MA Fonts

font-making

Every so often, I receive e-mails regarding font making.  I usually respond with, first, making in known that I am neither a professional nor an expert in typeface/font making.  So, now, I tell you just that.  Please let me reiterate that I am not, nor do I ever claim to be, a typeface or font expert.  I made my font for-fun; I am self-taught through experimenting; and I am an amateur at this! 

Now that that is out of the way, for what it’s worth, here are some handy-dandy list of tips that I’ve learned through experimenting:

• Getting Started!  Need a font-making software.  I personally used Font Creator (by High Logic) to create all my fonts.  I started out with the free trial, which was really awesome since, well, it’s FREE!  At a later time, however, I did decide to purchase the software.  In my opinion, it is user-friendly, and I was able to make a font right out without reading any instructions!  :)  *Please note that I have not tried any other font-making software, so I can’t compare Font Creator with any other font-making program.  I am not associated in any way to High-Logic; I'm just a fan of their products.  I accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever; I am merely sharing my experience, which includes their software.  Do your own research, if you must, but please download and try their product at your own risk. 

 • Handwritten fonts and scanning.  I found out that it was easier to try and write as naturally large as possible and scan at a high resolution (saved a bmp worked too).  Use a nice quality paper and pen that won’t cause too much bleeding (ink into paper) helped out, too.  When I first started, I actually a nice thick vellum paper, and that seemed to work better than regular copy paper. 

 • Photoshop or Illustrator.  If you have either program, you can scan into either one and ‘clean up’ your scanned image there.  I think it makes it easier not having to ‘clean up’ the jagged edges of your font-to-be in Font Creator—this is a tedious task!!  Better yet, if you own a tablet, such as a Wacom, try writing directly in Photoshop (or Illustrator)—this is the easiest way for me, although most of my fonts were done using the paper, pen and scan ‘technique’!  Photoshop + tablet = font in no time!

 • Font Size.  The image in the font software is vector-based (I believe).  If you want to enlarge the image—or shrink, for that matter—you won’t lose quality.  However, note that if enlarging or shrinking also makes the lines thicker or skinnier.  When you resize, make sure you resize all the characters equally so that the weight of your characters will be uniform.  Of course, if you wanted to adjust just a couple of characters, you can always resize and alter the thickness of the lines to match the rest of the characters.

 • Kerning—another tedious task.  I personally prefer to adjust the space between the letters individually.  Using Font Creator, there is an auto-kerning tool (which I run first), however, like anything auto, I feel that it doesn’t always tailor to what you may deem correct.  If you are trying to make fonts that are scripty in nature, I feel that there isn’t easier way than having to individual adjust the spacing.  There may be an easier way, but I sure am not aware of it. 

• Characters.  There are some characters that you should not forget to include, including the left and right double quotes and single quotes (these are needed so that “smart quotes” will work!)

 • Save.  When making your font in Font Creator, don’t forget to save!!  Also remember that you cannot save a file with the same file name that already exist in your computer.  At least this is true when I made my fonts! 

I can’t think of anything else at this point; however, I will try and continue to update this as I think of more little tips that may be helpful to some.  It has taken me a long time to write this out—I'm not exact a great writer nor am I a good in expressing myself in written words, but finally, I am going to post it here on the blog.  I do hope that you find this, even in the slightest bit, helpful.

Now, if you find out that there are easier ways to do things, that’s awesome!  You can e-mail me your tips, if you care to :)  Please don’t fault me though.  Like I said, I’m an amateur, a hobbyist who didn’t read the instructions, so I may be wrong and doing things the hard way.  LOL!! 

Most importantly...HAVE FUN!!  Believe it or not, I often get asked why I share my fonts for free.  I've been asked to sell fonts and make customize fonts, which I have declined each time.  I really just enjoy the process without pressure or anything—pure fun!  I never feel that I have "wasted" time making a font, ever.  And I have never ever regretted making my fonts available for free for everyone's personal use.  Never!  Each and every font I have made is worth the time I have put into each of them.  It sounds corny, but it's true!  I LOVE fonts, and what's better than having one to use in my own handwriting!  I truly enjoy the sharing part too—I really do!  I can't say it enough, I am extremely flattered that people are interested in my fonts.  :)  Okay, I'm blabbing, I know, LOL!!  Point is... HAVE FUN!!  HAVE FUN!!  HAVE FUN!!

two fonts...

MA Smiles and MA Googly Bear, which were previously available as a gift with the collab Art For Asher at Digital Design Essentials (Gina Cabrera's shop), is now back up and available for all.  Find them, along with all of my other MA Fonts, right here!!  

This is all a test-trial-ish-sort-of arrangement.  Crossing fingers that it works.

Thanks for visiting, and thank you for your interest in my fonts!!

Have an awesome Sunday!!

-m

{moving} along

I'm trying to update my MA Fonts weblog, and I thought this is a good time to move.  Hopefully, I'll get this up and running, and updated quickly.

Thanks for stopping by!

-margarete

I've been made aware of

I've been made aware of some of the links—website where MA Fonts are available for download—no longer working. I'll try and get this 'fixed' as soon as I am able to, but in the meantime, the you'll still be able to find my fonts at the other websites. Thank you for your patience!

Also, I haven't released a font in a very long time. I'm have been meaning to, and I actually have several unfinished fonts (which dates back to 2006 and 2007). The easy part is done, the writing and scanning, but I have yet to do the kerning...which takes forever! LOL! Anyway, I'm hoping to be able to release a couple of them in another month or so. MA Giddy and MA Sweet are two of those.

I also received a couple of e-mails regarding MA Googly Bear and MA Smiles. As you may know, they were a part of DDE's Art for Asher from 2006.

Honestly, I haven't decided if I'll ever re-release these two. I'm more inclined to say that I probably may, although at this time, they are not available. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

If, and when, I do release more fonts, it'll be under the same terms, and FREE for personal use only! :)

As always, thanks for stopping by, and THANK YOU for your interest in my fonts :)

Hi :) I just wanted

Hi :)

I just wanted to add here that I reply to all the e-mails I receive concerning questions about the fonts. If you have e-mailed me, but have not received a reply within a week, chances are that my spam folder ate your e-mail. I try to go through my bulk folder before deleting everything, however, there are times when the subjects are vague and I don't recognize them as 'real' e-mails for me, or for some reason, I don't catch them before I hit the delete button, or maybe not catch them at all. In these cases, I probably won't realize that you ever e-mailed me at all. Please, if you e-mailed me and haven't heard back within a reasonable time frame, please shoot me another e-mail. Please make sure that the 'subject' is as descriptive as possible.

Also, there have been times when e-mails which usually arrive in my inbox fine, all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, start to be classified as spam (bulk), and thus, get sorted into my spam folder. I've seen this happen several times, but I usually catch it; however, it's a possibility that I've missed. If we have been in contact, and I stop replying to your e-mails unexpectedly, it may be that my yahoo mail decided to classify your e-mail address as spam. Again, I ask that you please e-mail me a follow-up. I do not just stop replying because I decide not to approve your request for limited commercial license—if this were the case, I would personally let you know.

Now. On the other hand, I get plenty of e-mails. I used to try to keep track of everything in my "need reply" folder—I save each e-mail that I reply to and delete as I receive replies to them, or else, I send a follow-up e-mail in about a week. That folder had been so overwhelmingly packed that I have decided to not do that anymore. If I don't hear back from you, I will assume that you no longer need my assistance, or are no longer interested in whatever it was that you contacted me about.

Lastly, please be patient with me. I try to be as prompt as possible; however, I can't guarantee that I am able to reply quickly each and every time. I hope that you understand that I do this because I enjoy doing it—I do this for "fun" during my free time. I quickly realized, when I started doing this, that with the 'fun' of sharing my fonts free for personal use, comes plenty of e-mails for support and questions regarding commercial use.

I want to take this opportunity to let you know that I do appreciate your e-mails, and am still flattered by the very nice comments I receive about them. Thank you!!

Happy day to you!!

-m

So I've decided to start

So I've decided to start a blog for my fonts. Here you will find any news or updates on my fonts. I don't anticipate that there will be much going on here, however, it's here for informational purpose.

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Not much has changed since I first added a read-me file to my font files; still the same, except for the added additional font names. Without further ado... {click on the image} :)

*****DISCLAIMER: Although I will try to help you in any way I can, please keep in mind that I do NOT guaranteed any type of 'customer' support for any of the MA Fonts. Also, under no circumstances will I, Margarete Antonio, be held liable or responsible for any type of damages and/or loss...whatsoever, with your, or anyone else's, use of any of the MA Fonts—regardless of the type of use (personal or commercial use).*****

...and here's a little look at the MA Font collection...

Find the MA Fonts at these two great sites:
Digital Design Essentials owned by the fabulously talented Gina Cabrera.
One Scrappy Site owned by the creatively resourceful Angie Pedersen.

**MA Googly Bear and MA Smiles were only available for three months during the end of 2006 at DDE. Both were free fonts with purchase of the "Art For Asher" collection. At this time, they are no longer available.

Thank you for your interest, and support! -margarete

•credits: AC Chipped Metal action, and bebas {font}