Non-English Glyphs
Part 3 of 3

Last week I covered Ð, ð, Þ, and þ. This week I’m doing Ŋ, ŋ, Ɲ, ɲ, IJ, and ij.

These glyphs all have the j terminal, so it made sense to draw them at the same time.

Ŋ and ŋ

Eng (Ŋ, ŋ) is pretty simple. These glyphs are essentially the lowercase j descender attached to the bottom of the right vertical stroke of N and n for upper and lowercase respectively. I dived right into these without any problems.

[fusion_imageframe image_id=”2133″ style_type=”none” stylecolor=”” hover_type=”none” bordersize=”” bordercolor=”” borderradius=”” align=”none” lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” alt=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]http://staging.quakercreative.com//wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Eng-1024×640.jpg[/fusion_imageframe]

Ɲ and ɲ

I approached hooked N (Ɲ, ɲ) the same as I approached Eng. They’re the same as &Eng; only the lowercase j descender is attached to the bottom of the left vertical stroke instead of the right. They’re actually kind of fun to draw.

[fusion_imageframe image_id=”2134″ style_type=”none” stylecolor=”” hover_type=”none” bordersize=”” bordercolor=”” borderradius=”” align=”none” lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” alt=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]http://staging.quakercreative.com//wp-content/uploads/2017/10/HookedN-1024×640.jpg[/fusion_imageframe]

IJ and ij ligatures

The Dutch treat ij as a singe letter—a dipthong with ligatured characters. While the ligature may not phisically connect the letters, it ensures that the two separate letter shapes are treated as a single glyph.

What I realized when I began drawing, however, is that I may have to wait to do these. I need to begin building the font in the computer and start spacing the font to get a sense of the text color. Once I have a good sense of color and spacing, I can work on putting together the I and J in a way that harmonizes visually with the rest of the typeface.

[fusion_imageframe image_id=”2135″ style_type=”none” stylecolor=”” hover_type=”none” bordersize=”” bordercolor=”” borderradius=”” align=”none” lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” alt=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]http://staging.quakercreative.com//wp-content/uploads/2017/10/IJ-tt-1024×706.jpg[/fusion_imageframe]

I also fooled around with a TT and tt ligature, but it poses the same cart-before-the-horse problem as the IJ.

Up Next: Diacritics!

I’m going to work on line spacing in order to get a sense of how much room the diacritics need, and then work on making marks.