Font maker: turn your handwriting into a font

How this handwriting font generator works

This page is a handwriting font generator that runs entirely in your browser. Each letter you draw is recorded as strokes: the path of your pen, the time of every point and, on a stylus, the pressure. Those strokes are smoothed at the level you pick (Low, Medium or High), turned into filled outlines and spaced like the letters of any other typeface. The preview you see is set from those outlines, so it shows how the finished font will look, not a picture of your strokes. If you have wanted to make your own font but never owned a scanner, this is the short way: no template to print, nothing to upload.

1. Draw the lowercase letters first. The preview sets a sentence from your first letter; with all twenty-six it can set whatever you type.
2. Add capitals, digits and the eight marks when you want them. Letters you skip show as boxes in the preview.
3. Check the preview with your own words, at three sizes, on light or dark paper. Adjust the spacing slider until words look even.
4. Share or keep it. Download an animated GIF of your strokes, a PNG of the sentence, or the project file.

Make a font from your handwriting online, free, then finish it on your phone

You can make a font from your handwriting online free of charge here: drawing, preview, the GIF and the PNG cost nothing. The font file itself (.ttf) is made by the MyHandFont app for Android. Download the project file, import it in the app, touch up any letters with your finger or a stylus, and export the font. The export is one purchase for life, never a subscription, and the app has no ads.

Why the split? A phone screen with a finger or stylus is a better place to write than a mouse, and keeping the paid part in one place keeps the drawing tools free everywhere. Installed on a Windows PC or a Mac, the .ttf works in Word, Cricut Design Space and most desktop apps; Canva (on a plan that allows font uploads) and Procreate take it as an upload. The font install guide covers each one.

Tips for a handwriting font that reads well

• Write each letter at the size the guides suggest: small letters sit on the baseline and reach the small letters line, tall letters such as b, d and l go up to the tall letters line, capitals reach the capitals line, and tails such as g and y drop to the tails line.
• Keep one pen. A steady width across all letters matters more than any single letter looking perfect.
• Your horizontal position in the box does not matter; the spacing is worked out from the ink of each letter.
• Redraw rather than patch. Clear is one step and Undo brings back what you cleared.
• Draw the dot of the i and j as a short tap or a tiny stroke; both are kept.

If you want a custom font that looks like you wrote it, the more natural your writing is, the better the result. Write the way you would on a birthday card, not the way you would fill in a form. The step-by-step guide has more detail, and the comparison page explains how this differs from printing and scanning a template.

Questions

Is the web font maker free?

Yes. Drawing all 70 letters, the sentence preview, the animated GIF, the PNG sample and the project file are free on the web, with no account and no ads. The GIF and PNG carry a small "made with MyHandFont" tag.

Can I download a TTF font file from the website?

No. The website does not export the font file. Download your project file and open it in the MyHandFont Android app, which exports a real .ttf after a single one-time purchase (US$7.99 in the US; Google Play shows your local price).

Do my drawings get uploaded anywhere?

No. Everything runs in your browser and your letters are saved in your browser's own storage on this device. Nothing is sent to a server. If you clear your browser data, the drawing is gone, so download the project file as a backup.

Can I draw with a mouse?

Yes. A mouse, a trackpad, a finger on a touch screen or a stylus all work. A mouse gives every stroke the same width; a stylus that reports pressure varies the width as you press harder.

Which characters do I need to draw?

The template has 70 characters: a to z, A to Z, 0 to 9 and eight marks (. , ' - ? ( & @). The preview starts from the first letter you draw, and the 26 lowercase letters are enough for whole sentences; missing capitals fall back to scaled-up lowercase. Marks such as ! : ; and ) are built from the ones you draw.

How do I move my drawing to my phone?

Use the Project file button. It saves a .myhandfont.json file with every stroke and setting. Send it to your phone (email, Drive or a cable), then in the app choose Settings, Backup, Import project file.