Written by Hand

Techniques and Tips to Make Your Everyday Handwriting More Beautiful

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Pub Date Nov 21 2017 | Archive Date Jan 04 2018

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Description

Beautify your life by perfecting your handwriting! This immersive guide to the handwritten word includes handwriting basics, step-by-step guides to various lettering styles, practice pages, and more.

With electronic devices taking up so much of our lives, penmanship and handwriting have become lost arts that many feel nostalgic for. Written by Hand shows you how to make the act of handwriting a treat that brings elegance and character to everything from Post-it notes to hand-lettered invitations.
 
Artist and hand letterer Erica Tighe walks you through the anatomy of each letter of the alphabet for several different fonts and the proper tools needed to write beautifully. After an examination of your own writing habits, you'll learn:
  • The proper way to hold a writing utensil
  • Basic terminology and the anatomy of type
  • Sans serif, bold serif, script, and faux calligraphy alphabet styles, letter by letter
  • How to mix lettering styles
  • How to create graphic text using banners, shadows, and shapes
In no time, you'll be loving every stroke of the pen and adding grace and personality to your everyday life.
Beautify your life by perfecting your handwriting! This immersive guide to the handwritten word includes handwriting basics, step-by-step guides to various lettering styles, practice pages, and more.

...

Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781631063862
PRICE $16.99 (USD)
PAGES 160

Average rating from 18 members


Featured Reviews

Written by Hand is an engaging, introductory, creative, handwriting how-to manual, complete with exercise pages, inspirational practice quotes and guidance for creating fun hand-lettering

There is some interesting information about different styles of writing, grip types, 'calligraphy' terminology, grip, sizing, basically everything to get you started lettering confidently. Reading it from the point of view of a complete novice with horrible penmanship, I found it approachable and it inspired me to noodle around a bit.

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I will be using this book so much! I've been trying to learn more about calligraphy and how to improve my hand-writing and this book is a perfect introduction to do so.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to emerged into this beautiful activity!

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As someone who still enjoys writing things down on paper as much as using electronic versions, I was really intrigued with the ideas in this book.  Sadly with cursive writing no longer being taught in schools across the US and the concept of writing by putting pen to paper considered "old school" and obsolete I think the younger generations are losing a valuable tool for learning and communicating.   This book has plenty of fun facts and ideas about hand writing as a science and an art.

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I'm obsessed with penmanship. I have a collection of demonstrator fountain pens to which I fill with colorful inks. I'm a big proponent of cursive. I love the promotion of cursive in the schools because, despite technology, we have historical documents written in cursive and calligraphy--our children need to be able to read them. And there is nothing better than signing a check or letter with your beautiful handwriting.
I was delighted to read this book and see the process of creating beautiful penmanship. There are segments on how to make faux calligraphy, the type of graph paper for the type of writing you're perfecting, etc. This is great for beginners who want to hone their handwriting skills.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read this book.

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Brilliant book, clearly explains techniques. Great for most ages but the best I've seen for an adult to use

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Good book about basic calligraphy. The book contain good ressources and good tools.

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To begin with,  I must admit that in our school education in India, cursive writing is a must. I am not sure how much of a colonial hangover it is, or if it's the need for beauty in presentation like this book indicates. In either case, I have actually never written in 'print' or separate letters. 

This book is for those of a similar bent of mind, or in this case, inclination of hand. The main point though is that for the full effect, it would certainly need to be bought in paperback/hardcover versions so that the workspace can be utilized. Since I was reading an advance reader's copy in digital form, I did not have the pleasure of following instructions. It gives a slight peek into calligraphy and multiple ways that any interest in 'writing by hand' can be improved. It would be a fun book to keep anyone entertained while learning something that can possibly be put to use immediately.

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'Written by Hand' includes every tip on how to make your writing beautiful. Each step is explained in meticulous detail allowing everyone the ability to develop their writing. Every possible topic is covered from tools and grasp to font types. It even has 50 writing prompts to inspire all. In an ever increasing digital world it's beautiful to see that hand writing is still important to some. Erica Tighe has created not only an informative guide, but a truly beautiful insight into her story and masterful talent.

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This was such a fun book. Very crafty too. I used this to write a Christmas wish poem to some one and I liked the result. The styles are easy to follow and the space for practice is good. I will surely give this book to some one who want to make their handwriting a little neater.

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Written by hand by Erica Tighe invite us to rediscover the art of hand writing, to fall in love with it and its imperfect nature. It makes us see how even though technology has made it fast and simple for us to deliver text messages, it still lacks the human warmth and uniqueness that hand lettering can give.

What I found the most appealing about this book, is that it is not intimidating. It is a great romanticized introduction to the art of hand writing. In it we get to know the author's personal journey with handwriting, analyze our own writing and grasp, "the basics" (tools, terminology, strokes, spacing and sizing), types of lined paper, step-by-step instructions to different alphabets: sans serif, bold serif, script and faux calligraphy, reference alphabets and 50 writing prompts.

The visual aesthetics of the book make it easy to grasp the information. It has some practice space right after each lesson, so it can also be used as a workbook. It gives you inspiration and enough information to retake hand writing into your daily life or creative projects. I found it specially useful for perfecting my composition and consistency when writing inspirational quotes. However, it doesn't go deep about how to create each letter (direction of the strokes, flow, styles, flourishes and variations) like most books on the subject do, so you might want to check more resources after reading this one. I would specially recommend this book if you want to know all the good reasons why you should be holding a pen and for improving your own lettering style to make it clearer and more consistent.
I got my eArc from Quarto Publishing Group - Rock Point via NetGalley

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I have been trying to get into handlettering for a while and have read a crateful of books on the subject and this is my favorite by far! Why? Because I as a beginner in any artistic endeavor I tend to be very anal and controlling until I get the hang of it and start letting loose. This book talks about handlettering in almost mathematical terms explaining how to create a grid based on the quote or message you are going to create, the spaces between the letters, etc. This is what has been missing from all those other books... and it is just what I needed.

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Cute and informative book. I’d like some of the techniques and hope to use them in my own hand lettering.

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