font geekiness – is it only me?

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I do feel very strongly about different typefaces. Some make me recoil in horror, some lead me to purr and stroke.

I am just finishing the illustrations for a rather wonderful book, which I am keeping under my Very Secret Hat for just a little while longer (even though it is AGONY keeping this news to myself).
I’ve hand-drawn lots of the lettering on the cover and inside pages, rather than get them straight ‘out of the box’ digitally, for a few different reasons. Partly because I couldn’t find exactly the fonts I wanted, partly because the wobble of anything done by hand has a softness and warmth that I like, and in the case of a magnificent scene with a megaphone because I simply couldn’t fit in all the words any other way!
The wobble gets more pronounced when I’ve had too much coffee, by the way.

I wonder if other people feel strongly about fonts too – notice packaging and magazine articles, fret over their blog typefaces or their business cards. Or is it all very geeky, very niche?

Finding a typeface that suits a book character’s particular personality is especially important. Are they small and elegant, timid or bold or bumbling?

I don’t have to feel alone in my own home, though, as this weekend one of my daughters has been making these theatrical props, lettering all done free-hand…

 

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and the other has just been baking this unusual batch of biscuits!

 

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