Treefrog
A one-time co-worker of mine sometimes used a fanciful inkpen-style script in display-lettering situations. I liked it a lot. “Phil,” I says, “why not do the whole alphabet, maybe a few little dingbats, and...
font_designer: Brian Willson
Speed Bump
I, uh, don’t know quite what to say. I’d toiled so long over Pumpkinseed back in ’96 that I guess I needed a good, wild ride to shake out the head cramps, or something....
Texas Hero
It occurred to me years ago that the graphic arts community might find useful a digital typeface that mimicked the classic look of nineteenth-century handwriting. Conveniently, my mother then still volunteered at the Center...
Pumpkinseed
The tale of Pumpkinseed began with a bit of hand-printing I noticed on the dinner menu at a local restaurant. I took a menu home for future reference. Several months later, some similar hand-lettering...
Schooner Script
I happened to mention to the proprietor of an antique barn near here that I’d be interested in any old typewriters she happened to come across. A conversation ensued, the proprietor withdrew into a...
Marydale
While helping produce a trade magazine years ago, I admired the hand-lettering of the art director — a woman named Marydale — and suggested she let me model a font after her penmanship. She...
Oak Street
There’s a little restaurant in an old house on a sidestreet in town (Rockland, Maine, USA) called Cafe Miranda. The staff is friendly, the setting intimate, and the appetizer a basket of hot bread...
Professor
My father is retired from teaching after a distinguished career as a professor at the University of Texas (and other colleges). He’s also retired from writing in longhand, ever since I digitized his script...
Houston Pen
Early Texas patriots had fascinating penmanship. In researching Texas Hero years ago, I had occasion to pore over copies of letters by the likes of Stephen F. Austin, William B. Travis, Thomas J. Rusk,...
Lamar Pen
Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar had an exotic name for a historic Texan, but he left his mark beginning in 1836, the year of Texas independence and the first year that pioneers other than mountain men...