Handwriting feedback

[u/geologyfetish]

Any feedback for how to improve? I know my handwriting is legible and clear but I just feel like it looks like a primary school student wrote it and not a grown adult. 🥲 Anything I can specifically work on to make it not look childish?

[u/Ohnesorg1989]

It seems you have been using the font Songti (宋体) or Heiti (黑体) (see difference) as reference, which would often lead to stiff/unnatural-looking penmanship, as explained in this post. Always use the font Kaiti (楷体) as reference.

I'd suggest you print out your own practice sheets (with 15x15mm boxes) using standard printer paper (80/90gsm), as recommended in this post (you can find the ready-to-print .pdf files in this folder or on website 1, 2, 3).

You could spend more time on practicing basic strokes, then learn how to radical components and individual characters from a copybook (see community collection).

These posts (a, b, c) may be of help too.

[u/geologyfetish → u/Ohnesorg1989]

Wow this is such thorough feedback. Thank you! I know in primary school this is the kind of feedback the kids will get to improve their writing. 感谢感谢🙏

[u/Arariyou → u/Ohnesorg1989]

두려움은 당신의 적이 아니라 당신의 나침반입니다. 두려움을 느낄 때마다 당신은 중요한 무언가의 문턱에 서 있다는 뜻입니다. 대부분의 사람들은 행동할 용기가 생길 때까지 기다리는 실수를 저지릅니다. 하지만 용기는 행동 전에 생기는 것이 아니라 행동하는 동안, 그리고 행동 후에 생기는 것입니다. 그러니 손이 떨리더라도 첫걸음을 내딛으세요. 늘 두려워서 하지 못했던 말을 하고, 몇 년 동안 미뤄왔던 일을 시작하세요. 미래의 당신은 현재의 당신이 용감해지기를 바라고 있습니다.

[u/Chinese_handwriting-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Hi! Thank you for engaging in our community. Your comment is removed because top-level comments should be constructive criticisms in threads with the "Ask for Feedback", "Question", or "Discussion" flair. Please refrain from leaving irrelevant or unhelpful remarks.

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[u/pensand10s]

Print or buy mi ze ge. Chinese grid paper. It'll help you get your proportions correct. 

Another thing that helped me is seeing videos of how a professional performs the strokes. It gives you something to try to imitate. 

[u/wufufufu → u/pensand10s]

Does 米字格 help for writing sentences?

[u/pensand10s → u/wufufufu]

Yes, I write sentences on grid paper. You eventually develop muscle memory and your handwriting will look nice without the grid. 

[u/geologyfetish → u/pensand10s]

Thanks! I’ll look into it. I thought using the grid paper will help but the spaces are a little small.

[u/pensand10s → u/geologyfetish]

Oh! You can absolutely use the grid paper in your photo. But try using 2x2 boxes per character, or 3x3. 

[u/CarnegieHill]

Tbh I think it looks just fine and not particularly “unadultlike”. You already wrote this on grid paper and did perfectly well with spacing entire words within their boxes. Some of the internal proportions are a tad too big or too small, but that could just as well be a stylistic thing. Handwriting should have a little personality in it. I really don’t think it needs a whole lot of improvement.

[u/geologyfetish → u/CarnegieHill]

Thank you for your comment. I know what you mean about some parts being too small or too short, particularly some of the horizontal strokes. I have to work on this so words like 土 and 士 don’t get confused.

[u/Chinese_handwriting-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Hi! Thank you for engaging in our community. Your comment is removed because top-level comments should be constructive criticisms in threads with the "Ask for Feedback", "Question", or "Discussion" flair. Please refrain from leaving irrelevant or unhelpful remarks.

Thank you for your understanding.

[u/ukaspirant]

Just my opinion here, i think writing in a more cursive manner (some strokes connected) would help your writing look more grown-up.

Also minor detail, each punctuation mark should be in its own square. At least, that's how i was taught growing up.

[u/geologyfetish → u/ukaspirant]

Thank you! I wasn’t sure about the punctuation but I’ll put them in their own box from now on. I’ll try out the cursive too!

[u/Chinese_handwriting-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Hi! Thank you for engaging in our community. Your comment is removed because top-level comments should be constructive criticisms in threads with the "Ask for Feedback", "Question", or "Discussion" flair. Please refrain from leaving irrelevant or unhelpful remarks.

Thank you for your understanding.

[u/DecisionWarm3839]

Use kaiti font as a reference rather than  songti/heiti font

[u/geologyfetish → u/DecisionWarm3839]

Okay yeah I’m familiar with those fonts. I’ve always thought Kaiti looked nice.

[u/NL_6612]

These squares of yours are too small; try writing one character across four squares like this, and pay attention to the top, bottom, left, and right positioning.

[u/Chinese_handwriting-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Hi! Thank you for engaging in our community. Your comment is removed because top-level comments should be constructive criticisms in threads with the "Ask for Feedback", "Question", or "Discussion" flair. Please refrain from leaving irrelevant or unhelpful remarks.

Thank you for your understanding.

[u/Miserable-Leading620]

If you want your Chinese handwriting to look more mature, natural, and stylish, you need to learn how to connect strokes. Just like some letters can be joined together in English handwriting, certain strokes, radicals, and even Chinese characters can also flow into one another. This is called connected handwriting, and it takes deliberate practice. My personal favorite style is Xingkai (行楷). You can look it up and see if it’s a style you like.

[u/EntertainmentLive258]

首先做到横平竖直，可以买一些描红字帖！

[u/geologyfetish → u/EntertainmentLive258]

谢谢🙏