Send to KindleWho would hit a woman, and add to that a woman with only one arm?! I’m sure some colorful verbal descriptions rush to mind on that. That’s the scenario in this progress view from my graphic novel. You can follow more and find other details on my graphic novel work-in-progress blog “GFW ’27″.
Send to KindleThere are some great typefaces that designers have created. I suppose to a certain extent ‘great’ is subjective, it would depend on what purpose you’re needing the font to serve. An ad for real estate, plastic doorknobs, or the ever latest version of i-something. (I’ve included a list of links to some great sites for typeface downloads at the end of this post)
Some type comes with a hefty price tag. A well done font is no easy task either. I studied hand calligraphy (not just the swirly swooshy stuff- creating a font by hand) years ago in Chicago. Difference now is that a majority of that work is done on a computer. Still time consuming, and involving a lot of tweaking. It is an art form!
Not having deep pockets, and not working for a large agency my budget for type is unfortunately pretty much nil. So, given the circumstances I am VERY thankful for creatives who offer fonts for free (commercial use included!).
So why write about this? I wanted to look into how does a person create a font that could be used in Photoshop- I thought this would be great to create my own hand lettering (for my graphic novel), so my story would keep a consistent look and feel. I don’t want there to be a rough contrast between the illustration style and font used for lettering, and consistency in lettering is important. A lot of online tutorials that I found started off fairly calmly, then moved to having to purchase additional software to create the typeface. Circle complete in my frustration: if I had the funds to purchase the software, I would purchase a well done typeface instead of trying to make my own. Like I said earlier, creating a good font is a art form!
Enlighten yourself with the links below, I hope they prove to be helpful and educational for you as well.
Links to sites with free fonts (remember to check if commercial use is ok!): Fontspace FontShop UrbanFonts FreeFonts Tutorials on creating your own font: SpeckyBoy- Beginners guide to making your own fonts Wired How To Wiki- Create your own font I Love Typography- How to make fonts in PhotoshopSend to KindleMy graphic novel, “GFW ’27″ is in the stage of my drawing. I have 54 panels in the introduction to the main story, so I’ll see how true that holds. Graphicly is the service I’ve chosen to convert my finished electronic formatted files for various e-readers.
The blog covering the graphic novel (so far) is “GFW 27″. Artwork, sketches, and some props for storyline can be viewed there as well.
Send to KindleA sequence of images for one of the scenes in the graphic novel “GFW ’27″.
Sketch in Prismacolor pencil first, then scanned. I play with the contrast in Photoshop, and reduce the saturation. The color is added in layers (background and character). Finally, the color and transparency of the layers are adjusted to the final blueish color.
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Work in progress illustration from my graphic novel. Scene shows a older more mature Mary, some 30 years later in the story line as she stops to take a quick check in the mirror on her way to answer her door.
