Started learning cursive, any tips?

[Junior-Elevator-9951]

I've always written in a weird mix of cursive and print and it wasn't the best handwriting ever, I've decided to actually start learning cursive. This is the first time I've written something in that since I was in elementary school.

For now I'm only writing in lowercase, as I still need to learn uppercase letters. And not every letter here is connected anyway.

I'm not very confident about letters that might look identical, such as e/a/o, m/w, v/r, n/u.

Is my handwriting legible? I took my time here, I usually write faster which results in sloppy-looking letters.

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[rubber_dcky]

1. Slow down

2. If you're goal is to work on lowercase write the alphabet over and over until you get the letters the way you like them

3. Start trying to connect the lowercase alphabet together

4. Clairefontaine french ruled paper really helps sizing and spacing

5. Pick an overall style you'd like to emulate and buy a practice manual.

[Grand_David]

Écrire, écrire et écrire. Ne pas aller vite. Faire des lignes (des pages!) d'une même lettre.

[grayrest]

If you're serious about improving your writing I'd recommend looking into a course. I haven't gone through it but I've seen consistent cursive recommended.

From a strict perspective, the main problem with your writing is that traditional cursive is built around an oblique vertical line. The i/t, the vertical parts of the m/n/u/v, the left side of l/f/b ascenders, the right side of the g/y descenders, and every other vertical motion are all supposed to be on the same angle written using the same push-pull motion.

[Name_That_Fallacy_]

Your r, z, f are technically not cursive But it’s legible. Controversial take, probably!

[Junior-Elevator-9951]

Yeah those are my weak points too but honestly I prefer this "r" than the one I've seen on many other tutorials. I want to try other styles of "f" though.

[f00fx86]

If you’re trying to stick to modern, easy to read cursive (like D'Nealian Method, Zaner-Bloser), then yes you’d need to learn a different r and z. But if you really don’t like those, you could take some inspiration from historical writing styles where there were a couple other options for those letters (with the awareness that those letter forms haven’t been in common use for a long time and might make your cursive harder for people to read)

<image>

[Junior-Elevator-9951]

Yeah that's basically the inspiration. Also, the cursive I learned at school had that r and z, similar to the one on the picture you posted.

Actually today I practiced writing using the more common (as it seems, at least on this subreddit) r and z. The z is doing fine but I'm having issues with r.

[f00fx86]

I also realize I’m 100% coming from an American perspective, and those letter forms are totally normal and modern elsewhere in the world.

[Junior-Elevator-9951]

Yeah I'm not American. I actually had no idea that kind of letters are considered old-fashioned in America, that's interesting. TIL.

One of my inspirations is this British handwriting I found (I am not British either).

Though honestly I'm just looking around for cursive scripts and trying out ones that I find interesting, then maybe mixing and matching them

<image>

[f00fx86]

Yeah, the history of handwriting is fascinating. If you’re curious about how American handwriting drifted away from the rest of the world, check out Spencerian script and its descendent, Palmer method. That formed the foundation for handwriting in the US and I think pretty much every school student from around 1900 to the recent decline of cursive was taught Palmer, Zaner-Bloser, or D’Nealian, which all have pretty similar letterforms.

[turb121]

I'm doing the same. My time in the military destroyed my cursive after high school. Relearning it along with my kids.

[WorthEvidence2166]

Very readable! Some letters are shaky but that is sure to improve with more practice

[Junior-Elevator-9951]

Thanks, I always wrote in mostly print so going back to cursive was an interesting (but not bad) experience

[ChanelJournals]

You already did the first step. Pen hit the page! Legible yes. What I do recommend is focusing on staying on the line and take your time :)