Calligraphic Stencil Typeface

Scott Biersack

Hey everyone!

I'm slowly building out a calligraphic stencil typeface for a client – based on a piece of lettering I originally completed for myself. I recently realized it was somewhat influenced by my first typeface drawn in the Type@Cooper program which can be seen here: http://typedrawers.com/discussion/1250/student-critique-display-face#latest

I'm at the point where I'd love some thoughts and feedback on what seems out of place, what needs work, etc.

Currently, I feel the lowercase is actually in a decent place with the _f_ , _x_, and _z_ needing more work. My caps need loads more fine-tuning but I think the overall idea / structure might be there. Most likely will be rethinking the _K_ construction or at least tweaking it some more because it feels out of place. Spacing needs work across the board too. 

Anyway, keen to hear your thoughts as always!

AbiRasheed

Looks cool. I remember seeing this on instagram where you mentioned the same issues with f,x,z. I was going to shoot you a msg with a solution for f,z but life got in the way. Right off the bat a few things I noticed. I think 'D' has a right lean to it which could use some straightening out. 'N' looks very different and almost like one we associate with chinese-to english lettering, letters built from spikes or whatever it's called. Same with 'M', doesn't fit in with the rest. E,F T/t needs a stencil cut, they kinda look left out. alt Q could thin out a bit? Also both version of Q are somewhat illegible, maybe a few words might help to see if it actually is. 'f' could use a descender I think. As for 'z', based on some of the sketches I had done few weeks ago, at the time I realised the only viable solution was breaking the broadedge pen angle rule and going with what you think worked best in terms of fitting in with the stencil idea. This meant making the diagonal thick, sort of like a mirrored 's' or rotating 'N' 90°CW should give you an idea of what I'm talking about. But like I said this completely goes against what you're doing here but maybe it might work? I dunno....yet.

Craig Eliason

First R looks too K-ish, and c might look too e-ish. 

Scott Biersack

@AbiRasheed
Yeah! I've made some edits to the _f_ especially since that last post and I think it may be working better now. I'm trying to get this _f_ to work without the descender to help it feel a bit more modern. Good thoughts on the _z_ that's something I have yet to attempt! Could definitely work that way and luckily the _z_ is usually the oddball character that I could get away with breaking the "rules" a bit

Scott Biersack

Thanks for the eyeballs, @Craig Eliason! Agreed on that first _R_. I attempted that version to see if it fit in better with my _P_ construction. Not really sure it's helping matters. 

Christian Thalmann

Works surprisingly well! I'd add a few more gaps to /E/F/T so they don't seem to be from a non-stencil sister font.

Scott Biersack

@Christian Thalmann
Thanks for the thoughts! I definitely agree. Those letters have been a struggle to get them to work nicely...Need to explore them further!