Handwriting Fonts

Typography, hand lettering, and creating fonts are all arts. One can practice for years at making beautiful, perfect letterforms and still learn something new every day. There's this documentary on Lynda.com about logotype designer Doyald Young. I've watched this 40-minute movie more than a few times. I just love hearing passionate people talk about the minute details of letters, and watching them work so intently on this lovely craft.



While I respect the art of typography, I'm no expert. I have no training in making fonts, and very little education about typography in general. But that doesn't mean I won't try!

I found a super simple way to create a 'font' of your handwriting. It involves printing off a template sheet from MyScriptFont, writing/drawing your letters on it, scanning it in, and uploading your scan to the site. They do all the work for you, and then you download your readymade TTF (or OTF) file. (For a quick video tutorial on the process, see here.)



I made 2 variations of my handwriting, drawn with different pens. The first I called "Letters by Leiah" and I wrote it with my favorite Pilot Precise V5 pen.



The second font I drew with a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point permanent marker.



They're not perfect, but I like them :)

I plan on using the "Letters by Leiah" font in my digital Project Life layouts. Might as well use my own handwriting, right? Here's my first Project Life spread with the new font!