YourFonts
With YourFonts you can make a TrueType font from your own handwriting for free. The process is simple, quick and basically idiot-proof. Print out a template from the site, write in your letters, scan, upload and -- voila -- there you have it. If you're a real fonthead, you might want more detail and control over the fonts you create. I remember even years ago seeing an ad in MacWorld for a "make your own handwriting font." The template that software had was a lot more sophisticated, since it asked for examples of different letter combination as well as individual letters. The YourFonts template basically replicates the characters on a standard keyboard, with an optional extension to characters with accents/umlauts etc.
By far, this is the best, quickest, easiest and cheapest option I've found thus far. YourFonts offers proper font creation software that can be purchased at what seems to be fairly reasonable prices. But the free font creation tool is heaps of fun and available for use without any form of obligation. I've already gone back and improved my first efforts, opting to fiddle with character heights and positioning in GIMP a lot (see below). I'm now keen to create a couple more fonts for my fledgling web site. This is quite possibly the start of an addiction.
-- Craig Shaw
Here's my somewhat egotistically-titled font "Shaw Hand" in various iterations. Being a bit anally retentive, I wanted to improve the uniformity a bit and improve the look of some characters. Because there's no direct control over kerning, etc. the width of the character is important -- nothing "tucks in" under/over adjacent characters. Note my somewhat idiosyncratic "g", and how my initial "e," "w" and "h" were a bit wide. I also found matching the template guides for height was important. Since it can be hard to achieve this on paper (despite practice!) I did the best I could and then -- since the template is scanned as a .jpg, -- I actually ended up using GIMP to do some editing, such as stretching individual characters vertically or horizontally, or making minor improvements to their shape. Below are just improvements on the one style. I haven't even started to create a new style yet. :-)
Favorite (15)
floormaster squeeze
This is useful suggestion and link. Thanks. I too remember those old ads.
Garrett
Yea, that is pretty cool!
J R Compton
I look forward every week day to seeing what tool you've come up with, but today's was a disappointment. I used to have a site called Fontaholics Anonymous, so am familiar with just how old the notion of having a font made from one's own handwriting truly is.
And boring.
Content in a Cottage
Kevin...You are THE BEST!
I live for fonts! (just kidding) but I do love them.
I will definitely try this download.
I am shocked that one of your readers found this post boring.
Reading blogs is like looking at a menu. You like some items and dislike others.
Pick what you like. You can't please everyone.
Thanks again, Rosemary
Kevin Kelly
@JR: You are right that fonts from your own handwriting have been around a long time. You could either buy software to make your own, or pay a small fee to have it done. This is the first I've seen where you can make it for free. If you have other sources for free do-your-own handwriting fonts, I'd love to know about them.
Trey
If you have a PC tablet Microsoft has been giving away a handwriting font creation program for free since 2005. Works nice. Shows examples and outputs to a true type font. Link is below.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/tabletpc.mspx
Trey
Cynthia
I love fonts and KK's posts!
Thanks
: )
Tom
This is great! Thanks for sharing.
Lani
Oh Kevin, thou hast redeemed thyself from thy 'orrible post about bullet-proof backpack flaps. Thankye thankye thankye!
Tim
I wonder if JR plans to cancel his subscription. ; ) I love people that think the internet exists solely for them.
Great post and useful for some. Personally, I would appreciate seeing how the various iterations looked on the template rather than the final product. It would give me more of idea of what was altered.
Dave
Security sirens wailing. Upload personal handwriting samples to a no-name website for a vanity font...bad, and unnecessary:
http://www.bittbox.com/fonts/how-to-make-a-hand-drawn-font/
http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/
FontForge is Linux but runs inside a virtual machine on Windows, or Cygwin a second (poor IMO) choice. Mac OS X is already *nix; follow FontForge steps.
After dropping Windows/Mac for Linux you'll know such free services are gimmicks. Apple is just another *nix vendor now, but Mac is still the only platform that every utility carries a purchase price. I awoke from Apple marketing hypnosis myself after some years. But I like the looks, so
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac4lin
Stacy
WOW, lol at the comments here. Is Dave a conspiracy theorist? I'm scared to even click those links.
I love this tool, my kids are obsessed with all things code and spy-worhty so I think they will be getting their own code fonts now. YAY internet, your free stuff has redeemed you.
Panisse
Your fonts is not free: they ask 14.95$ to dowload the file...!!!
Rahel
You say it's free? If i want to download my new font, I'll have to pay 8,50! It's not free anymore it seems!!!
scruss
It seems they were free for the first couple of months, but now they charge $10. So all the initial links and publicity says it's free, and no-one will come back and revise their opinions.
Chadman
YourFonts isn't free anymore, but here's a website that will do the job just as great but it really is free... I did it just this morning and it worked great!
http://www.fontcapture.com/