Did you know that you can make a font to sell for money? Yes, it’s not that hard to make a font. In this article, I’ll teach you how you can easily create a font for free to sell and make extra money. Let’s go!
Table of Contents
What is a font?
A font is the style of a text. I’m typing in a specific font right now and I can change the font anytime I wish. Different features of a font include the typeface, point size, weight, and color.
You can go to Google Fonts to see a free selection of different fonts.
How do you make your own font for free?
If you want to make a font professionally, you’ll need to use paid software such as Illustrator. In this article, we’ll focus on how to make your own font for free on the internet without paying a dime.
To make your own font, you should first go to www.Calligraphr.com You can sign up for a free account.
Once you log in, it’ll show you a link to the following page where you can download the desired template you want.
You can then download your template in either a PDF or PNG format.
You can fill out the template in your own handwriting either on printed paper or on your iPad if you have one. I usually use my iPad for this as it is much easier and I can erase it cleanly if I need to.
Next, you’ll go to “My Fonts” and then click on Upload Template to upload your template. You can scan your paper, take a picture of it, or export it in PDF or PNG.
Once you have uploaded your file, the system will be able to generate your font for you to be downloaded in .ttf format. You can easily sell your font using this format.
It’s as easy as downloading the template, filling it out, and uploading it!
Where can you sell your font?
There are many places where you can sell your font. Below are the most notable ones:
- CreativeMarket
- Envato Elements
- Creative Fabrica
- Yellow Images
- My Fonts
- So Fontsy
- Etsy
Some of these places are more competitive than others. With CreativeMarket, you’ll have to submit a sample of your work to be accepted as an artist. They won’t allow anyone to upload a design to sell.
How much can you make selling fonts?
There are people making anywhere from $0 to more than a million in their career selling fonts but you should expect $100 — $500 per month if you’re doing well.
Can you make a living selling font?
It definitely isn’t the norm to see people making a living by selling fonts. Most people don’t make much money from their designs whether that’s a font or not. If you want to make living selling fonts, you should aim to upload a lot of fonts consistently.
Real-life example
There are full-time font artists out there who make living selling fonts. An example is Teela from www.Every-Tuesday.com. Her full-time job is selling fonts on the internet. She also makes courses to sell. Her site looks absolutely amazing if you want to check it out.
Selling fonts and courses
Indeed you can make a living on the internet selling fonts. You can also make a lot more money by selling courses teaching people how to make fonts. If you want to do that, you’ll have to create a brand for yourself.
You’ll need to learn how to make a font to sell professionally, which means, learning how to make a font using Illustrator like a pro rather than using a free online tool like Calligraphr. You’ll need to create videos on YouTube or other social media platforms to showcase your talent and attract viewers. Once you have enough viewers, you can make a course to sell.
This woman made more than a million by selling fonts
There’s a woman called Nicky Laatz who made more than a million selling fonts on CreativeMarket. Here’s the link to the video on YouTube if you want to check it out.
Here’s a sample of her work. It looks very beautiful.
Nicky is a talented artist. However, something that you should note is that she got into the font-making game quite early. There wasn’t as much competition before 2016 (when the video was made) compared to now 6 years later. There’s definitely a lot more competition now but it’s still worth it to give it a try.
Nicky’s success gave her the freedom to spend more time with her family while not being restricted by a full-time job as an employee. She’s her own boss!
Tips for people who want to make money selling fonts
Beer money
If you want to make some beer money selling fonts, you can just begin without thinking too much. You won’t make too much in most cases. Those who make a lot of money selling fonts are professionals who have been making fonts for some time. It doesn’t mean that it’ll necessarily take you a long time to learn, however.
Realistic expectation
I want you to go into this with a realistic expectation. You can make some extra cash by making and selling fonts. However, if you want to expect more money from selling fonts, you’ll have to invest in your education to broaden your knowledge.
It’s not easy money
I made the mistake of going into this, in the beginning, thinking it was easy money. It’s not. There are a lot of people doing the same thing and oftentimes, they’ll bundle a lot of their fonts together to sell for cheap. It takes some time to learn how to make your fonts clean and how to use Illustrator correctly if you’re thinking about doing it professionally.
Font-making can be a full-time job
You can turn font making into a full-time job but you shouldn’t expect to make it a full-time job with Calligraphr.
Ok now let’s look at some tips for those who are looking to make money by creating and selling their own fonts.
1. Go seek out inspirations
Go to the marketplace of your choice and find fonts that are doing well in a style that you like. Figure out why it is doing well. Is it because of the font description? Is it because of the cover photo? Is it because the artist has a YouTube channel showcasing their talent/
Make some notes and use them to create your next font.
2. Just do it
Your first font will probably suck. Don’t think about it too much, just do it. You’ll learn more as you create more fonts. You’ll understand what people like and what people don’t like as much.
3. Go take a course
There are many great courses at Every-tuesday.com. If you want to up your game and increase your chance of making more money from your fonts, you should consider investing in your education.
You can always learn how to make fonts for free on YouTube first and if you still feel like your skill is lacking, go take a course on font making.
4. Make eye-catching product thumbnails
Not all marketplace requires you to create a product thumbnail but if it does require you to, you should try and make the product as eye-catching as possible. People do judge a book by its cover so the prettier you make your font, the more people will click on it and check it out.
5. Experiment with different style
Many font artists like to stick to one or two particular styles and it makes all their fonts turn out looking similar. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different fonts. Who knows, maybe that very different font will be a best-seller!
6. Take advantage of major holidays
When a major holiday is coming up, you can create fonts that fit the occasion. Valentines has a certain feel to it and Halloween also has a certain feel to it. You decide how you’ll convey that holiday feel in your font.
7. Offer more than one weight and style to your font
Having more than one weight and style to your font can make your font more desirable.
What are signs that font-making is for you?
If you are inclined to pay attention to details, love looking at different shapes, have an eye for design, and like learning then font-making may be perfect for you.
What is the difference between sans and serif fonts?
If you want to create fonts to sell, you should know the difference between sans and serif fonts. I can go into the details bit this isn’t a course on different types of fonts so I’ll give you the gist.
Serif fonts look like this.
Sans serif fonts look like this.
Notice the difference? Serif fonts are more old-style, traditional, thick, and blocky, while sans-serif is much more modern, thin, geometric, and don’t vary as much in the thickness of the strokes.
When you list your product, you’ll have to decide which category your font falls into. Keep in mind, there are other categories of fonts other than Serif and Sans Serif.
What is kerning?
Kerning is the space between the letters. If you’re not kerning properly, your letters may look too close together thus it’s hard to read.
Can you make a font on your iPad?
Yes, one of the easiest ways to make a font is to make it on your iPad. Some people will draw it out on paper, scan it and upload it on Illustrator and then fix it on there. Whether you’re uploading your design on Illustrator or Calligraphr, the iPad can make a great addition to your font-making steps. I recommend Procreate. Procreate can make your strokes very smooth. Other drawing apps just aren’t as good as Procreate. Plenty of font artists makes their fonts using Procreate.
What equipment do you need to create a font?
You can use just your pen, paper, your phone (to take pictures for uploads), and calligrapher if you wish.
If you want to make fonts professionally, you’ll need Adobe Illustrator, Procreate, iPad, Apple pencil, and FontFace Ninja (to identify font face). Different font artists use different tools but if you use these tools, you’d be using what a lot of professional font artists use.
Final thought
You can indeed make extra money every month with your fonts. It may also unlock a new interest you never knew you had. Font-making can be a fun and rewarding habit to pursue. Give it a try today!
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