forum.comicostrich.com

[Entity325]

I always feel awkward posting a topic in a forum...

Here's a link to a comic or two drawn by a certain... me... with a segment devoted to a gallery for a friend of mine.(She has since moved on, on account if I haven't updated in some time. I can track down her DeviantArt if anyone's interested.) Looking through the archives, you'll no doubt see that while I settled on Comic Sans eventually, it's actually an improvement over what I had used before then.(Is this an accomplishment of some sort?)

So the question, of course, is this: if I there's no excuse to ever use Comic Sans MS, then what kind of font should I use?

(The comic is going through a rewrite/reboot. The website itself got picked up as a homework project by another friend of mine, which should be complete in a couple of months, so this is actually a valid question, for a comic that's never seen regular updates.)

[Chaos]

Blambot has some great webcomic fonts, both free and commercial, although admittedly many of them are only really useful for titles or sound effects.

Also: Google.

The above Google query turned up 1001fonts.com - which seems to include some or all of the Blambot fonts plus many more.

Pointing out the obvious (so my brain doesn't seize up); the font(s) you choose should first-and-foremost be readable, as well as work well with the visual style and desired mood of your comic (or even of individual characters, potentially). You'll probably have to try a large number of fonts before you find one(s) you're happy with...

Of course you don't have to use a pre-existing font. You could:
1) Create your own font (not sure what's involved in this, myself), or;
2) Pick a font that looks roughly right, then draw over it. Apparently this is the way the lettering for Dresden Codak is done.

[DrSaltine]

Early in my comic I changed my the font from ComicSans and I'm glad I did. I performed an extensive search looking for the right font. None of the mainstream ones (Blambot, etc) had one that I was looking for, but after page 3 or 4 in the google search results I managed to find a font that was created years ago and posted on font sights that haven't been updated in awhile. But when I found it, it was perfect. It had the ideal balance between legibility, era feel and artistic flair that I was looking for.

The moral: If you can't find any fonts you like, keep searching. And when you find the right one, you'll know it.

Entity325, from what I see from your comic so far, you might want to look for a far east stylized font. This is just a suggestion, but you could try different fonts for the english and translations. I look forward to see the reboot; I'm really interested in where this story is going.
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Professor Saltine's Astrodynamic Dirigible.
A vicotorian-era inventor who builds a spaceship.
www.professorsaltine.com

[Selezen]

I use a blambot font for Battlebarge (Digitalstrip), but I have designed a couple of fonts in my time, most recently for a sci-fi project I'm working on.

I generally use an app called (imaginitively enough) Font Creator, which has the cool feature of being able to make letter characters from scanned images. I'm planning to scan in some samples of my own handwriting and use them to create a comic titling font for use in the new-style BB when it goes fully 3D generated.

It's easy to use and feature packed. Find it at http://www.high-logic.com/fontcreator.html

Now, back to our regularly sponsored programming...
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[Entity325]

I should mention right now that while the comic currently starts far-east, it was never intended to stay there. Sending that character to Japan was how I justify him having martial arts skill. It takes place mostly in middle-America.(and, in fact, now starts in the Rocky Mountains before shipping Caine off to Japan)

Blambot recommendations are all fine and good, but ultimately, if left to my own devices... I'M GONNA END UP WITH COMIC SANS AGAIN! It's a nice, bland font with a little personality that fits my intended feel nicely. I also like it much better after I started utilizing the lower-case feature. Why do comics never use lower-case, anyway?

Pristina was a bad choice, though. It's great for my signs and stuff, but for everyday use? Not readable.

Making a font from my handwriting is a luxury I can't really afford, either, sadly. My handwriting is illegible at best, and easily mistaken for hideous scratching at worst.

Thanks for the existing suggestions, though.

[Ben Paddon]

I'd suggest browsing through Abstract Fonts. They have a great selection of both free and pay fonts in a variety of categories.
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[Axonite]