[Paddy]

Just stayed up all night designing a font. My first complete font, in fact. I call it Rodeo Clown.




There's only caps at the moment but I do intend to do lower case as well, if I can figure out how.

It's made entirely from just three different shapes, flipped, rotated and stacked.

Your opinions and advice please.

[Limbo]

the serif to stem wieghts of the C & G are off.

Like it though - can we see a version without all the fluff?

[Paddy]

You're right.

Thanks. I'll get a fluffless version now.

EDIT: Here you go.

[Limbo]

I don't design type so my advice doesn't cary much weight, but the s looks top heavy - most letters need a bit more love. Break the rules you have set a little.

I hear the best way to check if a font is holding together is to apply it to a body of text (not lorem). You soon see where to improve it.

[Paddy]

Easier said than done, that. As it stands I just have a bunch of glyphs in Illustrator. I don't fancy placing them in a paragraph by hand, and I don't have any fontography software (yet).

As I see it, A, C, G, H, M, N, S, U, V, W, Y, Z, 7 and 9 all need work, some more than others. I'll have a play around with them later today and see what I can do to fix them.

[Limbo]

fairplay.

[emil]

Yeah nice that. The Os could be wider too, and the 7 doesn't look quite right. The Y would work better if it was symmetrical.
But I'm not that good at typography so...

[Hunch]

Great for a first stab though. Cutting a font is something I've always planned to do at some point and never got round to. It's like leaving your own small mark on the world.

[Do Gooder]

thought i would enjoy it... but i find designing typefaces tedious.

the old font the software for creating font files from vectors.. can't remember its name.. is very easy to use.

[Do Gooder]

oh yes.. fontographer

[Herr Kurm]

I really like the overall look of it! Little details still need work as others have pointed out.

[steveb]

That's a remarkably good, consistent first attempt and I am very impressed, having churned out more than my fair share of fonts which are now freely downloadable from my website utfi
I'd like to have the negative space inside the D O and Q extend downwards.
There's some illogicality with the serifs - either have them on both the top and bottom pointing left (B, R), or just on the bottom (M) or none at all (H, K, N).

Don't bother with Fontographer or FontLab just yet until you find out whether you enjoy doing this sort of stuff enough to make the investment worthwhile. The latest version of FontCreator (made by a Dutch guy) is very good and it's far less expensive than the big boys' stuff. It's what I've used to do mine - don't know if that's a recommendation or not... FontCreator - The Most Popular Font Editor!

The way I work is to create the basic shapes in Photoshop and then import them into FontCreator piece by piece. The shapes always need refining after import, so it's easier to import a few shapes and tidy them up in FC before combining them into letters. Otherwise you end up having to tidy up at least 60 glyphs instead of just 5-8.

[Paddy]

Cheers fellas. I will definitely take a look at everything that's been pointed out and make some changes. I'll keep you posted.

Do Gooder: It's immensely tedious if you're trying to design a proper copy font, particularly serifs. I tend to stick to very simple geometric shapes in everything I do, which makes it a lot easier.

Also Fontographer is $350 so I might have to resort to being a dirty thieving bastard again.

[Paddy]

Originally Posted by steveb

That's a remarkably good, consistent first attempt and I am very impressed, having churned out more than my fair share of fonts which are now freely downloadable from my website utfi
I'd like to have the negative space inside the D O and Q extend downwards.
There's some illogicality with the serifs - either have them on both the top and bottom pointing left (B, R), or just on the bottom (M) or none at all (H, K, N).

Don't bother with Fontographer or FontLab just yet until you find out whether you enjoy doing this sort of stuff enough to make the investment worthwhile. The latest version of FontCreator (made by a Dutch guy) is very good and it's far less expensive than the big boys' stuff. It's what I've used to do mine - don't know if that's a recommendation or not... FontCreator - The Most Popular Font Editor!

The way I work is to create the basic shapes in Photoshop and then import them into FontCreator piece by piece. The shapes always need refining after import, so it's easier to import a few shapes and tidy them up in FC before combining them into letters. Otherwise you end up having to tidy up at least 60 glyphs instead of just 5-8.

Posted at the same time as you there. I've heard of FontCreator. I looked into this sort of software a few years ago but I lost interest after trying to make a really complex font. I've since learned my lesson.

Thanks for the pointers. I'll take it to heart.

[steveb]

It's very much better than the earlier versions. Download the latest try-out and you'll see.

[Paddy]

Fatal flaw: it only runs on Windows. Bugger.

I also meant to say in my last post that I like your fonts. Some are a bit mad for my taste but I really like pyoroblur and the spyro- pair. Nice work.

[steveb]

Thanks a lot! They're all based on an originally totally geometric font called Pyoro made of circles and straight lines which I drew in FreeHand in 2002 and imported. It was full of nasty angles, with hundreds of superfluous nodes (Bezier curve points) so I recently redrew it and it resurfaced as the Spyro pair. I think it's quite presentable!

As for being a bit mad - well, we have enough Helvetica and Univers wannabees, and I don't want to do Gothic blackletter so I try to make something original. (Bayer and Strzeminski not included - they were someone else's madness!)

[brooks]

steveb you've redesigned your site again? seriously how much free time do you have? lol. looks class now, fits well together except the bevel and emboss on the startpage

paddy, that's a great set, i've got issues with the 'y' though.

[Paddy]

Originally Posted by Paddy

As I see it, A, C, G, H, M, N, S, U, V, W, Y, Z, 7 and 9 all need work, some more than others. I'll have a play around with them later today and see what I can do to fix them.

You and me both.

[steveb]

I thought everyone knew I've been officially unemployed since June after closing down my photo restoration company Kuvantis. I have 24 hours freetime every single day.
Fortunately, I have been a member of a private unemployment insurance company for many years, and I currently pick up 70% of the wage from my previous "proper" job.
Who would ever employ a bloke like me - can't do anything, doesn't know anything and has almost 55 on the clock!

Oh - thanks for the critique - I'll change the buttons soonish!