Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!intercon!news From: amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) Newsgroups: comp.fonts Subject: Re: METAFONT: After the manual... Message-ID: <26AAA6C0.4B34@intercon.com> Date: 23 Jul 90 07:26:55 GMT References: <7900@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> Sender: usenet@intercon.com (USENET The Magnificent) Reply-To: amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation, Herndon, VA Lines: 18 Before people start deciding Don was exaggerating, I'd like to chime in agreement with him. Programming in Metafont is a skill, or perhaps a technique. Actual letterform design is an art, and with the exception of natural talent :-), the only keys to it are "study" and "practice." Read about the history of calligraphy, printing, and typeface design. Read type specimen books for fun (if you get bored before you finish, typography is probably not for you :-)). Get in the habit of identifying the typefaces and typographic treatments in any piece of printed material that you see. Draw letters. Learn to do calligraphy (this in itself will teach you more about letterforms than any book ever could). Consider taking classes at a college with a good fine arts degree program. And so on... -- Amanda Walker InterCon Systems Corporation -- No one ever guaranteed that life was going to be fair.