reMIND

After looking around at all the comic font websites and seeing how much it costs for a good looking font, I had the brain buster idea to look into creating my own font.  I’ve worked with plenty designers and some who even created their own fonts and sold them to companies so I knew it was possible and maybe even easy.

After a quick internet search I found this site with a simple looking program called FontCreator from High-Logic.  It costs $79 for a home version which is as cheap as any semi-good font out there and I could potentially make as many as I want without worrying about any complicated licensing fees.

I did anther search and found this site that looks even easier. It’s called YourFonts.com.  You download a template and print it. Then scan and upload the filled in template and it generates your font for $9.95.  (If you want to buy a font at Your Fonts, please use this link so that I can get a commission for sending you there.)

http://www.yourfonts.com

I downloaded the template and filled it in on my computer using a Wacom Cintiq.  It only took 10 minutes or so just like they said.  Once I uploaded my completed template it took about 40 seconds to create the font ready to be downloaded.  I was really blown away with how easy it was.  My only problem is not being able to control the kerning of the letters but you can do that in Photoshop or Illustrator.  They suggest using FontCreator to get more technical.  But as far as a font made out of your own hand writing, I’m impressed.

Better yet, I happened to stumble across the site when they had a free promotion code so I made a bunch just for fun.  Here they are:

Here is another font creation site that looks like it takes more time but it might be what you are looking for.

http://fontstruct.fontshop.com/

Here is a tutorial on making your own fonts with Photoshop and Illustrator.

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Create_Your_Own_Font

And finally here is a FREE font creation program.  It is a bit more complex then YourFonts.com but you can really get in there and control the kerning, add a bold to your fonts and all the nit-picky details that any anal font creator will love.  Oh yeah, and it’s free.  I downloaded it for my Mac and it’s running like a charm but I need to sit down with the documentation to fully use it.  I was able to import my fonts I created at YourFonts.com to adjust a few minor details that were bothering me.  Here’s the link:

http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/

Now I’m not saying I understand everything about lettering or fonts but I do know that in a perfect world I would want my comics hand lettered in a style similar to what I created above.  Most of the professional comic fonts out there are perfect looking. That’s fine if your artwork is perfect looking too but in my case it distracts from the hand drawn artwork.  Plus when I look at old comics that were hand lettered I notice all kinds of random flaws.  It’s those flaws that give it the charm of being hand lettered.