How to Improve Your Handwriting
First of all, you have to understand how your handwriting looks like. Write any sentence. Figure it out yourself, or just rewrite any sentence from a book. Write a short text – you will analyze it, developing your own writing style.
Look at this text and find most common shapes. Some people use a lot of curves, somebody prefers straight letters. Some people always blend letters together, others may draw sharp corners. After this, look at your slam. You may draw letters perpendicular to a straight line, or they may slope. We suggest you not to make a big slant, since it will make your text more difficult to read. Draw a horizontal line, and look how your letters diverge with it. We also suggest you to note the size of your letters. They shouldn’t take too much space nor be too small. Your text must be comfortable for readers.
Look at your text and note what can be changed. Look at your lines, and ask yourself, is your text easy to read? Does it look accurate or messy? Now you know that your handwriting fell short of the ideal. You have to figure out, what you can do. We suggest you to check various websites, and find examples of fonts that look good for you. Find a font that is similar to your writing style, and try to copy it. If you like some font that looks completely different from your style, don’t try to copy the entire font. You can easily adapt certain elements to your technique.
Start from writing in the air. It’s a very useful exercise, since it helps train necessary muscles. Many people have poor handwriting skills just because they haven’t practice enough, and their muscles are not used to this kind of work. We suggest you not to draw letters only with your hand. Involve more muscles, and always try to use your entire arm. If you draw letters in the air, it will easily involve all your arm, and hand.
Look how your fingers hold a pen. You must hold it with your thumb and index finger. You can also use the middle finger. Don’t try to hold your pen or pencil too tight, because it will have a negative impact on your handwriting. Hold it comfortably.
The most noticeable feature of poor handwriting is that all lines and curves look differently. If it’s exactly your case, take your time and draw all necessary basic elements of handwriting. Generally, every text consists of straight lines and curves, so practice in drawing these lines. Write an entire page of straight lines, then a page with curves. Don’t forget about little circles, to learn the ‘o’ shape. Practice writing basic elements until you will see that all your lines, curves, and circles look the same. Now you are ready to start writing letters.
We suggest you to start writing with a directional chart, since it may simplify your writing significantly. Just follow the lines, and you will easily cope with any shape.
Try different tools. There are many kinds of pencils and pens. Every tool may be better or worse for your particular style of handwriting. Maybe you would like an ink, or ballpoint pen. Maybe mechanical pencils fit you best. Find your favorite tool, and it will help you improve your handwriting, because you will write easily and naturally.
We already mentioned the importance of practice, so we suggest you to handwrite notes every time you have to note something. Handwrite your work or a letter. You will see that this process takes more time than typing, but helps you train necessary muscles, and it’s an interesting thing that reflects your individuality.