The Writing On The Wall
Jan. 17th, 2012 11:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trickykitty[W]e assemble our personalities unevenly, piece by piece, almost robotically, from models we admire.
I get told on a regular basis that I have really pretty handwriting. I also get told how lucky I am to have such pretty handwriting. The truth is, luck had nothing to do with it.
Back in my late elementary and junior high days I tended to OD on black & white classic movies on AMC and TCM. There was something about a good old movie that I really enjoyed. At some point I started paying attention to the calligraphy styled lettering that was used for the opening and closing credits for most of these movies. The flourishes were beautiful. I decided that I wanted my handwriting to be as pretty as that.
I would take a sheet of paper and repeat writing the alphabet in upper and lower case, specifically making sure that the letters A-M were on the first row and N-Z were on the second. Sometimes I would write Aa Bb Cc, and sometimes I would write A B C, then a b c. Sometimes the entire page would be all caps or all lower case. If there was a particular letter that I didn't like how it looked, I would write it over and over again on it's own page before continuing with the alphabet page. In this manner, I can say I probably wrote out the alphabet easily thousands of times.
I'm very proud of my handwriting, because I know the work that went into it. I also know from where I borrowed the ideas for it.
In late elementary school I went to Six Flags with a friend from my after-school program. I thought she was really cool. While walking around I noticed at one point that she was walking a certain way, and I thought to myself, "That must be how the cool people walk." I adopted the walk and started using it when out in places like at the mall with my parents.
Mom took notice of my change in gait and asked me about it. This embarrassed me, but I tried to play it off with, "Don't I look cool?" She said, "No. You look like someone trying to walk up a hill when there's no hill."
I suddenly recalled that the spot we were in at Six Flags when I noticed my friend's walking was a pretty steep hill - a steep hill that we were walking up. I stopped walking that way.
That same friend and I had to lay down on the floor and rest during one of our summer days at day care. I was uncomfortable and not sure where to put my arms. I looked over and saw how my friend had tucked her arms next to her chest area while laying on her stomach. I did the same, and you know what? It's comfortable, and I still do that today when I'm laying on my stomach in bed on a cold day.
If I sit here reminiscing long enough, I can probably tell you where most of my behavior habits came from. Most were knowingly adopted from here and there as I observed them, adopted them, put them through trial and error practices, and finally settled on adopting or abandoning them. I think this is the normal mimicry process that all people go through, but I have a distinct knowledge of the origins for a good many of my own.
I get told on a regular basis that I have really pretty handwriting. I also get told how lucky I am to have such pretty handwriting. The truth is, luck had nothing to do with it.
Back in my late elementary and junior high days I tended to OD on black & white classic movies on AMC and TCM. There was something about a good old movie that I really enjoyed. At some point I started paying attention to the calligraphy styled lettering that was used for the opening and closing credits for most of these movies. The flourishes were beautiful. I decided that I wanted my handwriting to be as pretty as that.
I would take a sheet of paper and repeat writing the alphabet in upper and lower case, specifically making sure that the letters A-M were on the first row and N-Z were on the second. Sometimes I would write Aa Bb Cc, and sometimes I would write A B C, then a b c. Sometimes the entire page would be all caps or all lower case. If there was a particular letter that I didn't like how it looked, I would write it over and over again on it's own page before continuing with the alphabet page. In this manner, I can say I probably wrote out the alphabet easily thousands of times.
I'm very proud of my handwriting, because I know the work that went into it. I also know from where I borrowed the ideas for it.
In late elementary school I went to Six Flags with a friend from my after-school program. I thought she was really cool. While walking around I noticed at one point that she was walking a certain way, and I thought to myself, "That must be how the cool people walk." I adopted the walk and started using it when out in places like at the mall with my parents.
Mom took notice of my change in gait and asked me about it. This embarrassed me, but I tried to play it off with, "Don't I look cool?" She said, "No. You look like someone trying to walk up a hill when there's no hill."
I suddenly recalled that the spot we were in at Six Flags when I noticed my friend's walking was a pretty steep hill - a steep hill that we were walking up. I stopped walking that way.
That same friend and I had to lay down on the floor and rest during one of our summer days at day care. I was uncomfortable and not sure where to put my arms. I looked over and saw how my friend had tucked her arms next to her chest area while laying on her stomach. I did the same, and you know what? It's comfortable, and I still do that today when I'm laying on my stomach in bed on a cold day.
If I sit here reminiscing long enough, I can probably tell you where most of my behavior habits came from. Most were knowingly adopted from here and there as I observed them, adopted them, put them through trial and error practices, and finally settled on adopting or abandoning them. I think this is the normal mimicry process that all people go through, but I have a distinct knowledge of the origins for a good many of my own.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-18 02:24 pm (UTC)There is an project that most art students have been subjugated to. Draw 100 frogs. After about 20 you'll get really good at drawing a realistic frog. By the time you hit 100 you'll be drawing your representation of a frog. You've found your artistic style.
Normal people do this with their signature. We start out learning the letters and writing our name. Through shear repetition it takes on it own unique strokes. Eventually it will change from a grouping of letters to your personal signature.
When I was in high school I was part of a police drill for a Columbine like shooting. After the 'incident' we had to sit down and write out our statements. The cop that was working with a friend and I said you could tell a lot about a person by their hand writing. I mentioned when I was much younger my father had said to always have good hand writing, you never know when someone's life will depend on it.
(seriously? he said this when I was six and he couldn't read an eight I had written as the answer in some math homework. That's my dad.)
I asked the cop what my hand writing said about me. His response was that I admired my dad. I had beautiful hand writing. Not decadent but very concise. It was something I worked at through out school. Many of my friends would ask me to write notes from their parents because my handwriting looked like an adult's.
Then when I was, oh, 22 I had an injury that cut a tendon in my right hand. I don't have quite the right control over my writing hand. The letters just slip at odd moments and I can't write for long periods of time or my arm will start to ache.
It bothered me for a while. I used to have so much pride tied up in my handwriting.
Now I don't give a damn. The injury could have been much worse. I can still draw wonderfully. And we type most things now a days anyways. I still have my signature.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-18 03:02 pm (UTC)Regarding injuries, I sometimes worry about my hands shaking when I get older, but I never thought about injuries affecting handwriting. I did worry about injuries that would prevent me from playing the piano though. I know a lot of people that can no longer write more than a page before their hands cramp up, because they're so used to typing now.
Does that drawing the frog trick actually work? I could only ever draw designs, with the exception of one bridge with mountains picture that I drew over and over again obsessively.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-18 06:53 pm (UTC)If I go slow I can write longer. Drawing doesn't affect it because I draw largely with my wrist and forearm. I control my writing with my fingers, which is what the tendon damage affects.
I don't know what you mean by frog 'trick.' It is what it is. It's an exercise in discovering your unique style. First you replicate, then you become proficient and eventually you leave the mimicry behind creating your own style.
Many of the great artists, those classically trained, spent years replicating before they were allowed to embellish on their own style.
Same with dance or piano. You learn the moves and then you find your own expression of it.
No one will ever have text book handwriting unless that is their goal. There are some artists that perfect photo replication as their style.
We do this with every task in our lives. We mimic until we know enough to embellish. Intentionally or unintentionally.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-18 07:43 pm (UTC)It sounds like the drawing the frog exercise is something that would work for most people. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that if I drew a frog 100 or even a 1000 times, the last one would still look the same as the first, I would just be faster at drawing it. Getting faster is what tends to happen when I do things repetitively, so maybe that's my style?
With the handwriting, I already knew what I wanted the letters to look like, so it was just a matter of training my hand to write the way I wanted it to write.