making fonts

[glitterpigeon]

I have made a font! specifically a font that is my handwriting! it was made a while ago actually. for my comics, because I saw someone saying that people should use custom fonts, that it makes comics look better. idk. but I don't use it on all of my comics, only some of them. but I've been thinking about this lately, and am kind of considering using my font on a website I'm working on.

a person's writing seems so personal. a little window into their lives. the weird little quirks each person has. the way they learned to write (mine is a sort of weird cursive-printing hybrid, because I learned cursive when I was 8 and then slowly started to drift away from it over time) it is unique, a fingerprint of sorts. something that betrays you, the hidden parts of you, that you can't run away from. I am quite skeptical of graphology, but I can't help feeling like there is some part of my soul in there, that people will see if they look closely enough. this is why I don't use it on all of my comics. sometimes it feels a little bit too revealing. but I also like this. I have to admit, I have a bit more of a craving for attention than most people. there is a part of me that wants to show all of myself to everyone, to have no secrets and wear my flaws in daylight, letting them glitter in their tarnished, tentative sort of way.

I have very very few insecurities, but I have them, certain asymmetries in my body, certain interests I have, certain things I say. and, of course, my handwriting. I was diagnosed with a specific learning disability in written expression (sometimes called dysgraphia, but I've never heard a doctor call it that) when I was 10 years old. it makes me struggle with grammar and spelling and such, but also with the physical act of writing on paper. it takes a lot of energy, and I can't express my thoughts as clearly as speaking or even typing. and my handwriting looks weird. when I try very hard (like I did while making the font) it can look fine, but normally it is very illegible. and even when I do try, there are still weird little things in it, that probably no one else sees, but that I see. I grew up feeling quite embarrassed about this, and other people's reactions to it certainly didn't help (sometimes people would ask me to spell words so they could make fun of me when I did it wrong ).

there is something that feels very positive about the font, though? it feels kind of nice, using it in things, it could maybe slowly reframe the way I think about it from a negative thing to a positive thing? I always want to be very vocal about disability and similar stuff, in the hopes that other people like me will see it/we will be kinder to people that can't write/spell perfectly. I always find myself looking for people that are like me, people that struggle with writing the way I do (especially other writers) and it would be nice to also be that for someone else? and it is certainly unique. no one else has my exact handwriting.

idk, have you ever made a font with your handwriting? what do you use it for?   

update! I have partially added it to my website! (there's a mix of fonts on there)

[bby]

i have made a couple of pixel fonts using bitfontmaker2. it used to be on my website that is not online anymore, it was the font for my hit counter. i think i was going to use it in a few other places, maybe headers?

i want to remake them. i want to make a neater, cleaner version that's easier to read and a few in different handwriting styles. i don't think i'd use them as a body font cause my handwriting is messy, but i think it would be cute as a signature for blog posts or in specific places like i mentioned. also to use for buttons!