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Circus Fonts and Wild West Fonts
Posted by John Miles in
5 Jun 2005 — 11:37am
5 Jun 2005 — 11:37am
I'm looking to recreate the look of an old late 1800's/early 1900's circus poster. Could anyone recommend some good freeware circus/playbill fonts that would be appropriate, or maybe even some cheap commercial fonts?
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5 Jun 2005 — 2:13pm
The decorative wood type used on circus posters is often the same as that described as "old west". Here are a few faces in the style:
Quentin
Overdressed
P.T. Barnum
PL Barnum Block
Playbill, Playbill Antique
Chisel
Vineta
FF Zapata
Council
Brothers
ITC Magnifico Daytime
ITC Magnifico Nighttime
Adobe Wood Type 1
Rosewood
Zebrawood
Zirkus
Thunderbird
Thunderbird Condensed
57 Rodeo
ITC Buckeroo
Italienne
Chase
Amanda
FTN Farao
Dekoria
Wanted
Westside
Buffalo Gal
Old Towne
Horndon
6 Jun 2005 — 4:51am
John are you looking for (as Stephen describes) American Western poster fonts or another location? I would think the posters in Manhattan or London at that time would look totally different. If its possible narrow the location of the look you are looking for.
6 Jun 2005 — 12:36pm
Yeah, I guess I'm going for the American Western look, but with an ornate flare (lots of swashes, etc.). And this project is something I'm doing as a favor for someone, so I'm really looking for some freeware fonts. But I've looked through DaFont and a few other places, so I might've about exhausted all there is.
6 Jun 2005 — 2:20pm
http://www.bluevertigo.com.ar/bluevertigo.htm
John go to this site it has lots of resource listings maybe it will lead to something you haven't seen yet.
6 Jun 2005 — 11:01pm
Thanks for the help all; I actually got to looking around in the retro section at DaFont and found a lot of fonts I had overlooked. Guess I consider Retro to be 50's and 60's-ish fonts and din't think to check there for what I was looking for.
The project I'm working on is actually a t-shirt design for my church's Vacation Bible School this summer. The theme for this year is "Under God's Big Top," so I'm trying to mimic the look of an old circus poster for the t-shirt design. It's still a work in progress, but here's what I've come up with so far; feel free to offer any advice or suggestions:
http://www.flatface.net/~johnmiles/vbsdesignpreview.jpg
8 Jun 2005 — 8:46pm
Go to misprintedtype.com Eduardo Recife is awesome & his font "Great Circus" is to die for. It costs, but it's not too bad & it's totally worth it. Of course, it all depends on what style you are going for--this font is distressed. CHECK IT OUT!
8 Jun 2005 — 9:26pm
Ok, here's the near final design, now in color, bitches:
http://www.flatface.net/~johnmiles/vbscolordesignpreview.jpg
Edit: Thanks for the suggestion btw, bec11679, but I guess I'm really going for more of a clean look rather than that dirty style, which might not come out as well on a shirt.
9 Jun 2005 — 7:08am
No problem. Looks sweet. What a cute idea.
17 Oct 2006 — 5:48pm
hey john,
just wondering if you ever found a font..
cheers,
stephen
6 Feb 2008 — 4:58pm
Recently released: CircusKS
6 Feb 2008 — 5:04pm
Some interesting sets that allow for multi-color overlays are at fontmesa
23 Oct 2012 — 5:26am
with an ornate flare (lots of swashes, etc.
Not likely to be found in authentic period typefaces…