Hey speaking of being nitpicky, is there a good source of which strokes should be sweep, which ones are full stop, and… well the hook ones tend to be obvious. It doesn’t matter that much I don’t think, it’s edging more into the ‘calligraphy’ realm. But as long as I’m here, might as well learn it right the first time and see if it sticks.
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Curses. No idea what causes that. I’ll have a closer look.
My rules are: if I get the right components unassisted with maybe one very minor stroke issue, I say it’s good. Like for instance drawing the three 彡 in the wrong direction in 顔.
If I need to look at the radical to remember the kanji or make a more dire error like mixing up 力 and 刀 components in something like 務, I still consider that I can pass with “hard” usually.
Otherwise I fail.
The stroke order itself I don’t really pay too much attention to, but frankly after your first couple hundred kanji memorized stroke order becomes a minor issue IMO. There are a few dozen patterns that come back over and over again and are always the same and completely predictable. I can usually predict the stroke order of any kanji, whether I already studied it or not, with probably over 90% accuracy unless they use a very unusual component.
There are a few annoying ones like 有右左布 where, if you want to be absolutely correct, you need to look at the third stroke to decide the order of the first two but frankly who cares…
There are a handful of components I sometimes mix up stroke-order-wise like 用and 角 because they look similar but actually call for a different order but they are so common that you’ll have plenty of opportunity to practice them regardless of whether you fail them or not.
I also recommend using the newer FSRS algorithm in Anki (for all decks frankly, but I found it made the most difference for this one because I spend much more time on every reviews when I actually have to draw the kanji and not just press pass/fail buttons).
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I’d love to learn proper calligraphy and more cursive styles but unfortunately I couldn’t find any decent (free) resources online so far. I did find a few books but most of them appear to be hard to come by in the West.
When I asked around in the past the most common advice I got was to find a tutor which I can’t be bothered to do.
I’ve just discovered Ringotan and I’m now using that in place of Kanji Study for learning the stroke order. It conveniently syncs to WaniKani too.
Lots of posts on this forum that mention it.
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Update: I am very happy with my decision to include kanji writing practice into my kanji studies.
I can’t be sure exactly how much of a positive difference it’s making to my retention of the kanji, their radical composition, their meanings, their readings, and their usage within vocabulary - but I’m sure it can’t be hurting.
I have a regime now where I practice the following every day:
- WaniKani reviews via handwritten kana into Tsurakame (iPad, Apple Pencil)
- KaniWani reviews via handwritten kanji/kana (iPad, Apple Pencil)
- Ringotan reviews via finger-written kanji (Android phone)
- KameSame reviews via keyboard IME (desktop computer)
- occasional Smouldering Durtles reviews via 12-key kana input when I’m on the move and don’t have my iPad (Android phone)
So far it’s turning out to be manageable, not overwhelming. In fact, I am quite addicted to getting my reviews done every day.
Each service and input method tests a different aspect of recall, and provides its own unique learning advantages. Some even give you helpful nudges. It always makes me smile to see the emoji version of the word appear in the suggestions when I’ve entered the answer correctly 
and a keyboard IME will warn you of incorrectly typed readings simply by not showing you the kanji you were expecting.
Now that I’m sold on using writing as a way to enhance my learning, my interest is piqued…
I notice in Ringotan that many of the radicals have slight variations to them. For example, sometimes the “moon” radical has curved feet, sometimes it does not.
I’d like to learn more about whether these variations have any significance.
To be sure, both Ringotan, and the iOS handwriting input, are very forgiving when it comes to including things like curved feet (or not). Ringotan just snaps your input to the correct place. As for iOS, if what you entered looks close enough to the kanji that you intended, and distinct enough from other similar kanji, then you get what you expected.
So is it purely stylistic? For example, the English ‘a’ character has a hook at the top when you see it in serif fonts, but the one we learned to write at school is more like the one you see in Comic Sans, and yet it means the same thing.
Or are there times when it does become significant? In calligraphy, for example?
Any good resources on learning more about this? Thank you!
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It also happens in 寅 (the zodiac sign of the tiger).
As for the similarity with 黄, well the old form of yellow was indeed 黃(廿一由ハ): 廣 擴(now 広拡…)橫…
But still with the new form, you can see it as 寅vs黄 as being 宀vs艹 over a same component.
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Mostly, yes.
If the moon takes the full height, it usually has both legs curled,
If it has things on top of it, usually it only has one.
But both styles are possible :
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What is the app you’ve screenshotted there, with the different variations of the same kanji?
It’s akebi.
It has more kanji than ringotan (for exemple 薔,薇,鏃 are not in ringotan. Or 竃, ringotan only has 竈).
And you have to write the kanji in full before checking.
The hints for kanji is the meaning, which for some is quite hard. Ringotan give you kana words. It would be nice to have a mix.
The app lets you select kanji for which it has no stroke diagram, that is, that it cannot recognize if you draw them. Like 𥇥/瞼.
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