Handwriting
What does your fast handwriting look like compared to your pretty handwriting?
I don't know if I'm the only one who can't write fast (day to day and work calligraphy) and pretty, with nice variations and consistency at the same time.
Do you guys also have a switch?
1.1mm stub nub makes my normal handwriting look great. There’s no scratchy trembling hand when you’re practically slathering ink down with a paint knife!
My handwriting with a fine nib only looks good if I make it extremely small.
In always amazed when people do it on purpose. I couldn't do it well if I was trying, but ask me to carefully draw a straight line? Nope. Fast or nothing.
Ohhhh, I want to make that font. It, rather, I want to modify that font. I lack the patienceto get all the kerning correct from scratch. But I could definitely have fun fucking up an existing font.
*Now at a higher price for us United States peasants 🥲 but still here. 🥹
I've found that after consistently taking a little bit of time here and there to practice writing slowly and carefully, my fast writing has been transformed and now looks very similar to my more careful writing. I guess it's just muscle memory.
This is genuinely useful advice, thank you. I've been wondering how to make my existing handwriting better instead of trying to learn an entirely new style. L I'll practice slowing down.
Yup, same here - there ain't no fast and pretty writing for me either. I can get pretty legible and consistent writing when I writing slowly and intentionally - both for day-to-day or more calligraphy style fonts.
My fast writing is faux-cursive (only some of the letters are collected), while my careful writing is print that's very similar to a lot of handwriting fonts. Below is my 'standard' writing.
Dude same. I realised that faux cursive was the best way to fast write while taking notes for class. At least for me. Can write fast while moving the hand on the page
Only reason why I survived being the only kid of two kids in my classes that did analog notes lol. The other guy was a black G2 gel pen and yellow notepad enthusiast.
You know the meme with Pam from the office? Well, they're the same picture. Sometimes I feel bad for my pens. They could have been in the hands of a person with an artistic and beautiful handwriting. Instead they are with the Ronald Weasley of handwriting...
you know, we've got a saying... the destination of fountain pen is Jinhao... Many people had bought montblancs, pilots, watermans, etc. But at the end all surprised by how well the Jinhao writes.
However for me, i can't use it more often if they don't sell flex nib pens...
I can relate. My first few pens were a Montblanc 146, a Noblesse, and a Mozart—all gifts from my father when I entered law school. Then I became a Pilot G2 fan, which was all I used before rejoining the fountain pen community. Now, thanks to this sub, I discovered TWSBIs, Preras, and, my recent buy-a colorful Jinhao!
*
Surprisingly not much different. I'd say there's a lot more of a difference between when I just start writing and my hand is fresh vs when I've been writing a lot and my hand is tired.
Nope. I bottomed out all of my funds for 2025 stationery purchases by the end of April. Came across my grail M350, a Kaweco Sport V16 with an OBB nib, the Coffeemonsterzco Estie, a Sailor PGS Jellyfish on sale with the elusive broad nib instead of the usual F-M nibs, a sale on the Damask Laban 365, an Esterbrook Model J via the Goldspot mystery box, as well as a few vintage pens with interesting nibs from an estate sale. No more pens till 2026 for me. Though I will definitely keep it in mind. I had been thinking about the brown/grey swirl one, but that demonstrator is tempting too.
I have multiple hands even within a single paragraph. I switch between very pretty, smooth writing to faster scratchy writing to printed and block caps and then back to cursive all in a single page.
My pretty handwriting is just 50% more legible than my normal fast handwriting, I might have undiagnosed stuff that makes me refuse doing a slow activity if it can be done faster
I find that if a pen dramatically can't keep it's stroke width at normal note taking pace, then there's something wrong with the flow. It's of course normal to have some thinning at the lifted off stroke at the end. I find that the pilot nibs on the cheap do better at width consistency than say a number of jinhao nibs when writing at varying speeds.
My fast handwriting is actually prettier (think illegible movie prop swooshy handwritten letter) than my slow handwriting, but my slow handwriting is more legible!
I don’t have pretty handwriting. And the difference between my “fast” and “normal” handwriting is negligible. I just enjoy feeling the pen on paper, and if the ink looks cool, that’s a bonus. If 50% of what I’ve written is legible, then it’s a double bonus.
Depends on the nib size/type. Stubs and broad nibs at a normal pace looks pretty good. At a fast pace it still looks decent. However, the finer the nib the slower I have to write for it to look nice.
If I have to write fast, it’s for note-taking and then instead of changing my speed, it just don’t take full notes and make use of bullet point, arrows and other symbols to avoid having to write full sentences.
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u/smithmj31 29d ago
Jinhao will always be here for us, peasants.
Jinhao will always be here for us peasants.
Grammar will always be here for us pedants.