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Fact
sheet
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Calligraphy is the art of mastering the hand, so it expresses emotions
that words by themselves cannot convey. It is not by mistake that
poems, and poetry writing has always been accompanied by calligraphic
compositions. Greeting cards, birthday cards, thank-you cards or
invitations could not be conceived without at least a touch of formal
writing, or elegant cursive. How could one create a wedding invitation
without the help of a classic copperplate ornamented handwriting ? How
could any menu be designed without the help of some chancery or uncial
styled typography ? And even today, could one imagine the internet
without the highly calligraphy italic a, surrounded by an arabesque,
the ubiquitous @ ?
Calligraphic
fonts are the most amazing pieces of typography. Although they have an
unmistakable old fashion look, they always charm the eye, especially
when used elegantly as initials in beautifully set text (see statement
above), or for invitations, poems, affirmations, and proverbs. For the
type designer, the art of calligraphy is the basis of all creation.
Although today, most of our craft is done with a computer, one should
never forget the origin of our written language. I generally start any
type creation by calligraphy. Besides giving me an instant feel of the
construction that would not be possible on the screen, the square pen
always helps to find the best curves, where mathematics have less to do
than relationship with the medium. As Lao Tzu says in the Tao Te Ching
: "the virtuous takes everything for difficult, and finally does not
encounter any difficulty". Taking time to draw glyph on paper ultimately
saves times on the computer...
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Technical requirements
Powerful PC with Windows XP, Vista or more recent, or the most recent versions of NT.
A high resolution printer (300 dpi minimum, 600 dpi and over preferable).
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Calligraphy & Swash
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 on't be shy ! If you find swash that is
exceptionally beautiful, set it extraordinarily large and use it as a
graphic element on your page -- show if off ! Set it in a pale color or
as a shade of gray and let it swoop under your body text or behind a
photograph. Use huge swash character as initial cap or as a lead-in to
an article or chapter. Combine one large italic swash character with
heavy, bold, black sans serif characters for a striking contrast in a
title or quote.
From "The
Non-Designer's Type Book : Insights and Techniques for Creating
Professional-Level Type" by Robin Williams.
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Arobasques
One ornamented
italic font
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$19.95 only instant download
for Windows
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@robasques
One
font
Price : $19.95, including TrueType and ATM PostScript Type 1
format.
Dowload a free working sample of the font. It will help you play with it before deciding to buy, |
Chancellerie
Moderne
family
of two fonts
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$9.95 only instant download
for Windows
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Chancellerie Moderne
Chancellerie Moderne
Heavy
2 fonts
Price : $9.95, including TrueType and ATM PostScript Type 1 format.
Dowload a free working sample of the font. It will help you play with it before deciding to buy, |
Oncial (Uncial)
family
of four fonts
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$19.95 only instant download
for Windows
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Oncial
Demi Oncial
Oncial Moderne
Oncial Moderne Slanted
4 fonts
Price : $19.95, including TrueType and ATM PostScript Type 1
format.
Dowload a free working sample of the font. It will help you play with it before deciding to buy,
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$19.95 only instant download
for Windows
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Rodolphe
One font
Price : $19.95, including TrueType and ATM PostScript Type 1
format.
Dowload a free working sample of the font. It will help you play with it before deciding to buy, |
Skryptaag
family
of four cursive fonts
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$19.95 only instant download
for Windows
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Skryptaag
Skryptaag Bold
Skryptaag Italic
Skryptaag Bold Italic
4 fonts
Price : $19.95, including TrueType and ATM PostScript Type 1
format.
Dowload a free working sample of the font. It will help you play with it before you buy,
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Willegha
family
of four fonts
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$19.95 only instant download
for Windows
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Willegha
Willegha Bold
Willegha Italic
Willegha Bold Italic
4 fonts
Price : $19.95, including TrueType and ATM PostScript Type 1
format.
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