I’m showing this as a kind of compiled behind the scenes – to break down the illusion (if any) that my learning Foundational is done by magic or in a short time. But I also want to show you how attainable it is. But mainly I did the video for fun.

Since I do not practice writing words while drilling a hand, I stutter when it’s time to practice even A to Z. But I realised something during the process. After I was done drilling Roman Capitals, I wondered when I should start learning the next hand. I mean, should I practice one hand longer before moving on to the next, so as to embed it better and not lose or confuse the two? And I think the answer is no.

I feel that when I was practising Foundational, I was getting better at doing really the same curves and the same lines that are used in different hands. So I don’t think there is a point that you can reach and say, ‘Yup, I’ve mastered Roman Capitals. It’s not going anywhere now, so I can move on.’ You might still need to warm up to a hand every time, and especially if you’ve left it unpracticed for a while, but everything sticks.

Whatever hand you practice and learn, you also improve your skills as a letterer, and therefore your other hands. I started this journey by backtracking to the traditional alphabets, hoping that it will improve my contemporary hand, and I really like to think that it’s working. I might not get specifically better at Copperplate itself – I literally still need to pause at every stroke and look at an exemplar, not having practised enough – but my increased confidence, patience, and comfort level with a pen do help.

S.