Geez, that’s really nice looking. If there’s not a similar font available someone better get working on it!

You might enjoy Retablo .

here are a couple of sites with free “colonial” or “pirate” inspired fonts...

http://www.waldenfont.com/product.asp?productID=1

http://www.fontcraft.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=...

It would be nice if there were more contemporary versions of “oldstyle” fonts. Something that retains the charm these typefaces have without shoving the idea of “Colonials, Pirates, and Cowboys” down my throat.

i agree, but these are obviously novelty faces. if it’s called deadmanschest.ttf, it’s going to be kinda goofy.

I guess I’m just upset there aren’t more fonts that blend Utilitarian and Style together better. It’s either one or the other and it effects how far that font is developed. Outside of a Script there aren’t many super fonts that satisfy both needs well.

i know. especially seeing some of the beautiful and quirky forms that came out of the tiny houses long ago. i suppose though, that by their very nature, those faces are so evocative of a particular genre or period that they wouldn’t function well in common use these days. so we’re left with “paulrevereshorse.ttf” and stuff like that.

What are you using this for?

Check out Fonts&Logos by Doyald Young (speaking of Art Center) pp.110-113 where he nails this style for LORETO. Not a font however :-)

It looks like spanish/italian painted lettering — what was my first clue :-) The ogee shape shows up in rococo and arts-n-crafts in northern europe also. I can see the small caps of DTL Fleischman with ogee crossbars evoking the same rustic look.

If this is for a logo, then letter it, or hire someone to do the lettering. It will get you much closer to what you want. Sorry, not a convenient answer.

R

by their very nature, those faces are so evocative of a particular genre or period that they wouldn’t function well in common use these days.

That’s just it. Why do they have to look exactly like the original, why can’t it just borrow some of the charm and character.

The example has an old world charm, but the letters are really pretty normal aside from the embellishments. Just look at “Hotel”, the majority of the characters are slab serifed, but what makes it unique are the embellishments of the crossbar on the H and E, and of course the inconsistent outline. Same with the A’s in San Agustin. This has a modern feel, and I could see it being used often, but what sets it apart from a standard utilitarian font is the additional features (which could be Alternative figure set in a font).

That being said, Cybele try The Antiqua from Lucasfonts.

Thanks everyone. I think I’ll end up modifiying an existing font.
(I don’t want anything too piratey.)

FYI, the photo comes from some Mexican colonial signage.
The web site I found it on says this:
“In order to keep a colonial flavour to the cities settled by the Spanish conquerors in the center of Mexico (Morelia, Patzcuaro & Puebla), most of the signs of this area respect the following rules: composition in an incised typeface, first letter composed in red and substitution of the capital ‘O’ by a lower-case ‘o’ above a tilde. “

Can you give us the link to the site?
That way Andrew can get started on his digital version :-)

R

Thought I’d mention Frantisek Storm’s Patzcuaro.