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Tutorial : "Hacking Typography in Satori."

A Five Part, Step-by-Step guide to Creating Letterforms.

By Michael Hirsh.

Part Four. Page 1 of 2

 

The Letter "C"

This letter requires curves to construct it, and it contains no counter.
In the Introduction, it is grouped in Class 2 (along with G, J, S and U).

Step One: Create some guidelines

Because this is a geometric "Looney Tunes" style letterform, it's a good idea to set up some simple guides for creating it. Here I've set up two concentric circles using the Geometry > Shape > Circle tool. Notice that the inner circle does not snap to the grid, because the resulting letter would look slightly underweight.
You will also notice that the height of the letter is one cell greater than the previous letter, "R".
In every typeface, the uppercase C, G, J, O, Q, S, and U dip slightly below the baseline of the uppercase X. The extra height of the C will allow for this "dip" when you place the letters in line.
I have also allowed for the letter "A" (at the beginning of this tutorial) to protrude slightly above the X height, for similar stylistic reasons.

Here are the two guide circles to help you create the letter "C"

Step Two: Put down the Points

Create a new Layer. This will be your first working layer, and it will allow you to turn off the guidelines to see your letterform clearly.
Use Grid Snap ON, and place the Control Points around the guide. Save yourself bother and complication by putting down as few points as are necessary.

TIP Shape the largest, longest curves first.

Take a close look at the alignment of these Control Points, as well as their horizontal symmetry.

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Step Three: Render

Turn the Grid Snap OFF, and tweak as many of the portions of the curve as you can. Just move the Control Handles for now, not the Control Points themselves.
Stick to the rule: Big sections of curve first, smaller ones later.
Then hit the Render buton.

The first render. No Control Points moved yet.

Step Four: Tweak like crazy

Now, in Edit mode, you can start to align the Control Points at the ends of the C, so that they line up with the red guide lines.
In the stage below, most of the curves have been edited with the Sync Handles turned ON, but when you come to do the inner curves at the ends of the stroke, turn them OFF, so as not to unbalance the larger curves that you have just adjusted.

Nearly there...

It is useful to have a look at the overall profile of the letterform from time to time.
Insert a new layer under your working layer, and fill it with black. This layer allows you to see the silhouette of the letter properly.
Look at the next image, and it will reveal all sorts of faults that were not so clear against the transparent background.

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The outside of the shape is not too bad, but the inside... hmm...

Once you are happy with the shape, delete the black layer.

 

Step Five: Copy the Layer

Create the drop shadow by copying the layer, then copying the object, and finally changing its colour to black.
Now move it down one cell and right one cell.

It gets easier with practice, doesn't it ?

To finish this letter off, go to the next page.

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LOCAL NAVIGATION BAR FOR THIS MULTIPART TUTORIAL "Hacking Typography in Satori"
Part 1 Introduction	Part 2 The Letter "A"	Part 3 The Letter "R"	Part 4 The Letter "C"	Part 5 The Letter "H"
	P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 | P5	P1 | P2 | P3	P1 | P2	P1
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