How to Improve Your Handwriting

Have you ever been mistaken as a doctor when someone saw your handwriting? Do
elementary school children have more legible writing than you? Poor handwriting can be
embarrassing and significantly affect your academic and professional life. Rather than
allowing your handwriting to continue to worsen, make changes to beautify your
signature. Soon enough, you will be giving ohn Hancock a run for his money
Part 1 of 2: Analyzing Your Handwriting
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Write a paragraph. "hoose a topic#anything really#and write at least five
sentences about it. $f you%re not feeling too creative, simply copy a passage out of
a book or newspaper. &he goal is to get an idea of what your handwriting looks
like on average. &he more you write, the more accurate your analysis will be.
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Identify the primary shapes. $s your handwriting full of loops and curves? $s it
primarily straight lines and stiff in appearance? Do you have hard corners, or do
your letters blend together?
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oo! for a slant. &he angle at which you write your letters can make or break
your handwriting. $s your handwriting perpendicular to the lines under it? Does it
fall to the left or to the right significantly? ) slight slant is typically not a
problem, but too much of one can make reading difficult.
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"he#! the alignment. Do your words tend to be written on an upwards or
downwards angle? Do they overlap with the lines on the page? $s every word
individually angled, or do your entire lines of te+t head in a similar direction away
from the line?
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oo! at the spa#ing. &he distance between your words and letters helps
determine the -uality of your handwriting. &here should be enough space between
each word to fit the letter ./.0 1sing more or less space than this can be an
indicator of poor handwriting. Pay attention also to the closeness of each
individual letter. "ramped writing or letters that are spaced far apart are also
difficult to read.
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Pay attention to the size. &urns out si3e does matter, at least with handwriting.
Does your writing fill up the entire space between two lines? "an you write all
your words in less than half the space between two lines? &aking up a large
amount of space or using too little are both things to avoid.
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Analyze your line $uality. 5ook at the actual lines that comprise your writing.
)re they drawn with heavy pressure, or are they faint and hard to read? )re your
lines straight, or are they kind of s-uiggly and uneven?
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%etermine your flaws. "onsidering all of the aforementioned, what is it that your
handwriting needs in order to improve? Possible changes can be made to the
shape of letters, your spacing, alignment, writing si3e, line -uality, and the slant of
words. "hanging one or more of these will improve your overall handwriting
legibility.
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oo! to other handwriting styles for inspiration. So now you know your letters
are too large and your shapes too round, now what? :o onto font websites and
look for handwriting samples that you like. ;ake a copy of each style of
handwriting that is feasible for you to mimic. Don%t be afraid to look for samples
that might vary significantly from your own handwriting, as you can pick and
choose certain aspects of different handwritings rather than adopting an entirely
new one.
Part 2 of 2: "hanging Your Handwriting
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Write in the air. ;ost of the time, people with poor or illegible handwriting
simply haven%t properly trained the correct muscle groups in their hands, arms,
and shoulders. )void .drawing0 letters with your hand, and instead write by
moving your entire arm up to the shoulder. &o practice doing this, the easiest thing
is to write sentences in the air using your finger. &his forces you to use the muscle
groups in your arm and shoulder that help to improve handwriting and keep it
from looking messy or cramped.
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Ad&ust the shape of your hand. <our pen or pencil should be held between your
thumb and inde+ and =optional> middle fingers. &he end of the writing utensil
should rest against either the web of your hand or against the knuckle of your
inde+ finger. Holding your pencil too tightly or loosely =in this position or others>
will result in poor handwriting. Hold the pencil in the bottom ? for the best
results.
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Pra#ti#e the 'asi# shapes. ) consistent flaw in poor handwriting is irregularity
and inconsistency between letters and shapes. )ll the letters are made up out of
straight lines and circles or semi@circles, so put in some time drawing these. Aill
an entire sheet of paper with parallel vertical lines, and parallel diagonal lines. Do
the same with a sheet of Bo% shapes as well. Chen you can consistently make the
same line over and over, you are ready to move onto complete letters.
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(tudy a dire#tional #hart. )lthough everyone seems to do it a bit differently,
there is a certain way to write each letter of the alphabet. Aollowing the correct
direction of the line that forms each letter can greatly improve your handwriting.
Aor e+ample, rather than starting a lowercase Ba% with the tail, begin at the top of
the loop. Practice writing every letter in the correct direction, Dust like how you
were taught in kindergarten.
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)ry a variety of writing utensils. )lthough it may seem nit@picky, different
people are able to write better =or worseE> using different writing utensils. &ry a
variety of tools including a ballpoint, roll@on, and felt pen in addition to traditional
and mechanical pencils. Ainding one that you enDoy writing with may be enough
to improve your handwriting on its own.
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Pra#ti#e your alpha'et. <es, Dust like in first grade, fill up rows upon rows of
lines with each letter of the alphabet in lower and upper case. 1se your font
inspiration that you gathered as well as your handwriting analysis to focus on
what you need to change. $f slanting is your problem, make it a point to keep your
letters vertical. $f you are trying to change the shapes of your letters, concentrate
simulating the shapes you see in the handwriting inspiration you%ve chosen.
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*et it down pat. Chen you%re certain of your every letter%s perfection, practice
writing them in full words and sentences. Crite the phrase .the -uick brown fo+
Dumps over the la3y dog0 over and over again#this particular sentence contains
every letter of the alphabet, giving you ample practice time. )lthough it may seem
monotonous, the adage Bpractice makes perfect% certainly applies here.
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Always handwrite things. Pass up the option to type that essay outline or to pop
off an email catching up with a friend, and instead make the effort to handwrite
your work. &aking the opportunity to write things by hand whenever possible will
be the most beneficial practice in improving your handwriting. $t may take a bit
longer, but you%ll be building up the muscles that are necessary for easy and
smooth writing.
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