TDC Master Classes
:: James Montalbano : Digital Glyph Drawing & Font Design with FontLab

A four part hands-on class that will introduce students to the proper techniques of digital glyph drawing and font making using Adobe Illustrator and FontLab.

Class Date and Time

Saturday mornings :: 29 October; 5, 12, 19 November 2005
9:30 am – 1:30 pm

Registration

Registration is required. Space is limited.

• Series (4 sessions): $400 TDC members :: $500 nonmembers
• Advance payment by check or credit card
• Register online with secure credit card
  https://www.tdcsecure.org/classes/default.asp
• Register by mail
  Download the TDC Fall Master Class Offerings PDF and send by postal mail.

Venue

TDC Conference Center
127 West 25th Street, 8th floor
New York, NY 10001

Description

A four part hands-on class that will introduce students to the proper techniques of digital glyph drawing and font making using Adobe Illustrator and FontLab.

Students should bring their own laptop with Illustrator and FontLab already installed. In addition, students should bring either scanned drawings of their proposed type design, or a strong type design concept that can be executed during the sessions. Hacked fonts, or using font data that is not your own is completely prohibited.

A demo version of FontLab can be downloaded from http://www.fontlab.com. Please check the FontLab website for restrictions on the demo version.

Topics presented:

• Proper point placement and bezier curve drawing strategies
• Creating control characters: Why "hamburgefontsiv" is the key
• Importing glyphs into FontLab vs drawing directly in FontLab
• Font metrics; spacing, kerning and class-based kerning
• Basic PostScript hinting (maybe a bit of TrueType hinting if there are enough masochists)
• Building basic OpenType features

About the Instructor

James Montalbano is principal of Terminal Design, Inc. His Brooklyn NY firm specializes in typeface design, font development and digital lettering. James has designed custom fonts and lettering for editorial, corporate, government, and publishing clients including: Vanity Fair, Vogue, Glamour, Brides, Fortune, and Money magazines; Little Brown & Co. Inc., Scribner, JC Penny, Miller Brewing, The American Medical Association and The U.S National Park Service. Over the past ten years he has been working on the Clearview type system that includes the FHWA-approved ClearviewHwy ® for roadway signs, ClearviewOne® for text and display and ClearviewADA® for wayfinding and signage. Montalbano is a past president of the Type Directors Club and currently serves as its Chairman. He teaches type design and digital lettering at Parson School of Design.

Cancellation Policy

If you must cancel for any reason, please notify us via e-mail at director@tdc.org by Friday 21 October. Your registration fee will be refundedless a $50 processing fee. No refunds will be made after this date.

More Info

TDC :: Type Directors Club
127 West 25th Street 8th Floor
New York, NY  10001
USA

T: 1-212-633-8943
F: 1-212-633-8944

E: director@tdc.org
W: http://www.tdc.org/