Handwriting font, or real handwriting?

July 12, 2009 6:59 PM

How do I achieve this in Photoshop? Photo included.

My fiance and I are designing our own invitations for our wedding. We have found this design, which we really like. Specifically, we would like the bride and groom names to be like they are there. However, none of us have handwriting that is that nice. We can't achieve something that looks that natural, but still somewhat elegant.

So,

1) Do you think this was done with a tablet or was the handwriting scanned in?
2) Is there a font out there that can achieve something like this? I don't think so, because some of the tails lead way under other letters.
3) If 1 and 2 are not an option, where can I go to have someone write this for us and scan it in as something i can import into the design.

The bottom line is, what is your best suggestion for getting this done?

posted by Brettus to Computers & Internet (15 answers total)

What is your best suggestion for getting this done?

Include the names as part of your question, and 300 MeFi users with pretty handwriting will post samples for you?

Definitely scanned, not a tablet thing. And Illustrator (for line art, like text) would be a better choice than Photoshop (for pixels, like photos).
posted by rokusan at 7:03 PM on July 12, 2009

How design savy are you, are you comfortable working with fonts and doing the design yourself? If so, a lot of fonts that look like calligraphy or handwriting can be found at dafont.com.

Otherwise, a local print shop can handle it for you, especially if you show them the design you like.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:07 PM on July 12, 2009

There are some pretty good cursive fonts out there. You might like one of them. Try this list (not all of which are actually cursive) of free fonts and see if any of them strikes your fancy.
posted by cerebus19 at 7:09 PM on July 12, 2009

Oh, the sample you linked to looks like it was done by hand. Note how there's consistently between letters that are the same, which adds a warm, personal touch to it.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:10 PM on July 12, 2009

Response by poster: I am not sure the protocol here, so if I do anything that is lacking tact, please forgive me.

If someone would be so kind as to give this a go, I will happily include my name.
Groom: Brett Haralson
Bride: Abby Phillips
posted by Brettus at 7:12 PM on July 12, 2009

There's a few people on etsy that do handwritten invitations. I bet if you found a sample you liked, you could ask them to do it just for the names and then email you a high-quality scan that you could vectorize in Illustrator. Expect to pay more for the one-off and scanning but you could probably work it out.
posted by amanda at 7:12 PM on July 12, 2009

Yes, I think that the linked sample was done with an advanced piece of technology known as a "pen". It takes a long time to train up in the use of this technology - for a short run like a set of wedding invitations, you're probably better off seeking out an experienced calligrapher than trying to do it yourself.
posted by flabdablet at 7:14 PM on July 12, 2009

You could also use Etsy's Alchemy function to request this custom work.
posted by runningwithscissors at 7:22 PM on July 12, 2009

Or find a friend who has beautifully handwriting and ask them to write ya'll's names and scan that in if you want to do it yourself. Having it vectorized (technical term for high quality printing) isn't necessary, provided you scan the image in at a high enough DPI.

If any of this sounds confusing or overwhelming, then paying someone else to it would probably best.

Oh, and congratulations!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:32 PM on July 12, 2009

This Etsy artist is pretty much in the same vein as the picture you posted.

But really, all you have to do is find a calligrapher (they usually can do more than just the 'classic' stuff) or artist to do it for you if the Etsy thing doesn't work for you. Do you have any art schools nearby?
posted by dancinglamb at 9:17 PM on July 12, 2009

Well, this bride on weddingbee did hers in illustrator, and she talks about designing them here. She has a few other posts on how she screenprinted and assembled the invites, but I'm sure you could make the design and have them printed some other way.
posted by asras at 9:51 PM on July 12, 2009

Note that the writing goes all the way to the edge of the cards. It could be tricky to try to print these on a home printer, if that's what you intend.
posted by amtho at 4:51 AM on July 13, 2009

The Signatures were most likely scanned by the designer and then turned into vectors in Illustrator, then imported into an InDesign layout. Printed and trimmed.
posted by Brocktoon at 7:29 AM on July 13, 2009

Response by poster: We are designing it to be printed on a standard size cardstock, 8 1/2" x 11". Each invitation will be 8" x 5", two invitations per sheet. I am designing it so that each line will go as far out to the edge as possible, so when we have it cut - the signatures should go off of the edge.

asras, thank you for that link. Although the font is a bit different, that is pretty much exactly what we are doing so I am sure that documentation will prove to be valuable.

Brandon Blatcher - thanks for dafont, I never knew about this website. Some of those calligraphy fonts do much more than I thought a font could ever do. Specifically, this font may do what we want.

In asras example, they used a font and then added the lines out to the sides afterwards. i may be able to achieve the same effect.

Thanks everyone for your assistance, as soon as I get these designed and ready to go, I will post a follow up here with a link.
posted by Brettus at 7:56 AM on July 13, 2009

Another website with handwriting fonts is Fonts for Peas. Good luck!
posted by NHlove at 6:42 PM on July 13, 2009