Four Font Resources Every Cartoonist Should Bookmark

As a follow-up to my earlier post on using Photoshop to create word balloons, I want to highlight a few font resources you should be aware of if you’re a cartoonist.

• Blambot: the grand-daddy of comic font sites on the web, run by cartoonist / letterer Nate Piekos. (You can read Nate’s weekly webcomic, Atland, on the Blambot site.) Blambot has numerous fonts (dialogue, design, sound effect, alien, etc.) to choose from that are free to use if you’re an independent creator. In addition, Nate offers some really nice, affordable fonts that you can purchase.
• Comicraft: A wide variety of professional comic book fonts can be found here, but unfortunately there are no free fonts to be had. Still, the quality of fonts here are excellent. You’ll find many custom lettering fonts from the masters of comic book art, including Dave Gibbons, Joe Kubert, and Tim Sale, among others, available for sale. Tip: Don’t miss Comicraft’s New Year sale, where each font can be purchased for $20.13 (each year, it goes up a penny!).
• DaFont: If your tastes lean towards finding type beyond that of the comic realm, investigate DaFont. A really unique feature that DaFont offers is the ability to preview what your custom text will look like before you download them. It’s a huge time-saver, to be sure.
• Chank: Dubbed as cool fonts for smart designers, you’ll find a fresh collection of free fonts to add to your collection. Each font is custom-made in Minnesota.

Of course, if you have something specific in mind, you can also make your own custom fonts, too. And if you’re looking for web fonts to spruce up your site, check out Google fonts.

Which font resources do you use for your comics and/or designs? Share your favorite font hangouts in the comments below!

-Krishna