Ray Larabie
<< back to part 1 of interview
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Can you tell us about your font design process and how do you approach it ? |
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I don't have a standard approach but it usually involves a lowercase b or h and building the font from the pieces. Start with lowercase, then numerals then capitals, punctuation then accents. |
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What softwares/resources do you use when creating your fonts? |
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I used to use Fontographer but I switch to FontLab in 2000. Fontographer used to be the best software to use but it's looking a bit old these days and it doesn't look like they're going to update it. |
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What suggestions/advices can you pass onto someone who might be interested in getting involve in font creation? |
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Go commercial right away. Skip the shareware/freeware thing. If you d like to release the odd demo version or a few initial practise fonts that's okay but stick to commercial fonts. It's not 1996 anymore. There's no shortage of freeware fonts out there so spend some time making good, saleable fonts and submit them to various foundries. |
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Are there any good online website(s) that you use for inspiration? |
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Not particularly. I usually look at type specimen books or old advertisements. |
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Who is cooler? Superman or Batman? |
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Superman is more socially adept. Yes, as Bruce Wayne, Batman seems like a good host but underneath he s got a lot of emotional baggage. Superman is a pretty happy fellow (except when he s dead) and he doesn't require a lot of equipment other than some tights and a cape. Now, being a heppy person doesn't automatically make you cooler but to me, Batman seemed to be trying too hard to be cool with the excepting of the 1960s TV Batman who was a bit cooler. If you still disagree about Batman s coolness compare Superman 3 with Batman 4 ignore Superman 4 though. |
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Is font creation your full time job? If yes, what is a typical day like? |
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My full time job is an art director for a video game company, Rockstar Games. I m on the development side of games which means actually working on the games and none of the marketing and web stuff. |
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What knowledge or background does one need to have in order to go about creating fonts? |
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A high school diploma helps. No, really. don't recommend a few books: Counterpunch by Fred Smeijers, The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst and as many type specimens as they can get hold of. Most foundries offer specimen books for sale and they're quite inexpensive. I spoke with someone who was convinced they needed to amass a collection of computer fonts to learn how to make fonts but there's really no need. |
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Where have your fonts been used? |
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I used to notice them but it was driving me a bit mental so I ve learned to block them out. I ve seen them at Taco Bell, on book covers, magazine covers, alcoholic beverages, television commercials, the Grammy awards, race cars, bus ads, pagers, toys, Bluenotes jeans, mp3 players, shirts, jackets and almost everything else in the world. |
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What are your hobbies, if any? |
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I like to rock out on my guitar. No soloing or wailing, just banging out the chords on my axe. |
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What are some of your favorite web sites; be it for inspiration,tutorials, design or just plain old pure entertainment? |
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Fatbabies.com for game industry gossip, surfstation.lu for what's cool in site design, images.google.com and random search words for comedy. I visit random guest books and mess around with people a bit sometimes. |
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If there were something you could say to the next generation of font creators, what would it be? |
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When you're making a modular font which is like recycling pieces of letters to make a font, spend some time ad the end do demodularize (I checked the Thesaurus and I don't think there's a word for that) the font. It could be as simple as changing the width of the u so it's visually more similar to the n or narrowing them . It will make your font look more professional. |
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And in closing, give us a surprising fact about yourself. |
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I don't use fonts, mine or anyone else for anything at work or at home aside from the samples on my web site. I almost never use a printer or a Mac. Videogames usually don't have many fonts in them and when there are I usually have someone else do them. |
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| I would like to thank Ray for taking the time to have this interview with me. I should also point out that Ray is an accomplished font designer and his fonts can be found at: www.typodermic.com
To be part of EthanCote.com: If you are creating fonts (either for a living or for fun) and would like to be a part of "Font Creators: Interview with the masters.", please send email to font_creators@ethancote.com. In the email include URL(s) to samples of your work and I will get in touch with you. Or if you would like to honour a font designer(s) whose font(s) you have used or love, send me their contact information along with your name and I will get in touch with them. | ||
