Sharp Handwriting and Smooth Handwriting

The word #albayt ألبيت, when written as I explained in the previous chapter, is clearly readable, but ugly. Too many sharp corners, and too print-like. But, for now, don't worry about that. Just copy it a dozen times.

Later you might want to try a slightly softer style, like in this figure. Here the teeth are less than one square high, are slightly rounded at the bottom, and some of them are higher than others. These little details add a touch of elegance. . When in doubt, go back to sharp corners: they can always be read.

You shouldn't try to copy these smooth letters now. Just learn to draw all the alphabet first, using sharp corners for now, and forget about beautifully rounded corners until such time as you are able to write Arabic fast.

In the following chapters, I'll be trying to explain how to draw these words. Their corners are too sharp, but that's OK for a child learning the alphabet.

Actually, many Arabs have a much smoother handwriting.

Sometimes it's as soft as the red words in this figure. Such a degree of roundedness is, more than likely, slightly over the top.

Don't try to copy those curves. The whole trick to writing Arabic beautifully (or Chinese, for that matter) is thinking of the straight strokes while letting your hand take care of the rounding. So, for now, please write the letters as I tell you. Later, nature will take care of itself.

4:25 pm - Thursday,January 16, 2003

Thank you very much for making your notes available to anyone who's interested in learning to write Arabic.

I'm learning Arabic with the ############# program, which works excellent and is of great fun. However I got frustrated with writing when I saw the handwriting of genuine Arabic speaking people. Your pages encourage me to stick for the time being to the stiff looking letters of a beginner and let it take care of itself as time goes by.

Really like in any other language - a child in first grade writes just like a child in firstgrade - not so anymore when he/she is grown-up.

-- Gina