How To: Create A Font Out Of Your Own Handwriting

By Matt Brian

Fonts, we use them everyday. Some notice them and change their editors to suit their preferences, others couldn’t give a monkey’s uncle about them. Whatever category you fall in, you may be interested to know that there are a few services present on the internet that now enable you to create your own font…out of your own handwriting.
FontCapture is one such tool and creating your font is as easy as following three simple steps. I took the time out this morning to go through the process and will show you how to go about it.

The first step of the font creating process is to visit the FontCapture website and download their special PDF file that will have a visual matrix of letters you will need to print off and write into.

The next step is to put pen to paper. Print off the PDF file and start writing in accordance to the instructions on the website:

The last step is to scan your filled in piece of paper and output it into an image file. You then fill in the name of your chosen font, your name as it’s creator and then upload the file to the FontCapture website.

My image file can be found below, it’s really weird having to write single characters and for me, made me feel like my handwriting was particularly ugly!

Once the website has processed your file, you will be able to test the font out on their website before you download it. Once you have downloaded it, you simply copy and paste the file into your Windows/Fonts folder and it will now be installed.
Here’s what mine looks like:

It’s a fun thing to try out, but make sure if you wish your font to be seen on other peoples computers, you will need them to install the font file just as you did.