I usually have a few free hours to work on my FFs, but today I’m running on borrowed time– I have a group of little boys showing up in an hour, and I need to clean up and get some snacks ready. And get out of my pajamas. You know. The basics. So we’re going to make this quick and awesome.
It’s time to break out the Halloween Fonts! Now, you know I try to keep it classy most of the time, but Halloween breaks all the rules. Inflated lawn ornaments? COOL. Garish orange and green lights strewn everywhere? EVEN BETTER. Pumpkins puking up seed guts? BRING IT. Dressing up like a rubber chicken for a night? YOU’RE MY HERO. Heh. I’m the same way with my typography– forget clean lines, forget delicate weights, forget the typical rules of design. We’re just going for mood here.
I scanned through some themed free fonts, and these are the ones that jumped out at me. A Theme for Murder is sharp but slightly dirty, which I like, and it reminded me of the morbid Clive Barker fable:
(Wiki here. I read it in elementary school and still remember the chapter headers all these years later.)
You Murderer caught my eye next, and I couldn’t place why it felt so familiar. Then I realized it had another book connotation– it looks like the cover of ‘Hater’ by David Moody.
You see it, right? Moody created his cover himself, and I’ve always been under the impression that was actual finger painting, so the typography of You Murderer looks quite a bit better aligned and cleaned up. Still, the concept is there.
I came across SF Gushing Meadow, which is so over the top in its dripping blood and otherwise clean serif– and the preview I saw was aliased. It made me think this:
And maybe to some that would be an insult, but it’s a compliment from me. Sinister vintage games are where it’s at.
ParcelTongue is such a neat, curious, bold little font. I love the juxaposition of elegant letters with the curved horns of others, and the squat Q’s and O’s. It’s just so peculiar it makes me think something’s afoot.
Daubmark is another finger-painted look. This one doesn’t look like much at first glance– it’s almost childlike– but it can be unsettling with the right wording:
And now for some classics. Haunt AOE is perfect for a kid’s party or a neighborhood holiday flier– very legible, not too out there. It’s a very friendly spookiness.
Another great one is Monsters Attack!. This one comes with some monster dingbats, too, which is a bonus– but the typography itself is the real standout; totally on point with the retro, beastly disaster movies of the past. This is perfect for an adult’s invite to a midnight viewing of “Creature from the Black Lagoon”.
I’m going to end with my absolute favorite, not because it’s the most beautiful font but because it conjures up the happiest of creepy memories for me: Ogdred Weary.
Ogdred is based on the penmanship of Edward Gorey, namely in ‘The Curious Sofa’. Gorey has a vast collection of books that are truly sinister without explicit violence. I worked at Borders during high school, and was stocking his section when his distinct– and morbid– illustrative style caught my eye.
During my next break, I took one of his books and read it in the cafe cover to cover. I’ve been a massive fan since.
Rather than give you a hasty example of the font in question, I’ll leave you with the actual typography on the actual pages of ‘The Curious Sofa’. The story follows a young woman who meets a handsome man who takes her to a mansion for the weekend. Others join them for the romp. The story is laden with sexual innuendo, but nothing is ever explicit–
It continues like this for pages, leaving you curiou
s and titillated and filling in the blanks, and then it ends– abruptly, coldly, and hauntingly.
s and titillated and filling in the blanks, and then it ends– abruptly, coldly, and hauntingly.
Happy Halloween, everyone.
(Credit and thanks goes to ‘The Curious Sofa‘, published in 1961 by Edward Gorey as Ogdred Weary, and VikingBanna’s Gorey photostream on Flickr.)
Wow! So cool, Becca, that David Moody commented here. The internet is a powerful thing!
I just woke up to find this comment in my Inbox and I don’t even know what to say– I’m so overwhelmed with fangirl. Heh. Thank you for making this possibly the best Saturday morning of my life.
For what it’s worth, I love the cover of ‘Hater’ (and the book itself). There was something so organic and raw to the fingerpainting method, and I’d never seen it done that well before. ‘Dog Blood’ looks amazing, too– and it’s all kinds of awesome that You Murderer got a chance to shine there.
Again: thank you, thank you, thank you for your visit and your comment! Hope you’re having a wonderful Saturday yourself over there.
Couldn’t resist adding a comment when I saw this!
The original cover of Hater was done with finger paints (my youngest daughter’s paints – she wasn’t impressed!).
For the cover of Dog Blood – the sequel – the publishers wanted something a little more readable. Strangely enough, I ended up using You Murderer!
I’ll have to check out Edward Gorey. Intriguing.
First of all, Edward Gorey is just full of The Awesome, holy crap. And anagram-pen-name… how cool is that, right?
Loving those fonts… especially A Theme For Murder and You Murderer. Love them. The applications are endless. Especially if you’re, you know, a killer or something. Heh.
I love this post, lady!!