Cursive capital is an effective way of adding a personalized touch to formal invitations or personal greetings, adding that extra bit of personalization that print cannot match. While learning cursive may take more practice and dedication than the photo, the results may make the effort worthwhile!
As a start, practice letter L strokes using our free worksheet. Next, watch our short tutorial video that guides writing uppercase and lowercase characters.
Entrance Stroke
No matter the occasion, the cursive capital “L”s adds an elegant touch to any written piece. Though not particularly challenging in print form, writing it cursively requires practice and time. Mastering the cursive capital “L” involves creating fluid movements from stroke to stroke elegantly and gracefully.
The entrance stroke is a thin, curved line at the beginning and end of letters and connecting letters, playing an essential part in any cursive script. It resembles a lowercase “j,” with its slight curvature dipping below the baseline.
Start the entrance stroke by moving your nib up along the slant with equal pressure applied on both tines, curving the left tine to mirror that of the right one as you near the top of your stroke. Once at the top, slant your nib back toward its base to close gaps between its tines.
Start by creating a small loop from the baseline that extends downward and upward, continuing it around the ascender line, closing gaps, and creating a small hook – this completes your entrance stroke.
Once the entrance loop has been completed, add a minor descending stroke for the central ascending part of your letter. Finally, add another short downward stroke that connects the ascender line with its respective baseline line to complete your letter.
Practice the basic entrance/exit stroke for several lines as a warm-up exercise. Cursive script relies on joined letters, so having smooth connections between each is key to its success. Add flair by adding extra slants and loops to your notes!
Ascender Line
Typography utilizes ascender lines as part of lowercase letters that extend above their mean line and x-height to improve legibility at smaller font sizes. Examples of letters with ascenders are B, D, F H i; while capitals generally do not contain ascenders for increased legibility, many cursive typefaces incorporate them.
The descender line is the downward stroke on certain lowercase letters, such as p and y, that hangs or descends below their baseline and can help distinguish cursive type from printed type.
Use controlled and deliberate movements to produce smooth lines and loops. Avoid rushing, as this could cause letters to break or become uneven, and practice keeping a constant slant so your words have an appealing look.
Capital cursive L’s should start just below and to the left of the top line and extend upward through an ascender line before coming down through its exit stroke, making a graceful loop that connects back down to your baseline and connects with either previous letters or the following stroke. Your exit stroke should be balanced compared with its entrance and ascender lines to allow your notes to flow easily while reading them; an attractive cursive capital L is a symbol of professionalism, while its graceful, flowing curve adds personal flair that makes it famous choice signatures on documents, artworks, and letters as well as adding distinction and personalization when signing documents or adding personal emails/text messages.
Exit Stroke
Cursive letters feature an exit stroke of a thin downward curve that finishes their formation, creating an elegant appearance while linking all preceding and following notes together. Execution of this final stroke is essential in creating well-formed cursive letters.
Based on the letter, some cursive letters feature long and loopy exit strokes, while others have shorter and less loopy ones. Uppercase cursive letters k and l have loopy exit strokes, while the lowercase letter s features fast and less loopy ones.
Cursive letters such as the o and r often end on either the midline or above the baseline, making joining to another letter impossible without drawing a diagonal connector down from their midlines or across from their top lines; such connecting strokes often look messy and should be avoided.
As students become familiar with cursive letters, they must practice writing them comfortably and naturally with their fingers. This will enable them to register with control and precision while honing their fine motor skills to form intricate letters. Furthermore, practicing writing cursively requires continuous movement between notes as it relies on the seamless linking of every letter in its formation. Practice and persistence are keys to mastering cursive writing, as it takes time to develop an attractive handwriting style that looks neat. If your child has trouble forming letters correctly, they should try tracing different sequences of notes or even entire words to improve accuracy and fluency.
Looping Ascender
Cursive writing can be elegant, yet many find it challenging to master. Cursive capital letters, in particular, tend to be more difficult in cursive than their print equivalents, making cursive increasingly complex for beginners to master. With more schools no longer teaching cursive (or cutting back the hours it is taught), more and more people are looking for resources to help learn this writing style. This page offers two primary resources for this: (1) A video showing proper cursive capital L formation while also outlining some common errors made by beginners; (2) A free worksheet featuring tracing lines so beginners can gain proficiency quickly in cursive.
Start your capital cursive l with an upward stroke beginning just beneath the top line, starting towards the left and moving rightward to meet with the full bar, where a loop should form on the right side of the letter. From there, bring it down toward the bottom line before ending it with a tail connection to another note.
Enclosing loop sizes is entirely up to you; however, I recommend keeping it narrow compared to ascender and exit strokes. Furthermore, strive to achieve uniformity among your enclosing loops by maintaining an even width-to-length ratio. This helps ensure consistency and create a more uniform appearance among them all.
Practice cursive with a relaxed hand and controlled movements since cursive requires smooth connections between letters. Also, keep your slant consistent, as this will give your words an organized appearance.
Looping Exit
Cursive capital Ls feature an elegant loop as their exit stroke, which cascades back towards the baseline and connects one letter with another or acts as a small hook at the bottom of your writing. Properly formed loops will add an air of naturalness and harmony to your handwriting; practice deliberately making this graceful movement to achieve clean lines and an attractive final product.
Add one for writing with capital cursive l symbols by selecting your font’s letter-like symbols block. Alternatively, use the Unicode character U+2113 SCRIPT SMALL L TURNED L to represent turned-ls in mathematics and European road signs; it can also be found in the Latin extended alphabet, IPA, and most other encodings (but not ISO-8859 or Macintosh family of encodings). Letter-like symbols commonly appear in typeset mathematics, European road signs, or advertisements.
