I'd like to start working on italics for my font (Portfolio Mono, see a separate thread).
The problem is I've never done italics before, so I'm not sure how to approach this task.
It's going to be true italics, but related to the roman enough to consider the roman as a starting point.
I'm considering starting from:
1. scratch.
2. the roman slanted.
3. the roman manipulated by some fancy tool that is supposed to give better results than simple slanting.
(Am I missing any option?)
How would you approach this?
Any tips?
What tools do you use for better slanting?
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Comments
Tools I know of: RMX slanter, and Glyphs' slant function.
A 'true italic' lowercase, i.e. one with a cursive ductus construction, is a completely different beast from a roman, so there's no point in starting with a slanted roman. Better to start from scratch.
Tip: because a diagonal line between two heights is longer than a vertical line between the same heights, the x-height of an italic tends to appear optically larger than that of a corresponding roman, so you should compensate for this by making the italic x-height slightly shorter. You don't need to do the same compensation for cap height or extenders, because these don't have the same impact on perceived text size.
Slant being the cornerstone of what readers expect out of an emphasis style, without any further context a (non-mechanical) slanted-Roman is a much more sober starting point than what we type designers are conditioned to value.
I came out to the same place, after getting less-satisfactory results from both slanting and rotation on their own. Just as a starting point, for round-ish shapes.
I leaned toward starting from scratch before and I think I'm ready to take this approach now.