Update: yourfonts is no longer free 🙁 Try MyScriptFont instead, which was still free as of January 2011.
One of my favorite web apps of late is called YourFonts and it lets you create a personal font online. All you need is a printer and a scanner. The process is very simple, first you download and print their grid page, write in your letters and then scan the page. Alternately, you can download a bitmap version of the grid and paste in your own art or input with a graphics tablet. You could also cut and paste letters from a handwriting sample for a more natural look. Once your grid is filled in to your satisfaction, upload it to YourFonts and within minutes you can download your brand new TrueType font, ready to install. Amazingly, this service is free. You don’t even have to register.
The applications for this are enormous. Scrapbookers can type in their own handwriting, parents can preserve their children’s handwriting, companies can put their logos in easy reach, the list goes on. And I’m sure you SCAL users are already dreaming up ways you can use this to create cuttable outlines for your Cricut machine. Watch for my next post when I’ll show you my newest font creation, made at YourFonts.com.
Hello,
Thank you for posting create your own fonts. I’m very new to SCAL and just learing how to work with it. I’ve created my own fonts and saved them in jpeg and svg files. My question is how do I get them into SCAL? Do I import them like a svg file? Thanks for any help you can give me.
Misty
Misty,
If a file is an svg, then you import it as an svg whether it contains letters or other images. If it is a jpg, then it has to be autotraced into a vector and saved as an svg for use in SCAL. If it is a TrueType (TT) font, like the ones you might download from the internet or make with yourfonts.com, then you install them on your computer like any other font and access them with the fonts window in SCAL.
The link for downloading A new font from old shapes isn’t working. I would love to access it! Your site is great!
Thanks
Nancy
This service is no longer free
Yes, and I updated the post to reflect that a month ago. Bummer, huh?
Thanks:]
But i went to yourfonts.com
and they had very bad service!
when i printed the template…it
came out messy and when i wrote
on it it looked like a different thing!
i didnt like it one bit!
When the service was free, I made at least 3 fonts successfully. Though I can’t recommend them as a free service anymore, as far as I know they still do allow you to preview the font before you download it to avoid the types of issues you are describing.