Draw Your Own Fonts isn’t my favorite hand lettering book. The book starts with some general history of typography then moves into tips for creating your own fonts (the usual - trace and alter the letters already enjoy). There’s nothing unusual here beyond it doesn’t waste much time on supplies and it doesn’t really give you any step by step examples. 

Instead it gives you many an alphabet to study. Each alphabet takes up about 4 pages. The first describes the font, points out key elements, and suggests what other fonts may work well with it. The next two pages are of the alphabet itself. The fourth is a blank page for you to practice on.

The book then goes on to explain how computers use fonts. The differences in Bitmap and Vector. How to scan your own fonts. How to draw your letters using vector. How to take what you have learned to make your own digital fonts.

I feel like this book is way too much for a beginning hand lettering artist and yet too simple for those who are advanced. I suppose if you land somewhere between the two then this book may be for you, but you'll you want other books to supplement it.

My favorite part of the book is that it does show you a good variety of fonts in their entirety. I feel that is something that many lettering books ignore. It can be tough to imagine what a Z in a font looks like when they only show you a, b, and c. This book covers the whole thing. Caps, lowercase, as well as any punctuation or numbers the font has. In the way it is really good inspiration.

One of my hobbies is Art Journaling so I was very interested in a book with different examples and description on fonts,  I was not disappointed there are a lot of great examples that I have already used in my art.  The information and examples were clearly explained and plenty of information on digitized fonts to use in any graphic design or art project you might have,  this one will be a wonderful addition to any reference library.

Anyone that knows me knows I am a bit of a typography whore. The font folder on my computer is overflowing at this point. So I knew that this book was going to be right up my alley and I was not wrong...

It's fun and easy to use. Packed full of useful information (ABOUT HAND LETTERING, DEVELOPING A SKILL SET, TRACING & TAMPERING, UNDERSTANDING LETTERFORMS). With fun graphics and fonts ( Including pages where you can practice your own hand lettering. Each font has a bit of extra information (ANATOMY OF THE FONT, KEY FONT DETAILS, NATURAL PARTNERS). It also includes a few chapters on how to use your newly drawn fonts (HOW COMPUTERS HANDLE FONTS, BITMAP VERSUS VECTOR, DRAWING & SCANNING FONTS, DRAWING WITH VECTORS, DIGITIZING YOUR FONTS).

If you love typography and designing your own fonts, then this book would make a nice little addition to your collection.

This title is laid out well with lots of info provided and plenty of space for practicing. The title is perfect because for most of the alphabets, there is more drawing than writing involved. This should appeal to those who are interested in turning their artwork into fonts. The history of handwriting, explanations of handwriting parts, digitizing and computer influence included is educational and interesting. These samples will provide inspiration if nothing else.

I'm not much for the drawing side of font design, but I found a few favorites that I really liked in this collection of illustrated alphabets. They were FTI-64, Control Chaos, and Fill In. Again, someone with more drawing skills will likely enjoy totally different choices. I was a huge fan of Knit as a font even though I'm certain I would never use it since I lack the patience.

Quite simply a great book! For the creatives amongst us, Tony Seddon has written a brilliant book which starts with plenty of information about the basics and technicalities of hand-lettering, which gives a good grounding for starting to create your own fonts. Hand-lettering is so popular these days, that it's great to see such a book. The layout is brilliant, I love all of the fonts used for the accompanying text, the use of colours and decorations are really effective - on the whole it's just very well laid out. This book offers such a great deal of inspiration and I imagine will be a hit with youngsters and adults alike.

This book is a must for anyone who would like to create their own artisan-style fonts. Great for crafters, illustrators, designers and anyone who doesn't want to get bogged down with a heavy 'wordy' tome. Just one look through is enough to kick-start your own ideas and the technical side is straightforward and easy to understand, even without previous knowledge of digitising fonts. The examples were varied, clearly set out and I liked the space to copy them, to get a feel for the practice of font designing. A well set out manual/workbook and I would be very happy to have this book on my how-to shelf.