Fat brush strokes. Retro feel. Swirly swashes. Ligatures. That’s what makes up this list of Fat Brush Hand Lettered Scripts.
Well folks, every design blog’s got the obligatory favorite fonts posts, so I figured it was high time I jumped on the bandwagon and did one as well. My obsession with fat brush fonts all started with Mercury Script.
These display fonts were designed to command attention in large sizes. That’s why they were used (and still are) in advertising and sign-painting mainly in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.
I think you’ll enjoy this collection of both premium and free fonts and may even download a few yourself!
Some links below may be affiliate links which means (at no additional cost to you) I’ll receive a small commission if you purchase using my link. I humbly thank you for your support.
Premium Fat Brush Scripts
Alek
Alek is a gorgeous upright brush script, it’s one of my favorites! Just look at those swashes! A fairly new font, it was designed in 2013 by Emil Karl Bertell.
Alek Brush Script, from $35
FYI, a swash is a flourish such as an exaggerated serif, and a ligature is when two characters are joined into one glyph by a single stroke.
Candy Script
Candy, designed by Alejandro Paul is inspired from window sign painting in Argentina. Don’t you just love those super thick brush strokes?
Candy Script, $99
Ciao Bella
Ciao Bella is a brand new font from Cindy Kinash and Charles Gibbons. This one has more of a rough, hand-drawn feel to it than the rest and it’s just beautiful!
Ciao Bella, from $29
Gelato Script
Dave Rowland designed this smooth and fat brush font that was inspired by both formal scripts and Mid-Century hand lettering.
Gelato Script, $59.69
Mercury Script
Loosely based on a vintage lingerie ad, here’s another one from Emil Karl Bertell. Mercury Script is the one that made me fall in love with this style.
Mercury Script, from $35
Salamander Script
Salamander Script is a thicker and more playful version of its counterpart, Mercury Script by the same designer.
Salamander Script, from $28
Style Script
Rob Leuschke designed this fairly new brush font that recalls advertising from the 50’s and 60’s. Use it in casual or formal designs.
Style Script, from $25
Superb Script
This groovy brand new font by Resistenza is based on real brush pen script and influenced by lettering from the 60’s and 70’s.
Superb Script, from $34
Thirsty Script
You may recall my previous comparison of Thirsty Script to Wisdom Script and this font definitely fits in this category. Its hard edges add a little ‘newness’ to the otherwise vintage feel of this font. Designed by Yellow Design Studio.
Thirsty script, $49
Wishes Script
This beautiful, romantic, flowing font by Sabrina Mariela Lopez is perfect for girlish designs. It even comes with a set of ribbon, heart and flower ornaments. This is a great one for wedding blogs!
Wishes Script, from $32
Free Fat Brush Fonts
If the above fonts are blowing your budget, here are some fabulous alternative fonts that are free, yay!
Arizonia
Inspired by the flowing forms of a sign painter’s camel hair brush, Arizonia was created and free for you to use.
Arizonia, free from Google Fonts
Ballpark
The name says it all. You could see this in a logo on a baseball jersey, can’t you?
Ballpark Weiner, free from DaFont.com
Channel
Channel is a more refined brush script with a very retro, streamline feel.
Channel is free!
Cookie Script
Cookie is based on brush calligraphy and has a 50’s pin-up sort of feel to it. Sweet and friendly but not too crazy.
Cookie Script, free from Google Fonts
Lavanderia
Based on lettering found on Laundromat windows of San Francisco’s Mission District. Designed by James T. Edmonson.
UPDATE: I should note that “Lavanderia isn’t actually free, it’s pay-what-you-want for personal, non-profit, or educational use. For commercial use it’s $60.00.”
Lavanderia, free from Lost Type
Leckerli One
A bit irregular, but fun, this fat hand-lettered font is best for shorter sentences. Designed by Gesine Todt.
Leckerli One, free from Google Fonts
Mission Script
Condensed, casual, sweet, and sincere. A celebration of the brush. Designed by James T. Edmonson.
Mission Script, free from Lost Type
Pacifico
Inspired by the 50s American surf culture, this fun and popular font is great for headlines and titles. Designed by Vernon Adams.
Pacifico, free from Google Fonts
Voluptate
A brush calligraphic font by Fontscafe, Voluptate isn’t entirely free but it has a free demo version without capital letters. Get the full version of Voluptate here. $39+
Voluptate, free from DaFont.com
Wisdom Script
James T. Edmonson does it again with his super popular Wisdom Script, the font that Thirsty Script (above) is based on. This hard-edged script uses a beautiful music treble clef for the letter S. I’m sure you see this one around a lot!
Wisdom Script, free from Lost Type
Summary
These lovely brush scripts work fabulously in logos, signage and are wonderful when placed on top of images. Try them on your Facebook or Twitter cover image. Some of them could also work well as post title fonts if paired with a thin, condensed font for the body copy.
Sooo…did you like it? Should I do more font round-ups or are these overplayed? Or just tell us which ones you’re downloading! Please let me know in the comments below!
This is a lovely collection. I like Style Script (as well as Mercury Script), but then I have an interest in calligraphy so that could explain it too.
I do have a question – how do you organise your fonts? With over..err..well, lets just say lots, it takes for ever to scroll through them. Any suggestions are welcome!
Hi Caroline, I’m glad you liked the collection! I too love those fonts, just those beautiful perfect curves…. love em!
You know that is a great question! I don’t have a way of organizing them. I wish I did, but I end up just scrolling through them in Photoshop. I’m sure there is some sort of extension for Photoshop that could help… hmmm now you’ve got me thinking!
I used to download all sorts of free fonts, but now I try to only do that if I really love it and that keeps my collection a little more manageable. I also try to be picky about where I download them from too and choose the higher quality ones over the cheap 1001 Free Fonts type sites.
Hi Marianne!
I’m new around here and I’m loving every post!
About organizing fonts, I use Font Explorer X (from Linotype) – I could never live without it. The interface it’s pretty similar to iTunes – you make collections (like playlists), tag your fonts, use WYSIWYG preview, link styles. And it links (and automatically activate) fonts needed when you open any Adobe application. It’s not cheap (since it’s a professional tool), but for me, it’s worth every cent.
Thanks Renata for the tip! I’m sure it’s incredibly handy so I’ll be checking it out! I’m so glad you found me and like what you see so far 🙂
Marianne, your posts are life saving! 🙂
I’m a designer too, but (so old school) I just work with editorial (mostly art books). This journey through blogging have been really challenging – how I miss the control I have on print! (trying to learn a bit of CSS, let’s see if it gets better…).
But your blog is a great inspiration while I’m trying to find my own tone, a not so formal language for my blog (a book blog, not ready yet), different from my usual design.
Thank you and congrats on the great job!
what so greats fonts thank you so mush you save my life
check this font so brush its in my collection too realy in love with this one
https://creativemarket.com/bowery_Studio/64865-So-Brush-font
glad you enjoyed the fonts. that So Brush is a nice one too!
I love the font round up! Keep them coming! I also liked your descriptions of where they were influenced from, fun!
Headed to go download fonts!!
Thanks Kristie, glad you enjoy these, I’ll work on some more 🙂
Being a fontaholic I found this a great post! One can never have too many wonderful fonts – especially scripts and especially free! Thank you for this this!
Thanks Kendra, that’s good to know! I’m so glad because I do like having a collection of my faves here on the blog for my own reference!
LOVE this list Marianne!
I’ve used both Salamander and Pacifico. I’m digging Candy too. Going to have to download a few of these for sure!
Hey Kim, glad you like the list. I’ve used both of those as well. Salamander is pretty nice!
What is the font you used in your heading graphic? “Fat Brush Scripts” I have been searching for a similar one for the last couple of days.
The font name is “Sacramento” & “Jenna Sue”
You can download from.
http://www.1001fonts.com/sacramento-font.html
http://www.dafont.com/jenna-sue.font
Happy to help you 🙂
Thanks!
Hi Shelly,
First of all I am so sorry for not responding sooner, I somehow missed your comment and question.
The font used in the graphic for this post is actually Salamander Script (link above in the post).
Jenna Sue is used in my blog header tagline.
Thanks for reading!