Need some inspiration that’ll help make your next project unique? Use these hand lettering fonts for your next lettering masterpiece! 

If you’ve been searching for the perfect hand lettering font to inspire your next project, we’ve got you covered. There are thousands of fonts out there, but only a small fraction of them would actually make sense for hand lettering. Ideally you’d want a font to be super drawable, to vibe with the aesthetic of the project, and to catch the viewer’s eye. The perfect lettering font is one where each letterform is a piece of art in its own right. 

To help sift through the thousands of fonts on the internet, we’ve hand-picked 35 eye-catching hand lettering fonts, all of which are free for personal use (many are even free for commercial use, too). We also give you some ideas on when to use each font style. From flourish-heavy fonts, to monospaced serifs, to super punk DIY fonts, to fonts that parody your favorite brands, these fonts are sure to inspire hand letterers of all skill levels.  

 Happy hand lettering! 

1. 10 Minutes Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

An ominous name for an ominous lettering design. 10 Minutes is spookier than watching a ghost movie on Friday the 13th while trapped in a haunted house. This spine-tingling font design would be perfect for a Halloween project or if you’re just looking to use your hand lettering skills to connect with some spirits. Holding a seance soon? Hand letter your ouija board with 10 Minutes to add some extra spookiness.

Created by Pizzadude

Font is free for personal use

2. 42 Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

This is a plucky hand lettering style that embodies lighthearted rebellion. All the tails of the letterforms are sort of off to the side, extended a little too far to the right or a bit too far down. Some of the letters (like G) even look like they might  be arrows pointing up. A sort of typographical middle finger raised to authority. This hand lettering font would be ideal for projects that express a sort of youthful, reckless abandon.

Created by Dale Harris

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

3. Candy Inc. Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com. 
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com. 

Candy Inc. is a script hand lettering design that combines the elegance of script with the shading of more typical blocky letterforms. It’s a great font design for hand lettering artists that are looking to try something subtle without being totally unnoticeable. It’s a font that skillfully sits at the intersection of two different types of styles. 

Created by Billy Argel

Font is free for personal use

4. Carolingia (BigfooT) Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Carolingia is a lettering design style that seems like it’s straight out of the mind of J.R.R Tolkien. It’s not hard to imagine this font outlining the misadventures of elves, orcs, wizards, and even hobbits. As you’d probably be able to guess, this font design seems perfect for a fantasy themed hand lettering project or one that could use a double shot of magical inspiration. Notice the sharpness of the lowercase “f” that makes the letterform seem sword-like.

Created by Ricky Vampdator

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

5. Caveman Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

This is a super fun hand lettering design that actually looks like it was carved into stones by cavemen (shout out to Fred Flinstone). This spot-on prehistoric effect was mainly achieved through tiny notchings on the left sides of the letters as well as a few small dots that give the letterforms texture. This font style is perfect for hand lettering projects that are supposed to have a prehistoric or ancient feel.

Created by Font-a-licious

Font is free for personal use

6. Channel Tuning Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

This font design is eye-catching in that it completely achieves its desired visual effect. All the letters look like a TV picture in the process of being tuned (though we’re now far beyond the days where you’d have to manually turn knobs to achieve a picture). This font style would be perfect for framing your projects within a drawn TV structure.

Created by Brain Eaters

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

7. Chlorinar Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

If you grew up in the 80’s or 90’s, you’ll probably recognize this font style right away. It bears a pretty strong resemblance to the title card of a certain animated TV show. If you haven’t guessed, it’s the one that highlights the antics of 4 walking, talking teenage mutant ninja turtles. Nostalgia is huge right now, so we suggest using this font if you want to give your hand lettering designs a certain throwback feel.

Created by Cafeen Fonts

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

8. Christmas on Crack Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Besides having a hilariously descriptive name, Christmas on Crack is one of the most eye-catching font designs on this list. It does a good job of alluding to a traditional “Once upon a time” style, but switches up the tradition with sharp letterforms as well as the curvy tails on the R’s, C’s, and S’s. This hand lettering font would be a perfect addition to a project poking fun at holiday traditions.

Created by Parallax

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

9. Deanna Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Zombie fans eat your heart out (but not, like, literally). As any horror buff will tell you, this font design bears a striking resemblance to the typography used in the classic film, Night of the Living Dead. From a hand lettering perspective, the R’s in this font are particularly uncanny, seeming a bit crooked and dipping way below the baseline of the other letterforms. This font is a great choice for projects looking to refer back to the original zombie flick or, alternatively, it can be used to poke fun at situations that are unambiguously NOT terrifying. As an example, you can use this font to hand letter the horrifying title, “ATTACK OF THE OVERLY PLAYFUL KITTENS."

Created by Chris Hansen

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

10. Eutemia Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

This font design is a stylistic paradox. Elegant script letterforms with exaggerated tails, but at the same time seeming blotty and unhinged. Your mind creates a narrative after seeing these letters: a Victorian calligrapher experiencing some sort of mental turmoil, rushing to finish a note using an inkwell pen. Regardless, this lettering style can give a mysterious personality to hand lettering projects and would be great at communicating a romantic yet adventurous message. 

Created by BoltCutterDesign

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

11. Firlefanz Demo Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

There’s a ton going on here with Firlefanz. This font style is like a botanical garden packed into a seashell, lost in an ocean of the imagination. The first thing you notice about the letterforms are the complex, windy tails and the seashell-esque outgrowths sprouting from different nooks. As opposed to other tail-heavy lettering styles, Firlefanz is noteworthy because of how thick the brush strokes are. Another thing to note is that it’s a flourish-heavy font dipping its toes into script territory. It pulls all of this off fairly effortlessly and would be a great font for a hand lettering project dealing with nature or growth. 

Created by Anke-art

Font is free for personal use

12. Fredericka the Great Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Fredericka definitely lives up to its name as a “great” hand lettering font, with the potential to give any lettering piece a distinctly rustic flair. It has the traditional attitude of a pure serif font with the work-in-progress feel of a notebook sketch. You could most effectively use Fredericka the Great for a hand lettering project that teeters between different time periods or (better yet) one that’s trying to outline the artistic process. It’s got this self-referential vibe that adheres to conformity while also maintaining a wink-wink attitude. 

Created by: Font Diner

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

13. Gommorgravure Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Gommogravure is a bold serif font with a super rustic feel. A monospaced, mostly capitalized font, this is an excellent hand lettering font for illustrators looking to write in straight, block heavy arrangements. The buzzing lines hovering around the letterforms bring to mind wheat bundles, and it gives the font a rough, agricultural feel. Gommorgravure would be a great font for a hand letterer trying to emphasize an unrefined rawness (like a menu for a farm-to-table restaurant). 

Created by K-Type

Font is free for personal use

14. Germs Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

This hand lettering font is super exotic (not to mention fun to draw) mainly because each letterform looks like a little monster -- complete with eyes and sharp teeth. It’s great for more sciencey or cartoony hand lettering projects where you want to let your creativity run wild.

Created by Divide by Zero

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

15. GoodDog Plain Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

GoodDog Plain is a playful sans serif font that would be perfect for a youth-focused advertisement or poster. Like its name suggests, this hand lettering style would also be really effective at illustrating an animal-themed work, like an educational brochure at a zoo, or any hand lettering project dealing with pets, like an invitation to your dachshund Daisy’s second birthday party.

Created by Fonthead Design

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

16. Gwibble Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Gwibble is a bubbly, sans-serif font where the letters seem almost wider than they are long. This bubbly wideness (and the fact that the letterforms look like little marshmallows or gumdrops) give the font a lighthearted, not so serious effect. This hand lettering style would be perfect for a piece detailing some sort of expansion, as the letterforms themselves seem to be inflating.

Created by Vin

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

17. Hawaiian Punk Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Hawaiian Punch is a strange drink. Overwhelmingly sweet, vaguely tropical, constantly staining your mouth red. Yet despite all its faults, we still find it weirdly charming and (even if we don’t know it) fuel its continued popularity. Hawaiian Punk is a versatile font design that instantly brings to mind the familiarity of the drink while allowing the artist to experiment with unique letterforms. Notice how the B’s, D’s, P’s, and R’s all barely avoid connecting with the rest of the letterform, and all the negative space is triangle-shaped. You can use this font for a tropical themed project or to complement an illustration of a different type of drink.

Created by Sharkshock

Font is free for personal use

18. Helvetidoodle Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Helvetidoodle is the Reese’s peanut butter cup of hand lettering fonts. It takes everything we love about Helvetica and combines it with the care-free fun of doodling. Check out how the letterforms are just the tiniest bit jagged and uneven, all while maintaining that classic Helvetica shape. Helvetidoodle would be a great design for a parody of a message spelled out on a word processor while drawing attention to the fact that it was actually drawn by hand.

Created by Eddie

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

19. HVD Steinzeit Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Dimensionality is everything when it comes to this impressive font design! Notice how the letters aren’t just blocky, they’re also visibly thick, an effect the artist achieves through expert use of shadowing. Also, check out how all the letters are actually formed via the negative space left over from that shadowing. HVD Steinzeit is a perfect font style for projects when you’re really focused on drawing attention (no pun intended) to the visual depth of the piece.

Created by HVD Fonts

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

20. Imagine This Demo Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

As the designer (Pizzadude) describes in his font description: “Imagine this is the crunch you expect in your cereal, the sweet taste of summer, and the elegance of a beautiful sunset.” We couldn’t agree more! This type of hand lettering style is perfect for a cartoon or comics-based project, and (as the artist also suggests) can be perfect for food labels or invitations. It’s a spirited, lighthearted font with a distinct but not overwhelming tail on the R’s and an eye-catching use of lines that come down across the rounder shapes.

Created by Pizzadude

Font is free for personal use

21. IronMan Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Ironman is a commanding, block letter font, with imposing letterforms that naturally dominate a space visually. They look like they were forged from actual iron, especially the long serifs attached to the end of the R’s and the N’s.  Ironman is a perfect lettering style for adding emphasis to a project or for highlighting the importance of a particular phrase. 

Created by Pizzadude

Font is free for personal use

22. JeanSunHo Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

The JeanSunHo Font has an awesome connect-the-dots style that would bring a serious flair to any hand lettering project. As you can tell, this is a comical, lighthearted font design that immediately brings to mind childhood doodles. We especially love the dollar sign interpretation, a JeanSunHo symbol that would be great for storefront hand lettering advertisements (and might also take the sting out of steep prices). Given the doodling nature of the font design, we also think it would be great for a notebook or journaling parody.

Created by Kevin Richey

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

23. Lazy Day Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

This lettering style is very similar to the Imagine This font, but its letterforms are a little looser and more irregularly shaped. Some of the letters have long, exaggerated tails, while others have only tiny extensions. Still others come to a complete stop without any flourishes at all. It’s a hand lettering design that relishes in imperfection but also attempts an elegance that is more usually found in a traditional serif font.  This would be a great font style for a hand lettering project (or better yet, phrase) that seems casual from the surface, yet reveals itself to be more complex as you examine it more closely.

Created by Billy Argel

Font is free for personal use

24. Make Fun of Me DEMO Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

“Make Fun Of Me” is a hand lettering font that knows it’s uncool but is completely and totally comfortable with it, a fact which makes it quite possibly the coolest font of them all. From an illustration perspective, it’s doing really interesting stuff with dimensionality, shading, and angles, too. Each letter is a bit off kilter, which makes it a perfect font to communicate some sort of askew, oddball subject matter. 

Created by Pizzadude

Font is free for personal use

25. My Turtle Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

This is a serif, blocked letter font that’s got a ton of grit and an equal amount of urban character. It’s like a 1970’s cowboy flick projected through a spray can. This lettering style serves as a sort of marriage between a more blocky serif with the grittiness and imperfections of graffiti art. It’s a great font style for projects that require that urban, graffiti-like feel without losing any of the legibility. 

Created by Billy Argel

Font is free for personal use

26. Once in a While Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

As the name suggests, artists should use this font style sparingly. It’s not made for every single hand lettering project, but when you do use it, it’s sure to give your illustration a creative jolt. It’s a font defined by the fact that none of the letters have any negative space. The A’s, B’s, D’s, O’s, P’s, Q’s, and R’s, are all completely filled in! Save this font for a special project, one where you’d be okay with using the letterforms to distract the reader from the messaging of the piece instead of having them amplify it. 

Created by Pizzadude

Font is free for personal use

27. Operating Instructions Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

This is a playful, tongue-in-cheek hand lettering style that pokes fun at the perplexing arrows and drawings commonly found in instruction manuals. Because of their hilarious shapes, this font design would be perfect for hand lettering any project referencing instructions. The letterforms are particularly well-designed because they’re visual representations of what’s actually included in their content. 

Created by Pizzadude

Font is free for personal use

28. Party Balloons Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Time to party! Party Balloons is a perfect font style if you’re designing a project for a friend’s birthday or if you just feel like being extra festive. Whereas bubble letters tend to give off the same vibes as balloons, this creative font took it one step further by actually encircling the letterforms in balloons themselves.

Created by Pizzadude

Font is free for personal use

29. Quirlycues Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Quirlycues is the hand lettering font equivalent of being passed a note behind your teacher’s back by your 7th grade bestie (shoutout to Erica). It’s a font that’s not entirely script, but not entirely block either. Whatever style it represents, it’s a great font design to bubble up memories of adolescent scheming or playful, teenage antics. What else is it good for? Hand lettering a journal cover!

Created by Qwerks

Font is free for personal use

30. VTKS Dear Love Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

This hand lettering font’s main characteristics are the flourishes growing (or overgrowing) out of the main letterforms. It’s a font design that’s particularly well-suited for hand lettering, a form of writing where planning, drawing, and sketching is as important to communicating the message of the piece as the syntactic content. This font gives off definite botanical vibes and would be super effective if accompanying a gardening-centric project. 

Created by Douglas Vitkauskas

Font is free for personal use

31. Scratch My Back Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

This is a super eye-catching font style that looks like it was designed by the Tasmanian Devil. It’s wild, it’s all over the place, it’s literally scratched onto the page. It’s a good hand lettering font if you’re trying to capture a certain punk, DIY aesthetic.  It could also be perfect for hand lettering projects that are trying to describe some sort of wild, base, or rule-breaking ideas. 

Created by Pizzadude

Font is free for personal use

32. Sketchbook Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

This lettering design is unique because all the letters actually look like they’re in the process of being sketched out. There’s the main letterform that stands out in bold, but then there’s also a rough outline of the letter that serves as a hazy background. This would be a great font for illustrating something that’s meant to be a displayed work in progress, something that’s in the sketch stage but supposed to stay that way. 

Created by Unauthorized Type

Font is free for personal AND commercial use

33. Smartie CAPS Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

The most notable feature about Smartie CAPS is the fact that all the letters seem to be leaning into each other, giving it a super plucky attitude. The shading of this font is notable because the strokes seem to get thicker towards the right of the letterform and slightly fainter towards the left. This would be a great font if an artist wanted to add a little sass or pizazz to their hand lettering project.

Created by Font-a-licious

Font is free for personal use

34. Village Idiot BB Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

According to its creator, this font totally has the “distressed typewriter” thing going on and was created to harken back to the 90’s grunge scene. The O’s are super off-kilter and every letter looks a bit dirty -- like a more organized hand lettering font that was only half-way finished. This would be a great font for a hand lettering project that’s trying to reference a DIY or punk aesthetic.

Created by Blambot Comic Fonts

Font is free for personal use

35. Words of Love Font

Photo Source: 1001fonts.com
Photo Source: 1001fonts.com

Love is in the air! This hand lettering font screams Valentine’s Day, Hugh Grant rom coms, heart-shaped boxes full of chocolates, rose petals, and an acoustic guitar-filled serenade. In case you haven’t already noticed, the most eye-catching aspect of this font design is its windy, whimsical flourishes and (oh yeah) the fact that its “O’s” are actually hearts. It’s great for a hand lettering project that’s trying to give off a playful yet romantic vibe, and also, who doesn’t love drawing hearts and squiggles?

Created by Pizzadude

Font is free for personal use


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Written By

Lance Wildorf

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