I think choosing fonts and deciding on the use and placement of text is one of my weakest areas in the graphic design realm.

What are some of your favorite go to fonts?  How do you go about deciding a font, playing with effects, etc.? I'd love to see others tips here.

#ag #agdiscussion

indeed is the hardest, and most people pick the wrong choise (including me).
i personally take my time, and try to pick the "perfect" font,sometimes i like using "curvy" fonts but it depends on what i'm creating. lately, i've bee using pixel fonts since they look nice even if they're too tiny. like in my latest sig, even if it looks good without a text, i thought a tiny text would look nice, so picked a short text and pixel font (forgot the name tho, but my fave is "Ernest").

Tip#1: if your graphic have way too much stuff going on, don't use a font. sometimes it looks way much better without one, and if you want to use one, pick a pixel font (if your graphic is not too big).

Tip#2: If your graphic have a lot of purple, do not pick a lighter or darker purple, most of the time it does not look good, pick another color that it's in your graphic, it would create a better harmony.

Thats another thing! I have trouble sometimes getting text to like "pop" when I want it to.

For example, in my facebook cover I just made I feel I could improve the text. Any advice would be nice.

I tend to put fnts (if i use them) towards the top or bottom of the image. I like Meaty Waltz it's fun, very curvy and elegant looking. I tend to try and find a place where the text won't overlap the image, and using a contrasting color works really well.

I like that font, but have you tried with a "bold" one? for example "impact", similar to that, it think it would look good too.

My advise...instead of the pink glow, add a shadow with the same color, then add the glow but lighter...i have another idea but i'm not in my pc right now! T_T!! you use PS right? i could upload a psd file so you can try them ^^

se i can't figure out how to make the glow or shadows on my text at all. how in the world do i do that?

Haine wrote:

I like that font, but have you tried with a "bold" one? for example "impact", similar to that, it think it would look good too.

My advise...instead of the pink glow, add a shadow with the same color, then add the glow but lighter...i have another idea but i'm not in my pc right now! T_T!! you use PS right? i could upload a psd file so you can try them ^^

Oh i have a shadow but i may have made it too light or distances from it. I didn't save the .psd file on that one though. xD

Personally, I can never get my text to blend well with my sigs. T_T 
I'm missing a critical element here.... 

But, as for your FB Banner, I don't usually put text over the image. That's just me, though. On Animerender they always talk about "balance" I would personally put that text in the center left, but that is me. :3

Remind me later and I will set up font previews for you all! ( I need to make some for my website anyways xD )

radicaledward124 wrote:

se i can't figure out how to make the glow or shadows on my text at all. how in the world do i do that?

If using photoshop, double click on the text layer, and the FX options should come up. There you will find shadow and glow.

Brit, here are some ideas ^^ (and for those who didn't knew this also check it!) this file is HUGE btw

it's not opening

Odd, i check it and it did opened :/ still, uploaded to dropbox since tinypic didn't uploaded full size :bunnynarroweye

Oh! I also have a tip. Whenever you are using a pixelated font, such as Silkscreen of 04b03, always use it no larger than 8pt and set the anti-aliasing method to "None". This makes it look best.
Here is what I mean:


And here's why I say these things:

the first "derp?" is set to a size larger than 8pt. So it looks kind of wonky and out of place.
The second "derp?" is set to 8pt, and the anti-aliasing method is set to none. Looks snazzy, yes?
The third one is 8pt and the anti-aliasing method is set to smooth. See the difference? Looks strange, yeah?

If you guys need me to go in depth with this I have no problem creating a tutorial or thread or something >.>

MAKYURI!!! YOU SAVED MY LIFE! 
/take notes/ i better NOT forget this >_my Miyuki graphic had a pixel font and it look so smashed when i uploaded to tumblr T^T and i didn't knew what to do!!

Starchild wrote:

radicaledward124 wrote:

se i can't figure out how to make the glow or shadows on my text at all. how in the world do i do that?

If using photoshop, double click on the text layer, and the FX options should come up. There you will find shadow and glow.

Teehee!! I didn't know that! Thanks!

As promised, I made a BUNCH of font previews. They're located on my personal graphics website so please feel free to poke around and use/take some of the textures, patterns, etc!

http://jadaakiss.net/content/fonts.php

Just click the font preview to download them ^___^ (this page is updated just about every weekend)

Also, I think Sailor Neptune put this simple tip up somewhere one time (or maybe it was NQS), but using a brush behind your text can help to make it pop.

Example: (I'm going to use one of Neptune's signatures since she does such an awesome job of doing this ^^)


Sometimes I'll even use something that's barely noticeable if I'm having trouble trying to get the text to look nice or show up clearly. Like for this signature--

Before:


After:

(I know this isn't the best signature example, but it gets the point across)

I don't even know which brush I used, I just randomly used something in white and set the opacity really low and it helped a lot ^^

So yeah, ever since I read that tip I've always kept that in mind!

Oh what a great tip! Thanks Brandi!

Scratch the brush tool part. Got that. But I can't put text in the front of my gif.

Depends on which program you're using. Whatcha usin?

I know how to make fonts do all kinds of things, but finding the right one is hard for me.

One thing that's fun to do with fonts is make it Overlay, Soft Light, or Hard Light. There are all the other options as well from the list, but I tend to use those three the most.

Also, I think it's time for me to download a lot more fonts and brushes. Starting to get repetitive.

brrrandiZZLe wrote:

Depends on which program you're using. Whatcha usin?

 Photoshop Elements cs5

So putting text in front of the gif? Idk copy and paste the font layer to all of the frames?

on ps it's actually different. what i'd do then is i add text after doing the adjustments to all the layers and then i'd add the text and double check to make sure the frames have all the text.

don't even ask me about gimp. >.> animations hate me on there. >.<

talking about fonts :3 you guys should get some from lost fonts. :3 they have tons of cool fonts that look great on graphics. ;D

I tried to copy and paste it to all frames but it doesn't like me and only copies it on a single frame. After that it won't paste onto any other frame.

try going to every frame and make sure the layer is turned on and not hidden. That may be happening too.

okay I will try that.

Here's a really dumb question...how do I load a font to PS cs5 so I can use it?