Hi, guys. I've been having problems getting Skritter to recognize a lot of my hooks ever since I started. Tried the advice to make sharper turns, and to make sure the stroke isn't shaky, which helped a bit, but in kanji like 京 (bottom middle stroke) and 投 (left bottom stroke)　I have to basically write a backwards L to get it to recognize, and the result is an unnatural looking character! Any more advice here?

I don't have any problems getting Skritter to recognize 女, but despite writing it hundreds of times I still can't seem to get it looking good/proportionate. I've found I can get most characters somewhat proportional by imagining circular/flowing connections, for lack of a better phrase, between the end of one stroke and the start of another. But this one still eludes me.

I don't need to be calligraphy-level awesome, but I'd like to get it looking more consistent and standard-looking. Anybody have tips, or a link to a site (preferably in English) that discusses proportions, calligraphy, or better handwriting? I'm studying Japanese but I'm pretty sure most Chinese resources would be applicable here too. Bonus points if the site discusses multiple characters, or broadly applicable things like how to correctly make a hook in a character, etc.

Thanks for any help you can give, guys :)

If you are looking for the circular/flowing connections between the end of one stroke and the start of another of the character 女, then think about the hiragana め, as it is actually the cursive form of 女.

cf. http://sf.zdic.net/shufa/0713/feea3ac96585c1d86a7fb4e23935f31f.html#cs and the various tabs there

For 京, are you writing that J-stroke really small? If you write it a little larger, does it help? It can't be a curvy turn towards the hook, but it should definitely be able to hook up and to the left instead of just straight to the left.

For 投, which stroke do you mean--the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th? And is this in the app, or on the web version?

I could never get 女 to look good, either, until I switched to the incorrect stroke order of writing the horizontal first. Then we supported that order for a while, since it was easier, but we decided to teach it right instead. Now my 女 is okay, but not great.

Writing the hook on 京 a bit larger does help, thank you.

For 投 it's the hook on the end of the second stroke that gives me trouble anywhere I have to write that radical (sorry for not specifying earlier). The fifth stroke gives me trouble sometimes but I can get it to cooperate much more than the hook on the second. I'm using the web version. For some reason I don't get nearly as much trouble on the leftmost radical in 猫, although the hook on the end is similar.

I have also found that writing the horizontal stroke first on 女 helps. I have an internal struggle--do it right and have it look weird, or do it wrong and have it readable, haha. Thanks for the help, you two.