno) called him "The Master of Those Who Know!" TRUTH comes first with Aristotle. I love him. I felt so broken my whole life, then I took that class. He's hard to read though. I needed a teachers guidance. I heard you say you are somewhat familiar with Italian. You should journal in Italian, which you CAN do provided you understand the basics, like what's a verb, an article, that stuff. Just use Google Translate and Reverso, and keep it simple. You can learn a thst way, but it takes consistancy, and time. Other than thst it IS EFFORTLESS, it's just happens subconsiously, like how a little baby/kid learns. Who cares if yiu become fluent, the journey is pretty cool too. "Learn à New language, get a new soul." That's a Czech Proverb. Remember the mind and words are the same thing, you think in English, you think in WORDS, and the mind and the "soul" are the same, thus, learn a New language, get a new soul, and your very being will vibrate with new life. If you like words, and you obviously do, then you will likely experience the same awesome renaissance, and Italian is probably THE most beautiful language, not French, though it's beautiful too, but not as cool as Italian. I'm not fluent either, but I know a lot, and i MUST say it fucking stimulates my mind unlike anything else I've ever experienced, except for mescaline lol. You are younger than me, you can do it. "Compréhensible Input" Google that, and that's how you can learn Italian, and have FUN doing it. Jesus, do I go off on tangents... The joys of ADHD.
I haven’t even finished watching this yet and I can already tell I will be watching this multiple times so I can play along. So fun!
Thanks so much! You are the best!
Hey Alliejay, your letter finally made its way here! I am very impressed by your letter locking
Really good idea. I played this video back and followed along in my Handwriting Library. Lots of fun. Thanks!
I don't think I've ever heard anyone pronounce the letter "t" so deliberately. How intriguing!
As a senior with poor handwriting, I am thrilled to have discovered your detailed yet innovative approach. New subscriber from Chicago, Illinois USA
Welcome! I am absolutely delighted to have you here with us. Thank you for the kind words and thanks for following along.
Really appreciate your G, Q, and Z comments. I've seen variations that are confusing.
Thank you! I need to revisit this soon. Thank you!
I so agree with you about the letter D. It's a tough one to pull off. Fun episode, and good to keep striving for improvement, with perfection off the table.
Thanks Man! Thanks for watching!
I cannot tell you how many times in my life I have been asked.....is that a D ? . D is my middle initial and apparently only recognizeable to me. Dont care ,
I like my D and that is that !!! Neal
So many ways to express yourself with English writting. Its almost like a foreign language depending who taught cursive :)
So true! This is a great comment. Thanks!
This was awesome! I make my cursive letters a bit similar but different. This was a great exercise in cursive!🌟
Thank you! I just filmed a follow up this evening!
My sort has been some sort of script. Cursive is just the current version most people use. I've not used cursive since early high school. I learned roundhand (occasionally called "copperplate," which is very similar) for almost 40 years, now. (Could have learned Palmer, Spencerian or something else, but I love the look of roundhand. Might be the 18th century through Victorian looks.😉)
There's definitely variations. Even the business writing of the past, though very similar, had variety, hand to hand. Not every letter was done exactly the same way, and the capitals do tend to have the biggest variation.
A great topic! Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for watching and for sharing your experiences. I am often looking back at old letters at how people wrote in all of their varieties. Stop by again soon.
What a great video! I will have to watch this again with paper and pen in hand! Thank you for creating this one!
You are so welcome! Thank you so much for watching and for being here.
I have become obsessed lately with cursive and calligraphy, because I recently bought my first fountain pen, a Lamy Safari. Thanks for the video!
Wonderful, Tom! Great choice in pen! Welcome to the club! Stop by again soon.
My name is D...... D... so yes the "D" is difficult to get happy with and come up with one to use for a lift time... I find that rounding out the loop down downstroke is helpful. Just wonderfully simple appropriate content here, great to follow along. I think I will book mark this one for re-visiting...
@@floridasaltlife Thank you very much for the Kind words.
Trying doing D the way you do B, but only one loop (obviously). That's what I do and it looks great :)
I’ll try. I’ve been trying many different ways. I am close to one. It’s the balance that is difficult. Thank you!
It is always interesting to observe how others form their letters; both uppercase and lower case. Dramatically changing one's writing style can be quite difficult. Great video!
Thanks Kurt! I am so glad you enjoyed it.
I think it's harder to change your style of writing when you are older. I learned cursive writing at school, so to me it's easy as pie. I also noticed that the younger generation even has trouble reading the running writing (Cursive) wth. Besides, we had writing as a subject at school. Loved it.
I recently relearned cursive handwriting. So much better than my print! Thank you for your videos. I recently got a Pilot Kakuno, great pen for the price. I’m just getting started in fountain pens but I hope to get a TWSBI Eco soon!
I love the Kakuno! Well done! Thanks so much for watching. I’m happy to have you here. I’ll do my best to keep you inspired.
I think it‘s very good, that all our children still learn (a slightly modernised form) of cursive in school here in Germany. After writing with a pencil in 1st grade, all children have to write with fountain pens, they even make something that is called “fountain pen driver licence” 😂 Cursive the “normal” way to write for us, even if the way on writes alters when one gets older and many letters aren’t strictly connected anymore. Sadly in the higher grades many kids start to write with ballpoint 🙄. The base is there and as adults we don’t have to relearn this way of writing. I personally think that’s not only a more beautiful way to write, it is also way faster.
@@andreaschneemeier6760 we had to get our "pen license" after our handwriting was deemed neat enough. We learned a modern version of cursive in primary school in NZ. I asked my mum to teach me the proper way and then got in trouble for linking my y's, g's and j's 😅
I did not think I would enjoy this one, yet, you drew me in.
I don't usually ever print unless it's stated to do both or it wants me to print and even then I have to force myself haha. That 3rd W is really a work of art Hemingway.
Thanks very much! Every once in a while I get one right.
Hi HJ! REALLY enjoyed this one! I have been an inveterate scribbler, but am trying to slow down and develop my cursive skills. Thanks for the nice video!
I love this! I spent years learning brush pen lettering and I'm really good with lower case, but capitals are so hard! You've inspired me to go back to the practice table!
Thank you so much!
Tried it and loved it. I did not think practicing capital cursives could be so much fun! Very happy with the results! Kind Regards
Thanks great to hear. Thanks so much for watching and all the best!
I love writing Ds. I come straight down but my upright is slightly shorter, do the little loop to the left at the bottom and do a big swoop to the right , over the top of the initial down stroke without touching it, then do a swirling flourish in a spiral. I love your Ms.
Thanks very much for the advice!
Beautiful video. You gave me the best gift today….. plenty “shall we’s?” I have to just write Capitals if I think about it too much they look weird. The quality of your content always stunning, everything you do is very stylish and classy. Watching your videos I always think “if Ralph Lauren gave lectures in ink, hand writing and travels with his journals. Thanks again for your hard work and attention to detail. Wishing you and your family a very merry Christmas 🎄 kind regards Craig.
Craig, My Friend, you are so very kind! Thank you for the kind and complimentary comment. It is much appreciated. I never realized how much I said, “shall we?” until I started the Channel. Thanks for the encouraging words. All the best and Merry Christmas!
Don’t ever stop it’s great. You are so knowledgeable and interesting it’s a pleasure to watch you share your skills and talents.
Thank you! I really appreciate it. We have so much new and interesting stuff planned! @@cragglesharvey2774
My letterforms are a bit different from yours-perhaps a reflection on when I was taught cursive and by whom. Since you use boat/sailing terms, here’s my metaphor for a D.: think more spinnaker. Give the D more belly and curve more as you go to the top. I was taught to end mine with an upward swoosh at the top.
I love that description! Thank you. I’ll give it a go. Thanks for watching.
My cursive handwriting is not good, which is why I came to watch your video. I especially liked your J as I have trouble with that letter. Thank you!
On the subject of the letter D, my suggestion would be to try for more balance between the chest and the belly of the curve. The ones that had a sharper angle and were narrow at the top were my least favorite. Thank you for experimenting on camera for us!
Thanks for the advice and kind words. It is definitely a process and I make no claims about my writing being good. It’s just better than it was. It’s the creating-an-aesthetic and then sticking with it that is hard.
Thanks for watching!
All my handwriting is always 100% cursive.
This was very interesting viewing. The capitalized letters that still somewhat frustrate me in my cursive are W, J, K and M. I still can’t get them down on paper the way I really want to.
That said, I actually love the look of many of my capitals, especially Q. 🙂
Do you ever use tracing paper? That is, when you produce or find a well-crafted letter that usually frustrates, trace it a hundred times.
You have a good “Q?” Bravo! You know I like my “W”. You are certainly welcome to it! “J” is very dangerous. Thanks so much for watching!
Great penmanship review. I'm getting back to using fountain pens and have been looking at a variety of videos and am amazed that I come across so many folks reviewing a pen or ink and when they demo, they print! Yikes! It's no fun using a fountain pen if you print. Someone needs to tell them. LOL And if they don't know how to write cursive, it's never too late to learn and practice.
Glad it was helpful and inspiring! Thanks so much for watching!
"The joy of the struggle is obsessing." Spoken like a true dark academic. I've been writing capital Ds probably more than any other
letter and I haven't made peace with it, yet! Joy of the struggle indeed. Thanks, HJ! Lots of fun.
Thanks David! Yes, you have that letter right there in your name! Thanks for the kind words.
I have always struggled with D and G in cursive ( even after teaching transition to cursive for second grade students for more years than you want to know.)
I knew I’d be watching this video multiple times ❤
I need to do a Part II!
Thank you for a very enjoyable video. It's great to see someone having fun with cursive. I think my early school experience has left me with some stress around writing using cursive. I do find forming the capitals the biggest challenge. It's interesting to see some options that are maybe a bit more readable than some of the "standard" forms. I'm still slowly working on my penmanship so this is very helpful and timely.
Wonderful and thank you! If anything, I’d love to make this more of a fun exercise than something people are stressed about. Thanks!
I’ll try to put up a new video which might help you refine or learn to like the letter D. My main advice to any would be to remain consistent throughout a written page. If your letters that start with a loop, keep the loop there every time you use that letter. And if you have a beginning lead in on a particular letter, use it on the other related letters, too. The B, P, R, K, V and W could all share that same lead in to the first downstroke.
Yes, I need a “D” video! That would be splendid. I am struggling. Thanks!
Thanks HJ, excellent cursive review !! Hopefully you will follow up with the lower case video next.
I’m sure I will. Thanks so much, Gino! You’re the best.
What fun! Thank you so much. I kept racing ahead to see if I remembered how to do it. When I arrived at letter Q my mind was blank. lol Tells me I need to practice more often.:)
Nicely done! There are a lot of ways to write a "Q." I am sure yours is good too. There is that one that looks like a "2."
I like your A and it resembles mine. I love cursive, since my 10th birthday I adopted more elaborate capital letters having discovered them in my Father's Larousse Encyclopedia that was a wonderful publication back then (the large leather bound ponderous green tomes). Love it if everyone tried improving their handwriting to the point that it becomes elegant. In fact fountain pens lend themselves more to this type of writing than ballpoints or rollerballs would because they are closest to writing with a quill.
Wonderful! Thanks for the kind words. Keep writing!
The Australian cursive 'D' would probably suit you. I tend to pick and choose between Australian and American, for example I like the American 'A' more, but the 'G' is odd. Australian cursive has descenders on the G and J. Yep they are big.
To do the Australian 'D' start a little below the top line, almost straight down (slant it forwards just a little) and do a clockwise loop on the bottom line, then a big curve for the D (make sure you touch the bottom line again) then over the top of your downstroke and a half anit-clockwise loop through the descender. Lots of possibilities for flourishes with the final loop. It looks grand and is fun to do, takes a bit of practice to get the proportions of the big curve right. You kind of almost got there in the end - try not angling the downstroke so much and don't start right at the top, make the clockwise loop smaller, flatter, make the D curve rounder, and don't finnish your top half loop outside the D unless you are turning it into a flourish. (your 'D' attempts 6,7 and 9)
You might also like the Australian cursive 'X' There are no straight lines, It is done in two parts, and it's easy to join the next letter. Upper and lower case are done the same way, but the capital version is double size.
Great video - again 👍. New pen arrival! Today my next Wancher came from Japan. The super simple “True Ebonite” (Dream pen). It's always crazy what aesthetics the Japanese get into even very simple products. Great fountain pen... an now i try what you made today with the new pen. Greetings from Germany
Greetings to you and warm thanks! Here is to your new pen! I wish you all the best with it. Thanks for watching.
I like the style of having capital cursive letters not connect to the following letter, but I worked to make all my capitals connect & be unicursal. I also like putting descenders on all the capitals which have them in lowercase
I've also wondered why so many of my vintage nibs have a "stubbish" character even when they are not stubs. Looking at how much better these forms look with line variation likely answers that question. Probably not a great surprise to see alignment between nib design and popular forms of script.
Truly and a very good question. Thanks very much!
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Capital P is your nicest looking letter in my opinion. You could start your D that way as well.
Thank you. I’ll give it a shot.
@@HemingwayJonesI agree with making the D more like a fat Palmer P. My Ds and Ps start with a very short, almost straight upstroke, strong downstroke that then loops back and over the top. A P loop hits the middle of the down stroke and the D loop hots the bottom line. I agree the Ws are the best.
Lovely video. Thank you.
Thank you for watching!
I'm 73 and I was taught cursive in parochial school and the T and F were very different than the modern versions. I have not found any modern example of these letters that is the same as how we were taught to make these letters back in ancient times (1957). We were taught to draw a line similar to the first line in your A, then a line straight down from there. Then the top cross line starting with a small loop. The F was exactly the same with the additional cross line mid-height.
Who changed the look of these letters since 1957-58? Is there some governing body that decides what current cursive should look like?
I have seen those and that kidney shaped “F” that sort of laid on its side. I can barely explain that one and I never see it around. It was how I was taught in the 70s via the then Palmer Method and whichever edition that text book was in. I don’t know who decided or even what texts there are for students in grammar schools these days. It would be very interesting to know. Thanks for watching and for this wonderful comment.
Hemingway - you are so right! The capital cursive D always looks somewhat sad ... and like a man with a comb-over. Or ... derpy ... whether its little top loop points up or down. Always smiling through tears (!)
I love that description! Thank you!
Handwriting is fun. I keep a junk, well what I call a junk-notebook, beside me at my desk, so I can practice writing. I like to write or print the alphabet over and over again, to play with my pens to see how they feel in my hands. I get frustrated because the teens in the house don't know cursive at all it's like a different language to them.
That is a great idea! I have my notebooks that I use for recording that I do a little of this as well.
Glad to see someone else who prefers the General Mills G. My capital I looks like yours, but my stroke is backwards of yours
Thanks so much! I love that “G.” I have recently found some others. I am going to see if I can write it reverse! Thanks!
Thank you ✨wonderful detailed capitals 📃🖋️✒️❣️
Thank you so much for watching!
Suggest you take your thumb off from your index finger and put it on your pen. You will gain much more control and loosen up your stilted writing. A lot more fun .Just give it time.
Thanks Michelle and thanks for watching.
Yes, you should try the traditional 3 finger grip.
Awful teaching to allow you to grip a pen like. Obviously it was not right back in the day to hit children to make them use the right hand nor to force a grip change but you could have been oersuaded surely. And stop waving your hands around on camera. The gestures mean nothing and distract utterly from the content.
Absolutely! It looks very akward to me to hold a pen like this. You definately would have so much more control when your thumb is on the left side of the pen and meets with the tip of your index finger on the top while the pen is resting on the middle part your middle finger.
I have never seen so many people holding pens in the most absurdest ways than in the US.
My kids wrote with the thumb in this position, but then their writing looked awful and the teachers never corrected them. When I went to school the teacher showed us how to hold the ink pen or pencil correctly. They probably don't teach the kids nowadays, they all seem to put their thumb in the wrong place, and keep writing in this fashion till adulthood. We learned much more back then in school than they do now. No kidding!
For the D, I like the way the old cursive Dodge logo was
Nice reference. I think I found what you mean; it’s a bit like Walt Disney’s. Very nice.
A, E, S, T, and Z drive me up a wall. It has led me to just write in print more. I'd love to be able to write in some beautiful script one day, but I have grown accustomed to my own style of writing. I like to call it "print, with a minimal amount of cursive characteristics" lol.
That style of writing you describe can be very pretty and expressive. I would love to have a version of this. Thanks!
Uppercase longhand is my favorite way to commune with the legacy of literature, assuming Vaudeville is literature.
With no intention to gloat about it, my uppercase E's show how naturally I put the curse in cursive. Flowing with the rippling grace of earthworms with lumbago, my E's evoke Duchamp's little known precursor to Nude Descending a Staircase, Grampa Stumbling Down a Boat Ramp.
In fact, my uppercase E's inspire me to write. All I need is a worthy nom de plume. What a shame e.e. cummings is taken. It would have been perfect.
And, by the way, Merry Christmas to all!
I need to go look at one of your letters for your “E!” A little Taboo DaDa. Merry Christmas, My Freind!
Ha on the Duchamp analogy. Didn’t e. e. cummings use lower case e? Out of the same frustration, or was that his editor and/or publisher. Maybe E. E. Goings for you? Enjoyed your comment.
Truthfully, I've heard e.e. cummings use of lower case was more of a stylistic artifact of certain print volumes, not a statement of self deprecation. But, such is the story, so I thought I could borrow it. Thank you for your kind words. I, too, enjoyed your comment!@@christophermckellar1352
@@johnnyragadoo2414 -Ah, and thank you for the info and YOUR kind words.
My capital M has 2 humps, with the little loop on the front. It looks very simalar to my W if it was upside down. Lol
Interesting video Hemingway.
When you're writing cursive, and you start with a capital. Do you run the capital into the lowercase? If so, wouldn't it be advantageous to finish the capital in a tail on the lower right?
I like that you're trying your own style, instead of copying an established font. Thanks for the inspiration.
Hello and thanks for watching! Sometimes I do, but not always. I’m very inconsistent. One of my many failings. Thanks so much for the kind words.
Great video,I bought book long ago on cursive writing.,frank in Oswego,ill
Thanks for watching!
Funny, I was looking at how Americans (used to?) teach cursive and that Palmer method, and I was surprised how different some of the letterforms of the capitals are, specifically. Some are surprisingly different to what I was taught in France in the late 90's/early 2000's.
Also, it seems we're the only one in the world to use our Seyès (french ruled?) lined paper. With super rigid rules about how high and low parts of letters needed to be
I have that paper! Lovely stuff. There are definitely rules, but you know me... rules? For me, it's expression over rules. I love the French way though.
@@HemingwayJones If you're curious I'll send you a model of what I was taught when I was six years old in the mail
Palmer is what my dad (greatest) writes. I'm a Z-B (genexer). I loathe D'nealian. I've been teaching my children (alphas) Z-B.
@@argonwheatbelly637 Oh, so that what's its called ? D'Nealian ?! It's truly awful.
I cannot find a "fancy" name for what I know beside "French cursive". There are two kinds of majuscule Q, one that looks like a big lowercase Q and one that looks like a "fancy number 2". I do the "fancy number 2" one.
Though, my handwriting of everyday is very different than the school models obviously, it's been 23 years since I was a schoolboy learning these.
This was lovely and inspiring, thanks!
I am so glad! Thank you and thanks for watching.
Another great video! I like my M, N, V, W, and especially my L. The rest I use as a more or less “siege mode:” using just lettering aka “print” characters. Still searching for some others. Thanks again for your hard work and artfulness. Was that last painting a Pre-Raphaelite work? Which museum?
Thanks so much! I am so glad that you enjoyed this one. Handwriting is so much fun. That painting is a PreRaphaelite from the MFA in Boston. Rossetti. There is an entire Pre Raphaelite thread running through this Channel. Thanks for watching and for your kind words.
@@HemingwayJones thanks for the information and for including it. I mostly know the Pre-Raphaelites from books and online. I have a large book of them and enjoy them very much. I just had a thought. I wonder if there are photocopies of that book of poems that, was it Rossetti?, Buried with his wife and dug her up later to get the book of poems back. Would love to see that handwriting!
Great video! Thanks
Glad you liked it! Thank you!
Thanks for showing me the coffee!
I mainly struggle with K, J, I, T and W
The struggle is real. I like my “W.” It’s a bit mad, but I like that.
Sorry, didn't watch as the only cursive I use is signing my name. And even that I've shortened as with the passing years my hand balks at putting in the correct number of humps. Paradoxically, my typing speed remains the same, nice and fast.
It's a gorgeous, sunny, mild morning here in San Francisco, which has me smiling: I wish all peace and joy on the solstice. Now I gotta go clean out some pens.
You can still play this in the background. I am very entertaining at low volume! ;-P
In german EVERY noun is written with a capital letter. You would like that 😊
I would like that! Thanks for watching!
I have received my Diamond 580 and I wonder; should I post the cap? I do it with other post-able pens but I'm sure the 580 isn't supposed to post. I do it anyways, is that ok?
It’s fine to post. I used to post mine for years and nothing happened. It’s long enough not to and I find it back heavy now, but in the past, I posted everything, so I get it. What’s important is that you like writing with it and are inspired. Enjoy that wonderful pen!
Us Germans, … we are very lucky, because we have the chance to write more capital letters, other at the beginning of each sentence, since every noun in the German language is written with a capital letter at the beginning. 😂🎉
Plenty of practice there! Thanks so much for letting me know and for watching.
Genau!
I think it’s terrible that schools are not teaching cursive writing any longer. It’s important for small children’s eye/hand coordination. My cursive isn’t like yours it’s legible, but very personally stylized so I hardly use it anymore. But it is fun to write that way.
I write like my Grandmother did, and I guess that's Mid-Century. To make a Mid-Century Capital D, just do what you did with your Mid-Century capital B, but one big belly.
Working on it! Feel free to send an example. Thanks!
Imagine as a small child to do all your homework and reports in cursive handwriting. This is the way it was.....way back when.
My caps look quite different from yours. I hold my fingers different than you do, we were taught to hold the pen the right way but loose so as not to pinch. This keeps your writing hand from hurting. Good luck.
Exactly! All the way to college for me. Computers were just coming in.
Whatever works for you! I’m happy for you. All the best and thanks for watching.
non capitals next!
Sure! That sounds fun.
A few humble suggestions regarding the aesthetics of a cursive alphabet:
Embellishment should never impair legibility.
Majuscules like "B" and "D" look better with puffed up chests rather than with droopy beer bellies.
Majuscules should be about 80% the height of ascending minuscules, and descending minuscules should match the heights of ascenders.
The width of letters should follow the example of lapidary capitals - as can be seen on the Trajan Column. (A narrow "C", "D", :G", "M", "O", "Q", or "W" looks squeezed.)
There should be an internal consistency in which letters share strokes, slant, and rhythm.
The lower case "t" is not an ascender.
They sound like excellent contributions to the conversation. I agree that “D” shouldn’t droop. That’s a big part of my issue. Thanks so much for watching and for your knowledge and enthusiasm.
That kind of cursive F always looks like a 7 to me
I can see that. My “F” is heavily influenced by my Fender Stratocaster.
I like #9 D
4 the algorithm
With all of the crazy politics in the right it is good to seize the capital letters (rather than the Capitol) and to avoid the Palmer (method) raids. Full Marx for das Kapital. My (upper) case rests your honor. Sorry for the puns or historical jokes. Happy holidays.
Love this! Best comment ever! Thank you and Merry Christmas! Thanks for watching.
Many of my capital (majuscule) letters are print forms or mixed print/cursive. partly because they are written very fast and very freehand. My favorite form of Chinese calligraphy (of which I cannot read a word!) is grass hand, which is nearly illegible, even to someone that reads Chinese. But it fits in with my jerky, fast flowing style. OTOH, students always complained about my (blackboard/whiteboard) writing. I find paleography facinating. handwriting really is a (fairly fast)_ moving target: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeography
Stay tuned, My Friend, we are doing Cross Writing in the coming week! I think you will really enjoy this! (You’re the first one to know). Thanks so much!
How dare you promote such SMUT ! This is the 21st century sir! They no longer teach cursive to students, or that’s what my cousin’s kids tell me.
You’re flirting with a one way flight to a certain bay in Cuba señor. The ancient Greek word “Logos” meant “thought, “AND it also meant “word,” for indeed the two words are in essence signify the same thing. However, since they no longer teach kids the former, i.e., “thinking,” (for a teacher can’t teach what he knows not), there is no reason to teach the later, “words,” at least not in their cursive form. Besides, cursive is too damned bourgeois…I find it “offensive,” “Inappropriate” and it’s kind of “sexist” too if you think about it, but don’t think too much, because they don’t like that. Your promotion of cursive already has you on a sheet of thin Siberian ice comrade…Tread lightly “citoyen,” et vive la république !
Nice! Love this. I am filming a video on Cursive in a cultural social context coming up soon, I think you will like.
@@HemingwayJones Well good luck with that in the USA today, not to be confused with “USA Today,” the rag newspaper that Google’s AI spell check thinks I’m trying to type, because it keeps capitalizing the T in today ( fun fact about me- I have NEVER, EVER, in my ENTIRE life read a news paper…I’m very proud of that). Even as a dumb kid/teen I knew it was nonsense.
Anyway, as I’m about to launch into another tangent…As I was saying, good luck with that project, because the only hand written verbiage you’re likely to find in this republic of rigor-mortis, the USA of course, will be found in the train yard, sprayed in paint from a can, all over the rusty box-cars, in the form of gauche graffiti. However you’ll find no cursive, since they don’t teach it in “our” age of enlightenment, and because I guess it’s easier to write in large rotund and obnoxious uppercase letters with a can of cheap spray paint, and as far as paint, they write their words in multiples of mismatched colors, which irritates the hell of me; however, I think that qualifies as “modern art” though, so I should shut the hell up about that. But, that’s the only place I see words written by hand these days, but unfortunately for your project, it’s not done in cursive.
The only other cursive that exists in the Age of Aquarius ( water does indeed rust; just look around you) can be found on endorsed cheques, or you might find cursive on some Gen X’ers shopping list in the garbage can outside of WalMart. Really, now that I think about it, I’m surprised these pen companies are even in business still. People don’t write, however they do type ( a hell of a lot better than me), and because of the internet, people probably write better today than they did through the late 20th century, though i’m not so sure that’;s a complement, but I was trying to be nice, instead of being a constant complainer.
I wrote a better response, full of smart-ass commentary, yet relevant and thought provoking, and a very long post too, HOWEVER, as I so often do, I hit some key, I know not what key, et voilà - all my words and ideas vanished. I do that a lot, and it pisses me off. It takes me forever to think of and type a response. Then I have to do it all over, and the second never captures the spirit of the original.
Well, unless you moonlight as a magician, who can do REAL magic, you’ve set out to do what seems to me to be impossible for the reasons given.
I love the Sunday NYT. I have been reading it since the 80s. Endlessly fascinating and has introduced me to so many of the things I showcase here on the Channel.
I am editing the video right now and it's more of an essay from my point of view, so it's very much my voice, with some articles and whatnot for support, as to whether Cursive is dying, dead, or something else.
It will be my breezy, fun, and compelling style. Please promise me that you will give me your polite, but honest opinion when it comes out! I'd appreciate your perspective very much!
Thanks for the comment and for watching.
@HemingwayJones no problem. I serve no purpose on this planet other than telling the truth, unless I'm in trouble with the police, then I HAVE TO lie lol. The only things I've ever read were things I MADE myself read when I was in my mid 20's, like classics, the stuff they should have been teaching in school but weren't...Like the Iliad, Mark Twain, Dracula, Frankenstein, all sorts of things ( never read Hemingway though) I forgot what I read, but a bunch of classics. I hate reading ( I can't even spell; I must be dyslexic) but I MADE myself do it Though I did read Aristotole's Ethics, recently, I took a class on it. It changed my life. I knew I wasnt really stupid then, because everything he said, well almost everything, I'd always thought, then I KNEW I wasnt so screwed up. Dante ( the guy who wrote the Inerno) called him "The Master of Those Who Know!" TRUTH comes first with Aristotle. I love him. I felt so broken my whole life, then I took that class. He's hard to read though. I needed a teachers guidance. I heard you say you are somewhat familiar with Italian. You should journal in Italian, which you CAN do provided you understand the basics, like what's a verb, an article, that stuff. Just use Google Translate and Reverso, and keep it simple. You can learn a thst way, but it takes consistancy, and time. Other than thst it IS EFFORTLESS, it's just happens subconsiously, like how a little baby/kid learns. Who cares if yiu become fluent, the journey is pretty cool too. "Learn à New language, get a new soul." That's a Czech Proverb. Remember the mind and words are the same thing, you think in English, you think in WORDS, and the mind and the "soul" are the same, thus, learn a New language, get a new soul, and your very being will vibrate with new life. If you like words, and you obviously do, then you will likely experience the same awesome renaissance, and Italian is probably THE most beautiful language, not French, though it's beautiful too, but not as cool as Italian. I'm not fluent either, but I know a lot, and i MUST say it fucking stimulates my mind unlike anything else I've ever experienced, except for mescaline lol. You are younger than me, you can do it. "Compréhensible Input" Google that, and that's how you can learn Italian, and have FUN doing it. Jesus, do I go off on tangents... The joys of ADHD.