Transform Your Handwriting With Beautiful & Easy To Read Cursive
Robert J. P. Oberg · Creative • Filmmaker • Photographer
A largely self-taught filmmaker shares his own hard-won fix for illegible cursive, rules and all.
What it actually teaches
The course opens with setup: grip, paper angle, and a case for skipping guide sheets once the underlying proportions click. The size and proportion lesson is the most technical stretch, breaking the space between notebook dots into thirds to explain how ascenders, descenders, and the waistline relate to the baseline. From there the eighteen lessons move through the lowercase alphabet in five-letter blocks, then uppercase in the same pattern, and close with a sample paragraph transcribed from The Little Prince and a wrap-up on speed and practice habits.
The structure is the course's clearest strength. Each letter gets broken into its component strokes, named common failure points (a rounded "a" instead of a teardrop shape, an "s" that gets too wide, an unintentionally closed "q"), and, in many cases, two or three stylistic variations to pick from depending on taste or which letters follow. Letters aren't drilled in isolation for long: nearly every lesson pairs a fresh letter with a short word, then a longer one, so muscle memory for joins develops alongside the shapes themselves.
Where it delivers, and where it doesn't
The pen-grip and posture lesson earns its place even though it sounds like filler on paper. Practical details, such as anchoring the pen at the last knuckle rather than letting it slide to the base of the thumb, or using the off hand to shift the page instead of contorting the wrist, are the kind of unglamorous fixes that actually prevent the cramping that derails a lot of self-taught cursive practice.
The letter lessons are consistent but uneven in depth. Straightforward letters get a quick pass, while trickier ones (r, s, capital D and P) get slower, more deliberate breakdowns with multiple attempts shown side by side. That unevenness mirrors how tricky those letters genuinely are, so it reads as honest rather than sloppy.
What the course does not offer is much theory beyond the Spencerian-derived proportions. There's no deep dive into arm-movement technique, historical variants, or connector logic beyond "here's what I do and why I like it." The instructor is explicit that this is a personal, simplified system rather than authoritative Spencerian, Palmer, or Copperplate instruction, and frames the whole class as parallel learning rather than expert teaching. That framing is refreshing but also a fair warning: viewers wanting exhaustive rule sets or flourish work should look elsewhere.
Verdict
The uppercase section leans hardest on personal taste, offering three or four variations per letter with light guidance on which to pick, which is useful for building a personalized hand but can feel directionless if you're hoping to be told the "right" one. The closing paragraph exercise ties the whole system together well, showing the same passage handled at different sizes and speeds, which does more to demonstrate the payoff than any single letter lesson could. For a beginner willing to put in daily practice, this is a practical, honestly presented rebuild of cursive from first principles, even if it stops short of being comprehensive.
The standout
The letter-by-letter breakdown that pairs each form with named common mistakes (rounded a's, overly wide s's, closed q loops) and multiple stylistic variations to choose from.
What you will learn
- A relaxed tripod pen grip and paper-angle setup that avoids hand fatigue
- How to size lowercase letters using the guide-sheet rule of thirds (baseline, waistline, ascenders, descenders)
- Letterform construction for every lowercase and uppercase letter plus numbers, including multiple stylistic variations per letter
- How to join letters into words while keeping consistent slant, spacing, and letter size
- Practice habits: daily short sessions, writing words rather than isolated letters, and building a personal reference alphabet
- How to transition from slow, careful letterforms to faster everyday handwriting without losing legibility
Best for: Adult beginners or anyone whose old school cursive has become illegible and wants a simplified, personalized Spencerian-inspired hand rebuilt from the ground up.
Skip it if: Anyone wanting rigorous, rule-accurate Spencerian or Copperplate calligraphy with flourishing, or a non-Spanish speaker who needs English-language instruction.