dafont.com and abstractfonts.com should be OK sites for downloading really free fonts.

I though that too, but a lot of fonts on those two sites are pay-fonts with another name. Like these fonts:

Chopin Script is Polonaise
English is English Script Regular
Renaissance is Poppl Residenz
Old Script is Flemish Script
Adorable is Isadora
Exmouth is Palace Script
Brock Script is a combination between Amazone and another font.

You see my point? All of these fonts say they are free, but they actually aren't.

Nick, try Myfonts.com

Also try: posting font recommendation requests in the Design forum please.

Jan, DaFont and Abstract fonts are *not reliable* sources of "free" fonts. DaFont is notorious for the constant stream of knock-offs that show up there. Abstract fonts I haven't visited in a long-long time. Tthe only half-reliable source of free fonts is Myfonts, and even there quite a few knock-offs still show up. Ray Larabie and I monitor new releases at Myfonts continuously, and the discoveries of bent fonts have not stopped.

j a m e s

Can you describe what you mean by "royalty-free" - I'm not aware of any mainstream fonts that require royalties for general use (print, publishing, graphics). In general royalties may be due when redistributing the font or building it into a product. If that's what you have in mind you there are a whole other set of reasons for avoiding much of what the "free font" sites offer.

I'm not so aware of all the rules involved in using fonts. What I ment was, when I see fonts on free-font sites they sometimes say: Free for personal use or something like that. I was looking for a free script font, which you can use freely for general design (not for disturbing the font).

I also checked myfonts.com, but they don't have free script fonts I'm looking for. The only two fonts that are reasonable are Worstveld Sling and Black Jack, but they are more handwriting fonts. I'm not looking for those.

You mean the EULA allows for commercial use. :^)

Yes :D

Here are some other "free fonts" I found on Abstracfonts.com:

Olde European ES is Lucia
La Jolla ES is Flemish Script
Grand Prix ES is Flemish Script
Beautiful ES is Bickham Script
Wedding Bliss ES is Aristocrat
Sorrento Script ES is Florentine Script
ALS Script is English 111
G-Unit is Snell Roundhand and
Comm Script TT is Commercial Script

Nearly every fonts is re-used.

I know this one is free, but I don't know if it's allowed for commercial use.

Quilline Script Thin

Quilline looks very familiar. Can anyone else tell me if it is original or not?

Miss Tiffany

It looks like a proprietary font designed by Alex Mallot (Sandra Morrow, name change) for Current Inc in the early 1990's. It also shares a resemblance to a Hallmark font if I am not mistaken. But that is not improbable because there is crossover of personnel between the card companies all the time. Maybe Stephen Rapp can add some light. He is more up on this than I am.

Michael

I don't recognize it, but that was well before my time at Current. Looks like the caps were more of an afterthought in its design.

There are some free fonts out there that are reasonably designed and not just copies of commercial fonts, but you would have to do a bit of research just to know. Then again, when you take into account proprietary fonts from Hallmark, American Greetings, and other large studios its difficult to know even with researching.

Are the greeting card fonts knockoffs of designs on cards or are they actually leaked fonts that get renamed and posted?

James... most of what you see on the cover of cards from the larger companies is hand lettering. As to the "fonts," they are very much original faces designed by the in-house lettering artists who are very talented. The larger companies have/had dedicated staff that did nothing but craft fonts from the stylings of resident artists. Hermann Zapf designed several exquisite proprietary fonts for Hallmark years ago. He is one of a number of outside contributors to these many companies.

In the past decade there have been a number of commercial fonts released that are obvious rips of proprietary fonts from the Card Companies. Stephen has addressed this in one of the threads.

Stephen! You're up.

Michael

Quilline looks a lot like Bickley Script, but I don't think they are the same.

There are both knock off versions and leaked version of proprietary fonts. People who work as interns and such come and go and often need to use proprietary fonts outside the building. Its very easy for disks of proprietary fonts to get spread around and the subsequent users have no idea if they are commercial or proprietary. Either way its an infringement. We've seen television commercials and newspaper ads using our fonts.

I've also had to address issues of type designers doing knock off versions of our fonts. Even that can be hard to stop.

An interesting side note, recently it was brought to my attention that several fonts of American Greetings were listed on a free font site and credited to American Greetings. After a bit of research it seemed that these were released legitimately. Shortly after that I got a call from a French package design firm asking if indeed they could use these fonts. After running it by our creative director, permission was given. I guess it never hurts to ask.

I also saw some fonts of the American Greetings Corporation, but I couldn't found out if they were knock off versions. Does this mean these fonts are "free" to use (after contacting the owner)?

CAC Lasko Condensed
CAC Lasko Even Weight
CAC Champagne and
CAC Shishoni Brush

I also contacted Aboutype to ask if they were the creator of some of the fonts and if they are allowed to be used. They haven't responded yet.

Ones with the CAC are part of that. I think the one the French company was looking for might have been CAC Pinafore.

Here's the hard truth.
You'll never get a good font for free. Those that are free are usually designed by amateurs, not professionals. Just buy a type pack for a couple of thousand dollars and you will be set for life. Trust me, the moneys worth it (I bought several, including linotype font pack, and Helvetica Family Pack. Its beautiful really.)

Helvetica Script?

I bought several
I think you wasted your money:
http://www.typophile.com/node/50969#comment-308402
;-)

"Here’s the hard truth. You’ll never get a good font for free."

This statement is absolutely false. There are, in fact, many wonderful free fonts available, created and shared by many type designers, both professional and amateurs.

However, with free fonts you do have to watch for a several things:

1) There are many rip-offs (inferior and otherwise) of professional typefaces. These should be avoided, and the original fonts purchased instead.

2) Many free fonts have been designed by amateurs, so you must look closely at every character in the font to make sure the fonts meets your needs (and to ensure that the font has all the characters you need).

3) Kerning and other finishing touches are often missing, so you should be aware that many free fonts will not work well as text fonts, and may require a lot of special "hand-work" with spacing in display sizes. What you save on getting a "free" font, you may loose in extra time required to make the font work for you.

Back in my days as a font collector, I at least strove to make sure any fonts I acquired were with legitimate licenses. This was difficult in the days before the internet became widely available. For a long time in the late 80s and early 90s I would buy floppy discs of "shareware" at swap meets and surplus electronics stores, and it was hard to determine what was what.

The Font Fairy index guided me to many fonts that were released without charge by their own foundries. That list has not been updated in several years, and some of those links may no longer work, but it was among the most well intentioned of the free font sites. Many designers still release free fonts, but sometimes with some limitations against redistribution or commercial use which you must be aware of.