Thank you all again for the comments and feedback on Silson. I have finally plucked up the courage to show off my second attempt at a font; I thought I would try a serif this time. The intended use is body text for print. I am sure there are lots of things that need work about it, but I don't actually know what they are. Any help would be appreciated!
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You also need to learn about curve quality. Your current curves are blobby and choppy.
I would suggest concentrating on finishing Silson before tackling a Garalde. I also tried to make a book font as my very first serious font project, and I failed for lack of knowledge and experience. Use Silson as a learning experience and then put what you learned to use on Staverton.
When you do continue on Staverton, restrict yourself to a single master (Regular?) until you've decided the characteristics of your typeface (contrast, design philosophy, serifs, etc.). Making a multi-master typeface is a difficult exercise in keeping the family likeness alive even across a wide range of weights; that is impossible to achieve if you haven't established the characteristic look of the family in the first place.
Good luck!
Of course, I'm still learning — don't expect to be done after 2 years! But you'll have the eye to see the most common problems and the hand to solve them.
Good luck!
The main problem here is that it feels like the glyphs are from a bunch of different fonts. Sometimes different parts of the same glyph feel like they are from different fonts.
Another problem is, you've told us nothing about your design goals. What is the purpose of the font? What feeling are you trying to evoke? For example, there are some glyphs that would look something like the way they do due to uneven inking and bad printing in a letterpress environment. Is that on purpose? Is it intended to be used for body text? For headings? To look archaic? To be a modern reinterpretation? Is it a deconstructionist pastiche/parody?
You say it's a Garalde, but you don't use Garalde proportions, more like condensed-modern proportions. That is, caps are all relatively narrow, but differences that tend to be strong in Garalde are mostly missing. Compare width of E and G for example.
In the light weight, some of your serifs are razor-thin, others mid-weight, some like a Clarendon. Very inconsistent. Sometimes both on the same letter, such as the i. Hmm, but I am just echoing Christian's comments, aren't I? Well, they are all good comments.
Lowercase letter proportions are also inconsistent. The n and o are not from the same typeface, at least not the same Garalde typeface. The n is relatively narrower than the o.
This is in no way an exhaustive critique, just a start.
A minima, try to make sketches on paper with a consistent way of shaping your strokes: http://typographica.org/on-typography/sketching-out-of-my-comfort-zone-a-type-design-experiment/