Hello everyone!
I'm in the process of developing some swash alternates for my italic typeface currently in the works. I (somewhat) recently finished up the Extended Type @ Cooper program and have been continuing this typeface ever since it began in 2015-2016.
Since I'm still somewhat new to this, I'm hoping to get some guidance / thoughts on the current state of things. I drew numerous variations of these letterforms
(especially the _T_) and this is currently where it stands. The
PDF attached has some spacing proofs as well as the original italic forms for reference.
I will say that the _O_ has not been touched as you can see...Still unsure how to tackle that. Also, I know that _Q_ needs a lot of work...trying to solve that as well.
Any and all thoughts are welcome! Would love to learn from everyone here!
Thanks so much
Comments
Consider thickening the thick part of the loop of the swash on /C/ and /G/ (where the top serif would go in an unswashed letter). That will help the eye distinguish where the swash ends and the letter begins.
/I/ looks like a pilcrow, but maybe in context it'd be fine.
Bottom arms of /E/ and /L/ might be opportunities for more swashiness. /H/ also looks a bit mechanical though it's less clear to me what could fix that.
Thanks so much Hrant! Means a lot.
Thank you for the quick feedback, Craig! So helpful! I was definitely struggling with that weight issue on those loops like you mentioned. Definitely agree to beef it up a bit there.
I also agree about your other comments regarding the _E_ and _L_ ...I was considering drawing completely unique forms but wasn't sure if it would be too "different" from everything else.
I drew this _L_ originally which utilizes the similar swash from my default _Q_...but, again, wasn't sure if it was too crazy?
I guess it's about trying to find the balance between the original shapes and not pushing it too far
The bottom stroke of the swash L could be at least twice as long, and a bit heavier at its thickest. Ditto Q and Z.
Lowercase g could do something when swashes are on. It already felt restrained.
The bottom left swash of AMN could descend more and be more prominent. Descending bits of R and especially S could do more and go further.
I'll be the first to admit that my own swash caps to date have been less than thrilling. But they were in a pretty weird typeface that had weird swashes already, and I was just adding on.
What are your thoughts on having a set of "restrained" swashes and a set of crazy ornate swashes? Seems like I should find a middle ground of sorts.
The second impression was noticing the /T, though. Its top swash feels unnatural. I would suggest exploring other strokes with more weight in the horizontal.
I agree that the /L could have a longer tail. You can always make a stylistic alternate that stops on the baseline for use before descenders like /y. You could make the stem loop over to the right in that version to avoid too much empty space.
I do agree about that _T_ ...It's certainly been giving me trouble. I also explored this sort of weight distribution but wasn't too sure about it.
Thanks for the suggestions on the _L_ too! I'll explore that a bit more.
You could use a stylistic set to provide more restrained (or more wild) swashes. Or make some thing contextual to reduce the likelihood they occur in inappropriate contexts.