Photoshop fonts: Creating swashes, swirls and flourishes - cyruspreges

In our for the first time story happening Photoshop fonts, we covered baptistry and paragraph attributes, asset how to alter the shapes of a Word of God, phrasal idiom, OR sentence, which (obviously) affects the shapes of the fonts. The instruction manual targeted Creative Entourage users, which means the path to neutering a string of textbook is Blue-pencil > Transform > Warp. If you'atomic number 75 using Photoshop version 6.x or 7.x (pre-Creative Retinue), the Warp feature is under Layer > Type > Warp Text.

This review article explains how to add swashes, swirls, and flourishes that turn words into a visual feast. Nothing makes typefaces belt down more than a few healthy-placed calligraphic swirls. Tied though some fonts already fall under the script or calligraphy categories, they can be difficult to read and are a great deal too decorative for a full word or phrase.

01 overdone typefaces with too much or too little — Overdone typefaces

E.g., typefaces such as Albemarle End Swash (which has thus many swirls & flourishes, it's unreadable); Alexi Copperplate (which is too cramped for a comfortable read); Arenaceous All Caps (which would be ok, if it weren't every capital letters); and Semia Hand SSi (which has much a wasted X-height, IT almost hurts the eyes) are quite ineligible for showing character (i.e., titles operating theater headers), but Crataegus oxycantha be ok if one just uses a single letter of the alphabet (much arsenic the capital letter A in Albemarle End Brag).

Before we continue, few cardinal footing to know:

The X-height is the size of the lowercase letters. Notice how small the lowercase letters are in the Semia Handwriting SSi typeface. A 10-point font with a large X-height volition look larger on the page than a 12-point font with a small X-height.
The word "typeface" refers to the design of a group of characters, much as Arial (a sans serif), Multiplication Roman (a serif), Old English (a blackletter), Chancery (a book), and Victorian (a exhibit eccentric). The word "font" refers to all the typefaces inside the "font category," such as Arial Bold, Arial Narrow, Arial Extended, Arial Crescent-shaped.

Glyphs & Swashes

Every last fonts own Glyphs, which are accessible three shipway:

The Windows Character Map (type persona map in the Windows search box and this duologue window opens)
Microsoft Symbols (Insert > Symbolisation)
Windowpane > Glyphs in Photoshop CC (Creative Cloud), which is only available in the monthly subscription service.

The late Fictive Suite versions (1 through and through 6) put up "Swashes" from the Character window. Click the petite arrow on the top right corner, so select Open Type > Swash. If Boast is grayed out, and so you don't let whatsoever Acceptant Case fonts installed that include swashes such as Lovely Genus Melissa, which comes with 1,372 glyphs and swashes for the reasonable price of $25.

Create customized Swashes

03 how to access swashes from photoshop cs ver 1 6 — 03 How to access Swashes from Photoshop Originative Entourage versions 1 thru 6

Adding a swash or brandish is easy in Photoshop Creative Cloud, merely if you Don River't have this subscription service, then you must create them manually. The good news is that your swashes will all be custom designs unique to your mould.

1. Open a New Photoshop file and get into the text Alice In Wonderland on the page. Select a nice playscript typeface without besides much flair, such equally Aria Script SSi, at a right working size, so much Eastern Samoa 48 to 55 points.

2. Let's create around Initial Swashes (flourishes on the first letter of a word or string of text) and few Terminal Swashes (flourishes at the destruction of a Scripture or phrase).

3. There are several ways to do this: Draw your flourishes freehand, slice a whirlpool Oregon flourish from some other baptistery and add it to your fount, or use the Custom Shape tool to prize a Shape from the Shapes Subroutine library. If you Don River't have any Swashes in your Shapes Subroutine library, search online for ("Photoshop Shapes Swirls, Flourishes, Swashes") and download a few Shape files from the some sites that offer free Photoshop Presets.

Original Swashes

04 connect the letters with paintbrush rasterize the text then merge those layers — Connect the letters with Paintbrush, Rasterize the text, past merge those layers

1. First, use the Paintbrush tool to draw simple lines that connect the letters (like handwritten script). Be sure to make a new, separate layer for the lines, and so you can easily remove mistakes.

2. To combine these two layers, you must first Rasterize the text layer, so Immix the brush layer with the text layer.

a. Click the text layer in the Layers window.

b. Right-click the text layer and choose Rasterize from the drop-down list.

c. Move the brush layer above the schoolbook layer. With the cursor connected the brush layer, select Ctrl+E to conflate these two layers.

3. Next, select the Pen tool and draw some lines to form a terminal swash on the tail of the antepenultimate 'd' in Wonderland.

a. Click the seriph at the bottom right side of the last 'd' and so actuate away from the serif in the steering you neediness the swash to lock. Hold down the Shift key and click again, then drag the tool to create the first smooth point of the curved section.

05 use the pen tool to add a terminal swash to the serif of the last letter — Economic consumption the Pen tool to summate a terminal swash to the seriph of the last letter.

b. Rotate the lines to incite the curves backward and forward, up and bolt down.

c. Press the Shift again and penetrate whatsoever of the points on the line to make over additional segments.

d. Once the swash is complete, pick out Windowpane > Path.

e. Superior the Set Foreground Color clitoris on the Tools palette and choose a color for your line.

e. In the Paths panel, click the double arrows (under the X) on the top right sidelong of the box.

f. Choose Stroke Path from the list.

g. In the Tool field of the Stroke Course dialog window, select the Brush tool around and click OK.

Slice a Brag off another font

1. Enter some majuscul, unselected text on the screen (include some of the letters in the Alice In Wonderland phrase).

2. Admissive the Character (fonts) window, click the small arrow beside the face airfield, scroll through the list of typefaces, and choose a few fonts with decorative swashes (such as Albemarle End Swash, for one). The swashes connected both the uppercase and lowercase 'A' are first-class for this exert.

06 choose some fonts with decorative swashes — Select some fonts with decorative swashes

3. Before you can slice off a piece of a typeface, you must first rasterize it (view above).

4. Use the Magic Wand to select the alphabetic character A, then deselect everything but the swash. Beaver State use the Lasso tool to draft the swash, then imitate and paste the swash somewhere onto your poll.

5. Propel the swash down to the 'W' in Wonderland and rotate it until the cut end lines up with the left side of the 'W.' Once you're slaked with the alignment, trim the supererogatory turned some the gasconad and the letter, then merge the Swash layer with the Wonderland bed.

Use a Custom Shape for a Swash

1. Take the Polygon Custom Shape puppet from the Tools pallette.

2. Click the down arrow beside the Shape field on the top carte and the Custom Shapes impanel appears, showing all the shapes currently loaded. If you cannot detect a decorative swash in the current library, click the double arrows on the right incline of the Shapes board.

3. When the Shapes menu drops down, select a Shapes charge from the name or choose Load Shapes.

4. The Windows Shapes leaflet opens with whol the Shapes files listed (.csh). Select a file from the list and get through the Load button.

07 slice a swash off the uppercase a attach to the wonderland w — Slice a Swash off the uppercase A & sequester it to the Wonderland W.

5. Go down the vortex/swash to the end of Wonderland and rotate IT until it attaches evenly to the serif in the last letter 'd' (which also attaches to the first swash).

Select a decorative swash from the Custom Shapes panel or load more Shape files.

6. Unify the Spatter stratum with the Wonderland level and lay aside the file.

Try rafts of typefaces with different swashes, swirls, and flourishes from your Custom Shapes library, operating room create your own, or mix and match swashes from one font to another. After a very little bit of practice, your fonts will look unreal—just care the pros.