Behind the type

Ah, Banoffee font, my latest script typeface. It feels like an eternity since I last created a font. You see, I've been somewhat preoccupied lately, dabbling in the realm of oil paintings, all thanks to my trusty iPad Pro. Banoffee font wasn't crafted in the traditional way with pen and paper. Oh no, this one came to life on my iPad Pro, using the Procreate software. Let me tell you, when you pair up the iPad with the Apple Pencil, you've got yourself a formidable creative arsenal. The main joy is looking at where you are drawing, nothing beats that. I've...

I'm excited to introduce my latest creation, Tuck Shop font. The idea of crafting a chalkboard-style font had been lingering in the recesses of my mind for some time. So, I decided it was high time to put that idea into action. I got myself a real slate chalkboard for a mere £10 – a steal, really. However, much to my annoyance, it turned out to be too large to fit under my A4 scanner. Quite the conundrum, I must say. But necessity, they say, is the mother of invention, so I resolved to take photos of my chalk drawings...

Why strive for excellence when mediocrity will do. Those are the words of Paul Arden taken from the book It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be. Yup, I've been reading those things again, what are they called, oh yea books. I've been reading books. Mr. Arden was a much wiser man than me (let's face it that's not difficult). He had a point. A good point. Perfection is overrated. The world would be a boring place if everything was perfect—right? Was punk seeking perfection? Nope. The Sex Pistols? Far from it and they were...

Mu-th-ur font was inspired by the science fiction film Prometheus. I've always been a fan of Ridley Scott and the surreal art of H.R. Giger. In the original movie Alien, the ship Nostromo had a computer called MU-TH-UR 6000—hence the name for my typeface. Geeky name I know—but I like it. I have to say for such a long wait, I was disappointed with Prometheus. The film did offer many answers from the original Alien movie (also raised a lot more questions). It was visually stunning and looked awesome. But the characterizations were terrible. Too one-dimensional with no depth. Stupid...

Never even gave it a thought. Funny that as I was asked by the Fontself team if I would be interested in trying out their new Fontself Photoshop extension. It makes creating color bitmap fonts in Photoshop a breeze. I've been using Fontself Maker for Illustrator for a while now. It really helps speed up my workflow when creating fonts in Illustrator. No more copy, paste, copy paste. I thought this new Photoshop extension sounded interesting, I was intrigued—let's take a look-see. Color Bitmap Font - Let That Sink In I quickly realized that the Photoshop extension won't just create...

I first started Lawless font over a year ago, but never finished it owing to the fact that I accidentally deleted the file. Yea that happened and it was painful, a bit like losing a £20 note from your back pocket (I've done that too). So I started it again but took it in a slightly different direction. Originally it was very clean and angular. This version was hand-drawn and then traced into Adobe Illustrator. Lawless Font Inspiration I first had the idea for Lawless when I was working on social images for the movie Slow West. It's a western...

Not my type isn't my first typewriter font. I have done one before called Type old writer. So why do another? Well, the answer is simple, I bought an old typewriter for a photo shoot for my picture frame studio pack. It's been sitting in a cupboard gathering dust, so I thought I might as well get it out and get this font done. Plus now I can sell it as I have no use for it now. Hanging out at Antique fairs This typewriter is an Oliver courier portable typewriter. I think it was originally made in the 1960's...

Roadhouse Blues was inspired in part by my own hand lettering experiments and the awesome work I'm seeing by people who I follow on Instagram. I love handmade lettering—I'm an addict. Handmade lettering I'm addicted to finding quotes and lyrics that I can draw, to fuel my Instagram addiction. Sometimes I hear someone say a particular phrase and I think I could use that. Normally it's music that I'm listening to that gets me. I tend to sketch out my ideas on paper first. I then scan that into illustrator and change everything. The layout, moving and rotating each word...

Take me to the river is what I'm calling my new brush script font. The name is taken from a song by Al Green, but I've only ever known the Talking Heads version—and I love it to bits. I swear this will be the last script font I do for a while. It's been a real slog to finish this font. Not the drawing of the letters but just putting it all together, technical problems and kerning. I don't mind admitting it was a struggle. The perfect brush font I'm still on a mission to create the perfect random-looking brush...

The Atomic Dustbin font was handmade with a watercolour brush, black ink, and paper. I was trying to get that dry brushmark, with all the lovely detail that can produce. It's like Déjà vu Creating a dry brush font is something of a recurring subject for me. I've never quite got the result I was after. I can picture the font in my head but getting it down on paper is another thing. Constraints can be good I might try and do it left-handed next time or time limiting myself. Having a constraint can lead to unexpected results that I...