What Is Calligraphr
Formerly MyScriptFont, Calligraphr is a free web app that lets you scan your handwriting to create a custom font. It’s easy to use and offers loads of features that help you get your font just right.
Export your custom font as TTF or OTF formats to use it with Windows or macOS computers. You might want to use your custom font to add a personal touch to invitations, design calligraphic artwork, or to write a webcomic.
Calligraphr offers the following features to help perfect your font:
- Choose the exact character sets you to want to include in your font, including accented letters, symbols, and numbers.
- Upload variants for each letter to create a random authenticity to your handwriting.
- Edit individual characters after uploading to darken the lines, adjust the size, and tweak the alignment.
- Save fonts in the browser so you can return to keep editing them over multiple sessions.
Calligraphr Pro Subscription
You can use Calligrapher to create and export a custom handwriting font for free. But a Pro subscription unlocks extra features to help you make your handwriting into the best font possible.
Calligraphr Pro costs $8/month, although you can get a 50 percent discount if you pay for six months at once. With a Pro subscription, Calligraphr lets you work on more than one font at a time, up to a maximum of 12. It also lets you add up to 480 characters to each font.
You can also add more than two variants for each character, up to a maximum of 15. A variant is an alternate version of a particular letter or number. The finished font uses different variants at random to make your font look more natural.
How to Use Calligraphr to Turn Your Handwriting Into a Font
To get started, head to the Calligraphr website and click the Get Started For Free button to create an account. There’s no need to upgrade to a Pro account unless you want more than two variants or ligatures.
After signing up and logging in, click the Start App button to load the Calligraphr web app. Then follow the steps below to turn your handwriting into a font.
Step 1. Create a Font Template
First, you need to create a template for your custom font. This is essentially a grid of boxes with one box for each character you want to include in your font.
Click the Templates button in the top-left corner to create a new template, then choose the characters you want from the sidebar. We suggest you add Minimal English and Minimal Numbers, which brings you up to 70 characters.
Click a character you don’t want to and Delete it from the template. Then add more character sets from the sidebar. If you signed up for a Pro account and want to include ligatures, select it from the Miscellaneous section.
Step 2. Print and Complete Your Template
After adding all the characters you want in your font, click the Download Template button. Choose a file name and format for the template.
Adjust the slider to change the size of the template cells. These are the boxes you need to write your letters in. If you have particularly large or small handwriting, you might want to adjust the size accordingly. You also might want to make the boxes bigger if you plan to create a calligraphic font. Otherwise, leave it as the default.
Finally, choose if you want helplines and background characters. We recommend adding helplines to make sure you write each letter in the same place at the same size. However, it might mean you need to erase them manually after scanning your template. We don’t recommend background characters because they make it harder to create a unique style.
Step 3. Upload and Edit Your Handwritten Font
After completing the font template, scan it or take a clear photo, then save that file to your computer. In the Calligraphr web app, click My Fonts followed by Upload Template. Select the picture of your font template, then wait for Calligraphr to process it.
After the processing is complete, Calligraphr shows an overview of each character in your custom font. You can delete characters from this page, but we suggest you see if you can fix mistakes from the edit page rather than deleting anything.
Choose to Add Characters to Your Font to finish the upload.
Click a character and select Edit Character to make adjustments. You can draw new lines using various brush shapes and sizes or click the Erase button to clean up the scan. Make sure you edit each of your characters for the best custom font.
Step 4. Build and Export Your Custom Font
After editing each of your characters, click the Back button, and choose to Build Font to turn your handwriting into a font.
If you chose to add variants which you can do by uploading multiple font templates one after another—enable the option to Randomize Characters. That way your font doesn’t use the same variants too often.
Click Build and wait for Calligraphr to finish turning your handwriting into a font. When it’s complete, make sure it looks good in the preview, then download the TTF or OTF file.
