loops & curves
Š Morgan Lynn Stockton This book was created as part of the Degree Project course taught at the Kansas City Art Institute in the Spring of 2015 by Kelly Ludwig. This is an investigation of how design can display and increase cursive's relevancy in modern day. Good talk, buddy.
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loops & curves ⁄
a guided practice journal for cursive. give practice a boost by making it fun.
don’t believe those haters
cursive is cool
You spend 99.9% of your day typing away at a computer (it’s what I’m doing right now talking to you). Get out of there! Pick up that pen you stole from that one car dealership or bank or waitress (everyone knows you did it, especially that waitress). Write something! But, oh god, what? Someone just says write anything and you freeze. The literal whole world is open to your finger tips and suddenly your brain is a blank. It’s a flashback to your college finals; you studied this, but suddenly it’s like you weren’t even in the class. The only thing you’ve written in cursive is the signature on the check for your month’s rent (yeah, with that pen you stole from the restaurant). This book will help. Find some inspiration in it. Go page by page or go crazy and open to any page. Start at the beginning or the end or, heaven forbid, the middle. Then check out the bottom of the page; you might find a hashtag there (that used to be a pound sign for anyone that’s interested). Share what you make. Inspire others. They might need it even more than you do. Cool. Now go!
dude , write your name .
in cur sive .
oh wait ...
ABCDEF GHIJK LMNOP QRST U VWXY Z
abcdef ghijkl mno p q rstuv wxy z here’s a little helpful reminder. we both know it’s been a while...
hometown love . It doesn’t matter whether you came from a booming big city or from a piece of shit town with only one stop light, that place helped you become you. Either way, give the name of your hometown a shout out.
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tell me about yourself . Tall, dark, and handsome? (Call me) But you’re made up of a million different words, some describe you better than others. Write some of your personality traits down and if you can’t think of any, ask your friends to say a word that describes you. That could get interesting fast.
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snap crackle pop. Everything is better with sound effects. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about movies, action scenes in comics, or sneaking up on your best friend (I highly recommend the Jaws theme for that last one). Write out your favorite sound effect.
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holy guacamole , am i hungry . “What do you wanna eat?” “I don’t know, what do you wanna eat?” Picking food is like being in the depths of hell for indecisive people. Make a list of food you like, you’ll thank me later when you’re starving and nothing sounds good to eat.
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lovely lavish letters . Remember those tongue twisters like “Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore?� All that alliteration had us obsessed as children. Try to write out some existing ones or make up your own. Create
catchy cursive commentaries.
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food critic . Let’s talk about that last meal. Or the last restaurant you went out to. Was the service super shitty and the food was cold when it came to the table? Or was it the best thing you’ve ever had
in your life and the leftovers were honestly a gift from heaven? Write about that #foodporn in cursive.
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hey , bartender ! Whoever gets to name drinks has the best job. Seriously, who took a sip and thought “Hmm, yes this tastes just like Sex on the Beach,” or “Yep, uh huh, this distinctly reminds me of a Slippery Nipple?” Write a couple that you know in cursive or make up a few drink names.
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well that was ... interesting . We’ve all had the instance where we wake up from an especially wacky dream. You know that one? Where you’re at a western themed party tango-ing across the floor with a friend, both of you wearing baby blue tuxedos. No? Just me? Well, describe your craziest dream.
#dreamsincursive
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curse ( ive ) Get a little foul mouthed. Fill this page the !@&$ up
with curse words in cursive. Or have a !*%$, !@^$ing huge word covering the page that will make people question if you kiss your mother with that mouth.
#cursingcursive
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well read . Everything you need to know can be found in a good book. Walt Disney once said, “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” And things worked out pretty well for him so he probably knew what he was talking about. Write a quote from a good book!
#cursivequotes
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british things . Everything from Sherlock and Doctor Who to Elizabeth and a cuppa tea *spoken in fake accent.* We love it all. Let’s be real, Britain is paying us back for the Revolutionary War big time by taunting us with gorgeous British actors. Make a list of your favourite British things.
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wow . you look amazing . Didn’t that feel good? Send out a compliment to some other deserving soul. You could be the person that makes their day with a hand written cursive congratulation on their awesomeness.
#complimentarycursive
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shhhhh ... Write a secret. You know you want to. Who really reads these things anyways? And really, secrets are really more secret-y when you write them in cursive.
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write where you’ve been. then point it out because geography is hard.
#putcursiveonthemap
make boring awesome . There’s millions of boring things we have to deal with in life: waiting rooms, drive thru lines, a double shift at really any job‌you get the idea. Now take that thing and make it less boring. In fact, make it awesome and make it awesome in cursive.
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paint a word picture . Something exciting must have happened to you recently. Write out the event in great detail. Talk about the color of the sky and how the roses smelled when you stopped to sniff them, or some other poetic stuff like that. Paint me a word picture, make me feel like I was actually there.
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black listed . Exes, annoying neighbors, frenemies, the list goes on. These are the people that if you see them in the line at the grocery store, you dive into the cereal isle and hide behind some Cocoa Pebbles. This is a list of people you hope to never see again.
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something punny . Puns used to be reserved for the lowest of Dad Jokes. Fear not, though, we’re bringing puns back (like how Justin brought sexy back). Now lettuce not taco bout it no more... Get writing!
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names for days . Hopefully, writing your own name is a piece of cake, but is it just as easy for you to write the names of your friends and family? Suddenly, your best friend’s last name isn’t nearly as easy to spell...
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let ’ s start a band . Whether you want to sing in a 90’s Punk Rock band or in a Hipster Indie band, your band needs a logo. And let’s be real, band logos are way cooler when they’re done in cursive. Name your band (maybe give your groupies a catchy name) and write it out in cursive.
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hottie safari . Remember that time you were walking down the street and passed by that total babe who smiled at you, but you couldn’t work up the nerve to actually approach them? Yeah, write about that. That should motivate you to strike up a conversation next time. Maybe about the weather or something...
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daddy , i want it now ! Nothing truly captures the essence of a spoiled brat like the voice of Veruca Salt. We all know you don’t sound like this when you want something, but every so often you do feel that overwhelming desire for a goose that lays a golden egg (plus a couple other things). Write that wish list.
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rhyme time . You heard a word that when it’s not slurred made you sound like a nerd. Or, you know, something like that. Write out some rhymes or poems in cursive.
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dear diary . There has got to be some reason why every preteen girl spends hours of her life writing about how Becky stole her favorite sparkley pen and didn’t give it back. Something about letting it all out is really relieving. Give it a go. Write a diary entry about your day, and make sure to include all the juicy details.
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Z
today is sponsored by the letter ...
Give this letter some love. Being last all the time sucks.
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accomplish something . When you write goals down, they’re more likely to come true. They’ll just be on this page, taunting you with their incompletion. Then you’ll have to finish them.
#cursivegoals
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now don't let all this hard work go to waste. keep it up. practice in all that 'spare time' i know you have. and make sure to spread the word. (cursive's the word)