How to Write in Italics
I type all day. I swipe and click on my phone. I jot down notes on paper. I’m happy with my predominantly digital life. But every now and then I get handwritten notes – usually from old ladies – and I wish I would practice italics more often. These old ladies know how to write .
Whether you want to improve your cursive or learn it from scratch, there really are two main skills to work on:
- Know how each letter is formed and how it should look
- Correspondence of the size of letters, the distance between them, the inclination and direction of the letters.
The first is a little training and a little practice; the second is practice. So let’s get started!
Convenient to set up
When you are good at italics, you can do it anywhere, but it will be easier for you to learn and practice if you can sit at a real table (or kitchen table) in a real chair. Tilt the paper so that the bottom is toward the writing hand. Any paper will work, but make sure the surface is smooth – use a clipboard or fold several layers of paper if your desk has a rough surface.
You will need a writing instrument that moves smoothly when your hand is in a comfortable writing position. We have many opinions about which pen is best , but some write well only when held upright; others write better at an angle. Do yourself a favor and don’t overdo it: just grab a pencil for these early lessons.
I’m going to say something really controversial here: the position of your hand is completely up to you . I remember being taught a dynamic tripod grip , which is great for pencils and fountain pens, but other grips can be just as effective depending on your hand strength, the type of grip you prefer, and other factors. You study italic on the Internet, which means that no one grades you. Experiment.
Find a sample alphabet
Before you can write cursive letters, you need to know what they look like. Find “letter guides” that show the shape and order of the strokes. This is a good baseline and shows the entire alphabet. You can also download and print these workout sheets, which have light-colored letters for you to circle.
Before choosing a guide, take a look at how they form the letters. Uppercase Q and Z are traditionally weird as hell, but you can write them your way. (Again, no one puts you, you are on your own). Alphabets differ in other ways as well: for example, does their capital A look like a giant lowercase A. Pick (or think of!) A style you like and stick with it.
Exercise
The only way to learn this is to practice. Start with letters with a straight line up, such as l, b, f, h, and u. Then move on to those that start with a curved line, such as a, c, and o. Practice writing each letter over and over until you can consistently form the same shape.
Line paper will help you keep the proportions of the parts of the letter to each other. This calligraphy paper even has a slope, so you can make sure that all your vertical strokes (like the high part of h) are neatly parallel.
Keep the paper in a comfortable position as you move down the page. Use your non-writing hand to move the paper upward instead of moving your writing hand downward. And if you run into problems, don’t forget to slow down .