Comments | ceruleanst: I accidentally a year.

ceruleanst

I accidentally a year.

May 15, 2012 22:40

So. There was this commission I took on, to digitize two of someone else's old typeface designs, thinking it should only take about a month. He kept thinking of more and more things he wanted, and eventually it unfolded into a total of ten fonts, most with a substantial complement of alternate characters, and the last of which I pretty much had to ( Read more... )

Comments 9

glashund May 16 2012, 03:11:34 UTC

Oh! Pleased to see you up and about a little; I'd noticed your absence and was hoping you were OK.

frameacloud May 16 2012, 04:02:49 UTC

Hiii!

So that was what was going on for all that time? I was wondering.

"I probably need to dump a pile of documents into a big box and label it 'desk 2012' so that I have a place to draw."

Yeah yeah yeah! :D I have missed seeing your artwork so much! I for one am cheering you on!

weirgreif May 16 2012, 06:59:32 UTC

And then you can do proper desk archaeology later, without worrying about layers falling on the floor and intermingling! :D

vvvexation May 16 2012, 10:39:53 UTC

Some of us are still here, despite everything.

goldkin May 16 2012, 16:10:10 UTC

It helped me learn some stuff about properly compiling, debugging, and finishing font files, but I got sick of the whole thing pretty quickly, to the point that I would (1) procrastinate on it often, because some days I just couldn't stand to look at it, and yet (2) increasingly resolve to avoid (a) any of my own projects and (b) any social contact whatsoever, because of the feeling that if I diverted brainpower to anything else, I would never be finished with this thing. My sleep patterns found every way to be unhelpful, naturally.I completely empathize with this. I think there's a point where the terms of social etiquette should allow for a form of bankruptcy, either because payment is being withheld by creditors indefinitely or because the work they desire is at complete right angles to anything that can be competently designed. When pleasing a client oversteps the need for simple things like, oh, other projects, sleep, and healthy social discourse is the point at which one questions whether their clients are (a) realistic, (b) ( ... )

ceruleanst May 16 2012, 18:39:22 UTC

Oh, see, this was not a CFH at all. He was happy with everything I gave him and would without question send a check for any invoice I sent him. Sure, he is chronically confused and hard to convey information to, but my difficulties were mostly self-inflicted, and I think the crux of it is that my sense of responsibility, when I take any, can exceed my grasp.

If I had turned down his business, he literally would not know how to find anyone else to do this for him. I would have to hear about how very sad he is to have to take his designs with him to the grave. And there are plenty of ways I could have given him something far inferior in less time and he wouldn't have known the difference, but my own standards are terribly demanding. My own fonts are bogged down in twice as much feature creep, but they're mine, which makes it worthwhile to me. It can be draining to apply those standards to something I don't have a personal stake in, apart from what people will think if they find my name attached to it, but that alone is why I am ( ... )