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DanShive — Font Experiment
Published: 2008-10-12 20:06:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 6269; Favourites: 9; Downloads: 107
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Description
EDIT: To clarify, the custom font is on the top. The bottom is just Comic Sans
This is my first attempt at making an actual usable font, i.e. you can select it from the font menu and do stuff with it. It's very basic at the moment with no bold or italicized versions of it, and uses pre-existing character images I made so I could make a logo and sound effects for EGS.
I don't actually intend to use this font for EGS, but I am considering using a different font eventually and may use a modified version of this, or another font entirely. Whatever I eventually switch to, I want it to be something I create myself.
I can already spot some areas that need adjusting:
- A, N, M and W seem a little thick in some places.
- The lowercase "I" that is just a line could use a little more space around it for when it's in the middle of words.
- Possibly tweak the "?". I think the "!" looks good a little large, but perhaps the "?" should be a bit shorter and lighter.
- Possibly a little more space between the line and dot in "!"
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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Comments: 44
Too be honest, the custom font hurts my eyes. Maybe it's just my computer screen, but *shrugs* maybe I'm just not used to it yet?
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Something else you should take into consideration are that in your custom font, italics are lost.
For the ?, I say just widen it a little, it seems a bit squished width wise.
I would keep the ! just like it is, there's enough room between the line and the dot to be clear.
I actually like your new font better than comic sans, I'd like it if you switched over, it's easier to read, clearer.
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I think you could maybe make your font less "rigid", as in, like when you draw the letters, they don't have to be perfectly straight. Like in Comic Sans, the top line on "F" and "T" lowers a bit at the end, where yours don't, maybe try something like that. It IS a cool font though! I'd never be able to do something like that
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Eh eh... nope; Too used to that text "lower part comic". Just too well used to it by now...
none other will do!
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I'm one of those nutty people who likes Comic Sans.
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it's weird. But somehow i think your normal font is actually a big part of your comic. i have no idea why, it just seems friendly - like it suits the characters you write.
It's homely.
Also italics ftw. You use them well.
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Comic Sans is a tried and true authentic comic-style font that has a distinct style to it. The new font looks kinda blocky and square, rather than the smooth, slightly curved lines of Comic Sans. I don't like it very much. Stick to Comic Sans.
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I think the Comic Sans font type is easier to read. The letters are spased a little better than the custom font type.
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Seems good for a prototype. It's defiantly not ready to be finished *being honest* but It could be that I'm so used to the old font.
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panel 1 of the custom font hurts my eyes for some reason, Elliot's line in panel 2 looks the best
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looking again I think it's because the letter E needs a lot of work
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The new font is ok. Not great, not bad, but ok.
* The aliasing is a bit odd. Looking at it on my monitor the characters don't look crisp, but they have gray halos around the edges.
* As you said, the line widths are a bit funky, specifically on the horizontal lines. The lines thin at the top of the character and thicken towards the bottom.
* It looks like you are taking the comic sans and instead of having the curve of the strokes pull to the bottom right they are being pulled outward in all directions. This seems to produce that blockish almost robotic sense earlier mentioned.
* Seems to be a more authoritarian then conversational font, if that makes any sense. I'm not sure I even understand what I mean by that.
Just some thoughts. Cannot wait to see where you go from here on this font.
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I really like your exclamation mark, but for the rest I find it kinda hard to read. Not sure why.
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Cool first attempt. I recommend Typophile [link] , an online typography community, one of whose major functions is font critique. They'll give you good advice, especially on the technical side of things.
Peace,
Tora
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The i needs more space indeed, but that's the only real problem I have with the font. I prefer the bottom one for EGS, as the robotic comment people give seems to be valid, but otherwise I do like the font a lot.
Will you make it publicly available when you're done tweaking it?
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the top one is mostly nice, but it seems to not have any italics to it so you'd lose that, and italics can be pretty useful for conveying tone/emphasis
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Comic Sans is better. I think it gives emphasis to the words, almost!
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And it's times like these that Aries wishes he actually read things.
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I like your new font. It does need some work on thicknesses, certain kerning pairs, etc. but I think it has some potential.
I'm also a bit biased against Comic Sans, but it does actually work pretty well for your comics (especially using all caps...). 'Twould be nice, though, to see you use something different.
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Maybe I'm just being lazy, but I like both of the Fonts.
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Personally, Im a fan of hand lettering. To me the comic sans looks a little better, but I dont find yours all that much worse.
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Yeah, yours could use a bunch of tweaking, it honsetly looks sorta like a new Arial font. Make it more 'you'.
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i see no difference that matters, the comic sans is a bit crisper, but i like the more natural feel of your custom font
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The h's are a little curved looking to me, but the entire font seems really robotic, like others have said.
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It's a bit surprising to me, but yeah, it does look a bit robotic. This surprises me mostly because it never looked robotic to me in large form, as I've mostly used it for logos and sound effects. Shrunken down, it doesn't look as comic-like.
Then again, I'm guessing a lot of fonts that are great for sound effects don't work well as lettering for dialogue ^^:
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That's a good point. It may just be the small size that causes this.
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The letter shapes and overall evenness of word profiles is eerily reminiscent of Helvetica. Yet, it still looks like hand lettering up close. It's like, this is what a comic lettered by someone with OCD might look like. Except I know someone with OCD and her handwriting is rather slack...
Anyway, if you're having issues with parts of letters appearing two thin or two thick at small sizes, it might be more of a hinting issue. There are two components to fonts: the outlines, which you draw, and the hinting code, which is a program that tells the computer how to adjust things so the font looks the best that it can at small pixel sizes. Many font-authoring programs do the hinting automatically, but since that constitutes a computer writing a computer program, the results aren't always perfect. Since you typically set the text at pretty big pixel sizes anyway, this probably won't be much of an issue for you, but there's a way to be sure. Make some text at about 12 to 24 pixels high. Then make some text at about 100 or so pixels high, and resize it so it's about the same size as the already-smaller text. If the originally-small text has significantly more inconsistent weight and proportion, you've got a hinting problem.
To solve the hinting problem, get a human to rewrite the hinting code. I can do this, but it's a rather time-comsuming process and I can't promise I have the attention span to finish it.
To get around the problem without actually solving it, just make sure to always create the text at a large pixel size, and resize if necessary.
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It looks nice, but I agree with you on the fact that the character spacing needs a little more refinement, it also appears to be a brush stroke type, was that intentional ?
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The "f"s look a little weird on the bottom. Kind of thick.
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I think the faont looks... Angry? Something like that... I can't quite explain it.
And robotic seems acurate too. Maybe if the TF gun comes alive or something, you could use it for it's speech. 
Although now that I think about it, a TF gun robot would be pretty awesome.
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your custom font looks a lot more... riggid. the Comic Sans doesn't make me feel as if i'm reading all caps lettering, but your custom font does
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Hmm...The custom font does need work like you mentioned. Have fun tweaking it some more.
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I'm going to agree with the "robotic" crowd. The precision with which the lines in the letters are drawn, combined with the rounded edges at the ends, creates a very smooth, tech-esque feel.. good for robots, not so much for people. ^_^;
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the top of most letters look.... *snort* "fuzzy" to me.
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Yea, I see that too. Might wanna make and compare it to other fonts at a much higher size (like 26-point or higher).
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I personally think you should move the start point 1px more over so the italic stands out a bit more. The italic Grace blends in with the regular text, so to most it won't notice it italic. Just moving the base of the the letter a px or 2 over so it is a bit more angular would a bit more. The CRAP is more noticeable because it is a bit bold. So just making it bold should do the trick much easier with making the italic Grace stand out. I am working on the idea you are using a mix of Illistrator and drawing for what you are using for text. I could could be wrong, which is often the case with textiles.
The more curved ? I really like. I know that for the sake of space making it a bit smaller would work since it would allow you to add a px between the letters. This is just a personal deal, but I think you should keep the new version of the question mark cause it flows better with the text.
The ! I think should be moved slightly over, because when it merges into the letter like in the first panel ago but if you had added a bit of space the second ! would of been what I meant. This is just my opion and when it comes to textiles you have more experience at this then me. You spot more things then I did is mainly why. That is just my 2cents, you can keep it or give it back.
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The upper one looks stiff and robotic. I much prefer the lower one.
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The way some of the letters change in thickness is a little odd. When Tess is talking in panel 2, it looks OK, but in Panel 3, when Sarah says "stuffed animals" it looks weird.
It might be the space issue around the "I" because the word "animals" looks odd.
It's got a nice, consistant, official look to it, but I'll say anything is good if it looks better than what I could do, so take my compliments with a grain of salt, and 'll let you decide what my praise is worth.
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I`m probably crazy but your "Font of doom" seems to have a tad of a robotic feel to it but as I said, I`m probably a crazy.
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