Pictures in this post taken with the Nikon D5500
Hey guys,
Ever since my last post on Tokyo, I’ve gotten a crazy number of emails asking me how I add font to my pictures. After the first few questions, I thought to myself This is ridiculous. I’m just copy-pasting all my answers. And so that’s how I ended up here today, penning one post to end them all: How I add font to my pictures!
So, firstly, to clear the air. It’s not a font, it’s handwriting. Ie. Not handwriting font, it’s my handwriting. As in, I scribbled it.
Sometime last year, I bought a Wacom Bamboo Pad. It’s the most basic of drawing tablets from the Wacom line, and it comes in wired/wireless variation. You can get it online or in stores (I bought mine at Funan), and the wireless version set me back about eighty bucks or something, I don’t remember. Cheaper for the USB version.
With the Bamboo Pad, you can do very basic handwriting and sketching. If you’re hardcore into drawing and all that you might want to get something from their more expensive range, but it wasnt necessary for me. It’s very neat because it’s a tiny tablet i can carry everywhere with me, and it’s got a docking station for the stylus and USB dongle so you don’t have to carry a bunch of different parts around with you all the time!! Love. I bring it with me when I’m out and about traveling or doing work at a cafe or whatever, and it slips into a handbag just fine.
I use my Bamboo Pad with Autodesk Sketchbook on the computer. You can also use it with Photoshop/ Photoshop Elements, which I don’t have, and I personally feel like Autodesk is more straightforward since you only use it to draw and not to edit everything else, so it takes up less space on your computer and runs faster too.
There’s a free basic version, but I’m paying about 25USD/year for the Pro version, which includes a bunch of brushes and a whole range of copic marker colors. From there, I import my pictures and scribble on them. You can also use the paintbrushes or smudge brushes to actually draw – I believe a lot of illustrators use Sketchbook! – but I mainly stick to scribbling and using it to sign documents on the computer itself so I don’t have to print, sign, and scan it back 🙂
And honestly, that’s it. It’s super simple. That’s how I draw, scribble, and handwrite on my pictures. When I started using it I found it a little clunky, but this is really a case of practice making perfect – it’s really fast and easy to do the scribbling now, and it gives your pictures so much more character, don’t you think?
Right, I hope this short post was informative/helpful to you. Have fun trying it out, you guys! 🙂
x
♥jem