Making your own fonts is a great way to be creative and earn a little extra income. However, many people are limited by the thought that they need to take in-person graphic design classes in order to create a font of their own. We've got great news: you can learn to make your own font from the comfort of your couch by taking some great online courses. If you want to know more about which courses to take, check out the list of 10 below.
1. Hand-Drawn Typography: Create Your Own Font
This Hand-Drawn Typography course on Skillshare by Kyle Steed is a great class for anyone who wants to turn handwriting into a font. The course will show you how to create a font by hand, then turn it into a vector file that can be used by others.
2. How to Digitize Hand-Drawn Art
On CreativeLive, James Victore and Laura Victore present a course on How to Digitize Hand-Drawn Art, which is an excellent class for anyone who wants to turn hand-drawn typography into a font.
3. Creating Custom Fonts
Mike Ranking brings you Creating Custom Fonts on Lynda.com. Check it out if you are interested in generating a unique and original font to share with the world. The course also teaches students about the technical specifics behind different types of fonts such as TrueType, OpenType and PostScript.
4. Creating Fonts in InDesign
Anyone who is a fan of InDesign will want to take this Creating Fonts in InDesigncourse from Mike Rankin, which is also on Lynda.com. It will show you how to use your favorite program to generate original fonts.
5. Paper to Digital: Create Your Own Hand Drawn Font
Another great course on Skillshare for people interested in transforming their hand-drawn lettering into a digital typeface is Jennifer Coyle's course, Paper to Digital: Create Your Own Hand Drawn Font. If you happen to fall in love with Jenn's work, like we did, make sure to check out her Creative Market shop.
6. How to Make Your Own Font: Mac & PC
For a simple step-by-step guide to creating your own font on Mac or PC, check out this YouTube tutorial from todlovescheese. She walks you through the process of creating a font in her clear and easy-to-understand video.
7. How to Design Your Own Typeface
Creative Bloq has a useful online guide to creating your own font. It's called How to Design Your Own Typeface, and it offers thorough written instructions to design fonts via a myriad of platforms.
8. Design Your Own Fonts: From Paper to Screen
Natanael Gama, a professional type designer, brings you a great course calledDesign Your Own Fonts: From Paper to Screen via SkillShare, where you can learn to transform any hand-drawn typeface into a font file.
9. Designing a Typeface
Interested in the actual art of designing a typeface, the psychology behind lettering and spacing, and the actual aesthetics of the art form? Then this Designing a Typeface class on Lynda.com is a great choice for you.
10. Creating Icon Fonts for the Web
If you are interested in designing a font using symbols and glyphs, take this course from Lynda.com called Creating Icon Fonts for the Web.
Ready to sell your font?
Creating your own fonts is a great way to get a foot in the door of the design world, and it's also a valuable skill set to have when looking for a job or hoping to earn a side income. Luckily you don't have to pay a lot of tuition money to learn how. Dive into any of these courses, and you could be making one of Creative Market's best-selling fonts in no time!