The point is that it only generates the CSS that you actually need, because you asked for it, and no more. The result is far less CSS than you’d see in an average stylesheet.
That compilation process is what has come to be known as “Just in Time” CSS.
The popular Tailwind framework supports it. It kind of flips the mental model of Tailwind on its head, to me. Rather than providing a huge pile of CSS utility classes to use — then “purging” what is unused — it only creates what it needs to begin with.
I’d say “Just in Time” is a concept that is catching on. I just saw Assembler CSS and it leans into it big time. Rather than classes, you do stuff like:
I’m pretty torn on this stuff. Some part of me likes how you can get styling done without ever leaving your templates. And I especially like the extremely minimal CSS output since CSS is a blocking resource. Another part of me doesn’t like that it’s a limited abstraction of CSS itself, so you’re at the mercy of the tool to support things that CSS can do natively. It also makes HTML a bit harder to look at — although I certainly got over that with JSX inline event handlers and such.
We might leave a text input unstyled. We might leave a link unstyled. Even a button. But checkboxes… we don’t leave them alone. That’s why styling checkboxes never gets old.
Although designing checkboxes is not that complicated, we also don’t have to settle for simple background color changes, or adding and removing borders, to indicate state changes. We also don’t have to pull out any fancy design skills — that we don’t possess — to make this work. I’ll show you how.
Basics
In the following demos, the checkboxes pretty much have the same three-stack layout — at the bottom is a checkbox, and on top of it are two stacked elements, or pseudo-elements. The checkbox is indicated as checked or unchecked depending on which of the two is visible.
If you look at the CSS code in the pens you’ll notice all the layouts — including the one for the checkboxes — are grids. You can use other layouts that feel right for your use case (and learn more in the CSS-Tricks Grid Guide). Additional notes on code and design alternatives are at the end of the source code inside the pens.
In addition, any elements stacked on top of the checkbox have pointer-events: none so they don’t prevent users from clicking or tapping the checkbox.
Let’s now get to the first method.
Idea 1: Blended backgrounds as a state
Blending in CSS is a versatile technique. Manipulating colors relative to two or more elements or backgrounds can be handy in contexts you might not have thought of.
One such instance is the checkbox.
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<input id="un" type="checkbox"> <label for="un">un</label>
<!-- more checkboxes -->
In this demo, I’ve styled the checkbox’s pseudo-elements green and blue, stacked them up, and gave them each a mix-blend-mode value. This means the background of each element blends with its backdrop.
I used the hard-light value, which emulates the result of either multiply or screen depending on if the top color is darker or lighter. You can learn in depth about different blend modes over at MDN.
When the box is checked, the ::after pseudo-element’s mix blend mode value is unset, resulting in a different visual.
Idea 2: Make a 3D animation
Animating a block of color is fun. Make them seem 3D and it’s even better. CSS has the means to render elements along an emulated 3D space. So using that, we make a 3D box and rotate it to indicate the checkbox state change.
.c-checkbox > div {
transition: transform .6s cubic-bezier(.8, .5, .2, 1.4);
transform-style: preserve-3d;
pointer-events: none;
/* more style */
}
/* front face */
.c-checkbox > div > i:first-child {
background: #ddd;
transform: translateZ( -10px );
}
/* back face */
.c-checkbox > div > i:last-child {
background: blue;
transform: translateZ( 10px );
}
/* side faces */
.c-checkbox > div > i:nth-of-type(2),
.c-checkbox > div > i:nth-of-type(3) {
transform: rotateX(90deg)rotateY(90deg);
position: relative;
height: 20px;
top: 10px;
}
.c-checkbox > div > i:nth-of-type(2) {
background: navy;
right: 20px;
}
.c-checkbox > div > i:nth-of-type(3) {
background: darkslategray;
left: 20px;
}
The <div> after the checkbox becomes a container of a 3D space — its child elements can be placed along the x, y and z axes — after it’s given transform-style: preserve-3d;.
Using the transform property, we place two <i> elements (grey and blue colored) with some distance between them across the z-axis. Two more are wedged between them, covering their left and right sides. It’s like a cardboard box that’s covered except at the top and bottom.
When the checkbox is checked, this grey and blue box is rotated sideways to face the other side. Since I’ve already added a transition to the <div>, its rotation is animated.
input:checked + div {
transform: rotateY( 180deg );
}
Idea 3: Playing with border radius
Changing a checked box’s border radius? Not that fun. Changing also the border radius of other boxes near it? Now we have something.
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<input type="checkbox" id="un"> <label for="un">un</label>
<!-- more rows of checkboxes -->
If you’d just interacted with the demo before, you’ll notice that when you click or tap a checkbox, it not only can change its own borders but also the borders of the boxes after and before it.
Now, we don’t have selectors that can select elements prior, only the ones after. So what we did to control the appearance of a preceding box is use the pseudo-element of a checkbox to style the box before it. With exception of the first box, every other box gets a pseudo-element that’s moved to the top of the box before it.
Let’s say boxes A, B and C are one after another. If I click B, I can change the appearance of A by styling B’s pseudo-element, B by styling C’s pseudo-element, and C by styling D’s pseudo-element.
From B, the pseudo-elements of B, C and D are accessible — as long as the next element selector can be used between them in the layout.
The four corners of each checkbox are initially rounded when checked and unchecked. But if a box is checked, the following box’s top corners and preceding box’s bottom corners are straightened (by overriding and removing their border radii).
Idea 4: Using a CSS mask
Toggles, switches… they are also checkboxes as far as the code goes. So we can style the boxes as toggles for this one, and it’s done with a CSS mask, which Chris has written about before. But in a nutshell, it’s a technique where we use an image to filter out portions of its backdrop.
.one.skin {
background: no-repeat center -40px url('photo-1584107662774-8d575e8f3550?w=350&q=100');
}
.two.skin {
background: no-repeat center -110px url('photo-1531430550463-9658d67c492d?w=350&q=100');
--mask: radial-gradient(circle at 45px 45px , rgba(0,0,0,0) 40px, rgba(0,0,0,1) 40px);
mask-image: var(--mask); -webkit-mask-image: var(--mask);
}
Two skins (displaying landscape photos) are on top of a checkbox. The topmost one gets a mask-image that’s in the shape of a typical toggle switch — a transparent circle at the left, and the rest is a fully opaque color. Through the transparent circle we see the photo below while the rest of the mask image shows the photo at the top.
When a checkbox is clicked, the transparent circle is moved to the right, so we see the image at the top through the circle while the rest shows the photo at the bottom.
There are some CSS properties that can be animated by default and one of them is box-shadow. This type of subtle animation goes well with a minimalist theme.
That’s it! I hope this sparks some inspiration the next time you find yourself working with checkboxes. CSS gives us so many possibilities to indicate state changes, so have a little fun and please share if you have any interesting ideas.
Browse through Dribbble or Behance, and you’ll find designers using a simple technique to add texture to an image: noise. Adding noise makes otherwise solid colors or smooth gradients, such as shadows, more realistic. But despite designers’ affinity for texture, noise is rarely used in web design.
In this article, we’ll generate colorful noise to add texture to a gradient with only a small amount of CSS and SVG. Alright, let’s make some noise!
Check it out here. The quickest way to understand what’s happening is to play with the parameters that make up the layers.
The trick: SVG noise and CSS gradients
The core technique in this article is built on top of a Stack Overflow answer by Chris Pachl to the question: Can you add noise to a CSS gradient?
The trick is to use an SVG filter to create the noise, then apply that noise as a background. Layer it underneath a gradient, boost the brightness and contrast, and that’s it — you have gradient that gradually dithers away.
The key ingredients
Here’s what we’re working with under the hood:
SVG turbulence: This is our noise filter.
Background with gradient and SVG: Next, we drop that filter into CSS as a background image that combines the filter with a CSS gradient.
Boost brightness and contrast: Then we turn to CSS filter to increase the brightness and contrast of the noise.
Blend gradients: Finally, we optionally use mix-blend-mode to further filter out colors and blend gradients together.
Let’s go into detail on each of these parts.
Using SVG turbulence
Within the realm of SVG, we can define filters, and one such filter lets us create Perlin noise. It’s called <feTurbulence> and we can define attributes, such as whether it is “turbulence” or “noise” and how fine or coarse it is. Bence Szabó explains it in much more detail as he demonstrates how it can be used to create patterns.
This SVG example creates a filter and renders a <rect> element that we can use for our grainy gradients. Notice that the SVG <filter> is defined separately from the <rect>, and the <rect> simply references it.
Play around with changing some of the properties of <feTurbulence>
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We’re going to save this SVG as a separate file. We reference an external link to grab the SVG in the demos throughout in this article. In practice, though, you would reference a local file or your own CDN. It doesn’t work to reference the SVG by its id in CSS, for some quirky reason, but you can inline the SVG, as we show in the playground demo. We don’t do this in the demos for legibility reasons.
Creating a CSS background with SVG and a gradient
After we have the SVG file stored somewhere we can reference it by a URL or path, we can now use it in a CSS background, combined with a gradient.
Order matters here. In this particular example, we want a solid color (i.e. no noise) to transition into noise and then into another color. We also want one end of the gradient to be transparent so that the noise shows through.
Like this:
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However, this isn’t particularly nice because the noise is too muddled. We need to fray it and make it grainier. We can do that by…
Boosting the brightness and contrast
Adding a CSS filter makes the noise more stark, pushing the most faded colors towards white or black. The filter applies to the entire <div>, so the leftmost blue is a different blue than the pure blue we started with.
You can play around with how contrast and brightness affect the gradient. Boosting the brightness and contrast pushes out the muddled grays in the follow demo.
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The noise is not uniform in color
If you zoom in, you’ll notice that the noise is made up of many colors. The SVG filter was colorful to begin with, and increasing the brightness and contrast emphasized certain colors. Although hardly noticeable, if this confetti is unwelcome, we can continue to filter out colors with CSS blending (i.e. mix-blend-mode and background-blend-mode ).
CSS blending
Let’s make a grainy gradient that transitions between two colors. CSS blending allows us to stack layers of color. In the next example, we’re adding another <div> to the markup, positioning it over the original gradient, then applying mix-blend-mode: multiply; to smooth things out.
We can use the CSS isolation property to create a new stacking context and choose what gets blended. If we were to leave out isolation in the next example, the gradient and overlay would blend with the background color. Try it in the Pen and comment out that line!
/* Same as before */
.isolate {
isolation: isolate;
/* ... */
}
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Some use cases
We’ve looked at a pretty simple example of how to make a noisy gradient, but where might you use one? Let’s consider several use cases.
Light and shadows, with grain
Where do gradients naturally occur? Light and shadows, for one. We can take advantage of the CSS property mix-blend-mode to smoothly blend gradients and selectively filter the colors we want to see in the noise.
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In the “shadow” example, we create a dark gradient, and invert it to create the effect in the “light” example. In both cases, mix-blend-mode allows us to blend it with other gradients.
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Holographic foil
The drastic brightness and contrast boost creates a rainbow effect that’s reminiscent of holographic foil.
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Taking things further
Try the playground and mess around with the different parameters to see how they affect the texture.
Beyond that, here are some ways to continue fiddling with this technique:
Use a different SVG: All of the gradients in this article use the same SVG, but you can toy with the parameters that generates the noise to adjust the coarseness as well as the look and feel in the playground.
Try different gradients: Besides linear-gradient, CSS offers four more types of gradients. Can you name them? (Here’s one.)
Add more layers: With CSS blending, you can stack as many any layers as you’d like and blend them down.
Apply different SVG filters: There are all kinds of filters, including Gaussian blur and different types of lighting. Plus, they can be referenced in a CSS filter and applied to any element in addition to SVG.
What else can you think of? Please let us know what you discover in the comments.
Browser support
We can’t escape talking about browser support here. The core of this technique is supported by all modern browsers. As you might expect, it does not work in Internet Explorer. That said, Internet Explorer does support SVG as a background in CSS (just not with the actual CSS filter property).
SVG as a CSS background image
This browser support data is from Caniuse, which has more detail. A number indicates that browser supports the feature at that version and up.
Desktop
Chrome
Firefox
IE
Edge
Safari
5
24
9
16
5
Mobile / Tablet
Android Chrome
Android Firefox
Android
iOS Safari
93
92
3
4.2-4.3
CSS filter effects
This browser support data is from Caniuse, which has more detail. A number indicates that browser supports the feature at that version and up.
Desktop
Chrome
Firefox
IE
Edge
Safari
18*
35
No
79
6*
Mobile / Tablet
Android Chrome
Android Firefox
Android
iOS Safari
93
92
4.4*
6.0-6.1*
I’ve also noticed that Blink-based browsers (e.g. Safari) and WebKit-based one (e.g. Chrome) implement mix-blend-mode slightly differently, so please be sure to test across browsers if using CSS blending. In my own projects, I’ve used browser-specific media queries to manually reconcile the visual differences with small tweaks to CSS.
That’s it! Now that you have a grasp of SVG filters and how to combine them with CSS filters as a background, you have yet another neat visual effect to add depth and texture to a design.
I feel like my quest to make sure this site had pretty sweet (and automatically-generated) social media images (e.g. Open Graph) came to a close once I found Social Image Generator.
The trajectory there was that I ended up talking about it far too much on ShopTalk, to the point it became a common topic in our Discord (join via Patreon), Andy Bell pointed me at Daniel Post’s Social Image Generator and I immediately bought and installed it. I heard from Daniel over Twitter, and we ended up having long conversations about the plugin and my desires for it. Ultimately, Daniel helped me code up some custom designs and write logic to create different social media image designs depending on the information it had (for example, if we provide quote text, it uses a special design for that).
As you likely know, Automattic has been an awesome and long time sponsor for this site, and we often promote Jetpack as a part of that (as I’m a heavy user of it, it’s easy to talk about). One of Jetpack’s many features is helping out with social media. (I did a video on how we do it.) So, it occurred to me… maybe this would be a sweet feature for Jetpack. I mentioned it to the Automattic team and they were into the idea of talking to Daniel. I introduced them back in May, and now it’s September and… Jetpack Acquires WordPress Plugin Social Image Generator
“When I initially saw Social Image Generator, the functionality looked like a ideal fit with our existing social media tools,’ said James Grierson, General Manager of Jetpack. ‘I look forward to the future functionality and user experience improvements that will come out of this acquisition. The goal of our social product is to help content creators expand their audience through increased distribution and engagement. Social Image Generator will be a key component of helping us deliver this to our customers.”
Daniel will also be joining Jetpack to continue developing Social Image Generator and integrating it with Jetpack’s social media features.
Rob Pugh
Heck yeah, congrats Daniel. My dream for this thing is that, eventually, we could start building social media images via regular WordPress PHP templates. The trick is that you need something to screenshot them, like Puppeteer or Playwright. An average WordPress install doesn’t have that available, but because Jetpack is fundamentally a service that leverages the great WordPress cloud to do above-and-beyond things, this is in the realm of possibility.
Automattic is always on the prowl for companies that are doing something interesting in the WordPress ecosystem. The Social Image Generator plugin expertly captured a new niche with an interface that feels like a natural part of WordPress and impressed our chief plugin critic, Justin Tadlock, in a recent review.
“Automattic approached me and let me know they were fans of my plugin,” Post said. “And then we started talking to see what it would be like to work together. We were actually introduced by Chris Coyier from CSS-Tricks, who uses both our products.”
Sarah Gooding
Just had to double-toot my own horn there, you understand.
Hey, designers! Throw out your spray paint and download a premium stencil font instead!
Mind The Gap is one of the thousands of stencil alphabet fonts on Envato Elements.
Today we bring you an awesome collection of the best stencil fonts created by the industry’s leading design experts! Curated from the font sections at Envato Elements and GraphicRiver, this selection includes fresh, modern designs with creative aesthetics.
Envato Elements not only offers an outstanding selection of the best stencil fonts available on the internet today, but also the opportunity to download as many as you want, as often as you want, for one flat monthly fee.
You heard it here first, folks! One low monthly fee = unlimited access to the best fonts available on the internet today. What’s more, that monthly fee also allows you to access thousands of premium digital assets like logos, graphic templates, mockups, photos, business card templates, and much more.
Let’s take a peek at just a few of the outstanding stencil fonts available to you.
Let’s start things off with the Monty stencil letters font. It’s a special typeface that belongs to a unique font family, grotesque sans serif. Monty also comes with alternate characters for multilingual support.
Towards is a futuristic stencil typeface. The design of the letters is minimal and can fit your modern projects. When you download this sans serif stencil font, you’ll also get a web font file for your online work.
Are you looking for something fashionable for your text? Then Quas is what you’re after. This stencil font download features a sleek and elegant design that’s right for 2021. Quas pairs well with projects that have script and sans serif fonts.
First up, this stencil letters font was inspired by Hemingway’s adventurous lifestyle. The Hemingwar font is a writer’s dream. Set a charismatic tone with this impressive typeface. The bold letters and rounded corners make it charming and approachable, and it works perfectly for logos, headlines, and more.
Make a bold statement with the Arkibal stencil typeface. Its designer drew inspiration from old store signs and vintage family documents. He ended with a bold, modern typeface with historical roots reminiscent of military serif stencil fonts. Try it out to get access to over 270 stencil glyphs.
Pay homage to industrial design with the incredible Typehead stencil font download. This stencil letters font features four total fonts with both regular and stencil versions. Incorporate it into your next project using your favourite design software.
Some fonts make you feel as if you’re in a movie. They set the scene for your design with incredible culture and charisma. And this distressed stencil font does just the trick! Simply download the file to unlock amazing letters, numbers, and patterns.
A truly unconventional design, the Hillary Room typeface mixes traditional hand-brushed styles with a modern stencil font to create a unique cursive stencil font. Enjoy the curvy script design with its sturdy rhythm and flirty letters. We know you’ll love it too!
The Rodian stencil typeface is inspired by the subway stations of New York City. It features a standard stencil serif font with clean, stylish letters for that modern vibe. Use it across your creative projects including posters, stationery, and web design templates.
Get that authentic, handmade feel with the new Hand Stencil typeface. This calligraphy stencil font features a natural, hand-lettered design packaged with letters, numbers, and punctuation. It’s suitable for a variety of creative scenarios, including blog designs, home projects, and more!
Take your work to the next level with this bold stencil serif font named „Luna.” Suitable for standard promotional designs and more, this stencil typeface features tall capital and lowercase letters. Sign up to Envato Elements to try it out in seconds!
MM Cruella is a charismatic stencil letters font that will transform any design. It features a suite of sleek letters and numbers designed with creative spaces that are hard to forget. Use this stencil font download today to check out the full collection of stylish ligatures and varied font weights.
If you’re looking for the future in stencil font designs, then check out the Organa Caps font family. Its geometric aesthetic gives off a trendy, modern vibe with three type styles that are very readable. Certainly not your standard stencil font.
Go way, way back in time with the nostalgic Mind the Gap stencil bold font. Born out of the frustration of the typical daily commute in London, Mind the Gap is an authentic, hand-crafted stencil design with a military stencil font feel that we’re sure you’ll love. Use it for headers, T-shirts, and more!
A distressed stencil font that’s great for titles and big text. This version of Portico features a stencil design with a rough texture that will complement your signage or apparel. It’s a unique stencil alphabet font worth checking out.
STENCILAND captures the standard stencil font look but gives it a twist to create a unique and engaging font. Use this clever stencil alphabet font for logos, posters, signage, clothing, or any design projects.
Another creation that uses the standard stencil font as a jumping-off point to create something one of a kind, Exomoon is an uppercase display font with slightly irregular edges and a distinct handmade feel. There are three different stencil font designs included in the set: regular, letterpress, and lines.
Megaton is a big and bold distressed stencil font that offers uppercase multilingual letters, numbers, and punctuation. Use this stencil font download to create eye-catching posters and signs.
Capture the essence of spray paint stencil fonts with Autobahn, a bold display typeface full of street attitude. Use the bonus spray-paint drips to recreate that attitude in your own projects. If you’ve spent time hunting for the perfect spray paint stencil font, Autobahn is a top choice.
The Thunderbolt family is a mix of four stencil letters font styles composed of a regular form, a rounded form, and two accompanying stencil styles. Inspired by the numbers used on the legendary Thunderbolt planes, this stencil typeface family conveys a bold and imposing style that’s best suited for large text and display settings. This large range allows a great mix of styles and weights while setting text layouts.
A bold and modern font with a bit of an army stencil font vibe, Michelangelo comes in 15 styles to give you loads of creative leeway. Designed with powerful OpenType features in mind, the distressed stencil font works well for web, signage, corporate, and editorial design projects.
Stampline is a subtly distressed stencil font that would suit a number of projects including logotypes, labels, badges, packaging, etc. The stencil font download set comes complete with uppercase Latin characters, numbers, and punctuation.
Featuring both upper and lowercase letters, Fountencil is a great blackletter script stencil font. It’s also a multilingual font, so audiences all over can enjoy this type. This Old English serif stencil font works for your posters, invitations, and other creative projects.
Flair and style come first with Pearlone. This stencil letters font looks like it belongs on the cover of a lookbook or a fashion magazine. You’ll get both a regular and bold version of Pearlone in this stencil font download.
We wrap up our list of the best stencil typefaces from Envato Elements with ThirtyNine. It has a unique take on how script stencil fonts can look. It features a striking, geometric style. Try it for just about any project you’re taking on this year.
GraphicRiver is another terrific service that offers premium stencil alphabet fonts, but it works differently from Envato Elements.
While Envato Elements is the best source when you want to buy many fonts and other resources, GraphicRiver is better for those who are on a budget and only want to buy one font set at a time.
So if you’re interested in purchasing just one great stencil font instead of experimenting with several, then Graphic River may be a better choice for you. You can download a single font for one-time use for a low fee. Let’s take a look at some of the best stencil fonts offered there.
How’s this for an authentic spray-paint stencil font? Aerosola Stencil Font captures the stippling effect found around handmade stencils to give your digital lettering that textural quality. Should be a first choice for those looking for spray-paint stencil fonts.
A terrific distressed stencil font to bring a bit of the grunge vibe to your projects, Baskar Stc offers uppercase letters, numbers, various symbols, and punctuation.
A great stencil letters font for multiple projects and purposes, Addictive is a futuristic yet modern font that uses the style of stencil bold fonts to add a bit of an edge to what would be a very classic type.
Lovebox is exactly what you think of when you think of military stencil font or army stencil font. Use the caps lock for letters with a box around them and lowercase for positive letters. A great font to use when you want that old-school look.
A cross between a standard stencil font and a contemporary style font, Mongolax creates the effect of a font eroded by use. The stencil type set offers upper and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, and 551 glyphs.
Step into the future with this sublime stencil font. This exceptional typeface showcases sleek clean lines and curves for that trendy, modern look. And it’s designed to be easily readable. We truly hope you enjoy this special stencil letters font.
Launch a new app or brand with the charming Transsiberian typeface. This stencil letters font features a sleek, approachable design with rounded letters. A multipurpose font, this download includes letters, numbers, and even awesome icons!
Find a font that celebrates the next chapter of your life! The unique Bsakoja stencil serif font has a cool, western flair with quirky details and more. It’s available in a regular form but also includes this incredible stencil type version shown above. Try it today!
A stunning font on its own, this stencil version of the Giza Pro script stencil font will definitely make you drool. The cursive stencil font includes sophisticated letters and elegant curves for an overall clean, modern typeface. Use it on magazines, stationery, or any wedding project.
This complete collection of characters, numbers, and punctuation holds a special, sci-fi-inspired font. Melting Point is a futuristic typeface featuring rounded edges and floating lines. Create impressive designs with this unique stencil letters font!
Close your post-apocalyptic scenes with the grungy Ember stencil type font. This distressed stencil font features a grungy, textured finish for the perfect contrast against any clean design. Make bold headlines and more with this premium stencil font.
Handle your designs with care. Adding a simple stencil font can add a sweet retro flair to your work! Take this stencil font, for example. It features a charming, rustic design with thin letters and textured edges. Get into character with this easy-to-use stencil typeface!
Both Envato Elements and GraphicRiver are excellent resources for premium stencil fonts that are versatile and easy to use.
If you also regularly need mockups, icons, and other design resources, Elements offers unlimited downloads for one low monthly fee. Alternatively, if you just want to buy a single font, GraphicRiver is an excellent source for high-quality stencil fonts. Head over to either site today to download your favourite font.
And finally, if you want more information on other terrific font styles, check out these really helpful articles below:
Looking for cool easy fonts to draw by hand? In this article, we’ll look at some simple fonts to draw and where you can find them. We’ll also look at what you need to know about using cool fonts to draw by hand. There are some easy, cool fonts to draw out there, but you’ll want to make sure you’re doing it in a copyright-friendly way.
Hand lettering is much like how it sounds: it’s about drawing letters by hand. This would not include things like using fonts. Hand lettering is usually illustrative, but it can include a wide variety of techniques. For example, writing out a letter, in your handwriting, could be considered hand lettering. Or you could craft really artful and ornate letters.
Calligraphy is a skillful writing process, typically involving a brush or specialty pen. Hand-lettered work can mimic a calligraphic look, but might not necessarily use traditional calligraphy techniques. Likewise, you can have calligraphy-inspired fonts, but they are certainly not calligraphy in execution.
So hand lettering is largely about process. You can simulate the look and feel in many ways.
Want to learn more about hand lettering? We’ve got plenty of free tutorial content on Envato Tuts+, perfect for beginners and advanced artists alike. Start drawing your own hand-lettered projects today:
But where do you find inspiration when you’re hand-drawing letters? You may want to start by researching easy fonts to draw. There are so many beautiful fonts out there in so many styles. They can serve as a great starting point for your projects. However, there are a few things to note here:
Fonts are creative works, created by artists. While fonts are often used by designers, they are typically meant for derivative works. This means that font licenses typically allow the user to create something new with their font. It is typically not a license to resell the individual letters themselves.
However, letters themselves are usually not copyright-specific. So, for example, in most countries, no one holds a copyright over the letter „A”. We can all draw it and enjoy it without worrying about usage rights. Style is usually a similar case. For example, we can all design our own italic-style font or lettering.
This is why you’ll often see fonts in a similar style. There’s a difference between a similarity in style and tracing a font. Style can often result in an entirely new genre of font, and this can be a great thing. If you like an aesthetic, try your own take on it. For example, no one „owns” calligraphy. However, an artist does own the right to their individual artwork created in that aesthetic.
So what does this mean? As you look for creative fonts to draw, consider this:
If you purchase a font, you usually have full, commercial usage rights. This means you could create a derivative work using the specific font, for profit. This is helpful if you want to closely recreate a specific font by hand in your lettering project. Think of it like using a font in a commercial design project.
Otherwise, make sure to use the font as inspiration—not as a direct source. This means, for example, drawing your own work inspired by an aesthetic, rather than closely tracing it.
Keep in mind that many fonts do not allow the individual letters to be sold or reproduced for profit, as is.
If you’re just using hand-drawn easy fonts to draw for practice, then you’re probably fine experimenting at will. Just remember to think like an artist: respect the work of others as you would want your work respected too.
This is just a general guide to help get you started. Each font may vary. Make sure to check the font’s license so you know its terms.
That’s a lot to take in and consider, right? Well, here’s one solution that takes some of the guesswork out of font usage:
Find Cool Easy Fonts to Draw by Hand on Envato Elements
Looking for a huge collection of cool fonts to draw by hand, all licensed for commercial usage? Envato Elements is a perfect choice. One low fee gets you access to an entire library of fonts to try.
There are plenty of cool fonts to draw, like brush fonts, hand lettering, and more. There are also pretty fonts to draw, like calligraphy styles. All of the fonts are included for one low price, so you can use them for hand-lettering inspiration as well as other projects.
But Envato Elements includes a lot more than just fonts. You can also download brushes, perfect for digital hand lettering. Create your own fun fonts to draw in software like Procreate and Adobe Photoshop using specialty brushes. They’re all included with Envato Elements.
With unlimited downloads, you can download all the fonts, brushes, images, and more that you’d like. You can even pick up design templates and mockups. Check out this chalkboard mockup design. It’s perfect for testing out hand-lettering projects, especially if you like a chalk aesthetic. Simply download, add your art, and check out your photorealistic preview. This is also included with Envato Elements. Cool, right?
Want to see your hand-lettering design on this chalkboard? You can with this chalkboard mockup. Download it on Envato Elements today.
Cool Writing Fonts on Envato Elements
Here’s a look at some of the awesome fonts you can download on Envato Elements, right now. There are so many aesthetics to check out, from cool letters to draw to fancy fonts to draw. Remember, this entire font library is included. Download your favorites today.
Isn’t this a fun, hand-drawn font? Download this font or give this look a try yourself. Try experimenting with different line thicknesses and adding serifs.
This beautiful, calligraphy-style font has a modern look and feel. It would be a great fit on invitations. Try drawing some calligraphy-styled letters of your own.
An all-caps style can work well for hand lettering. Try your own handwriting in this style. Go for large capital letters and experiment with how they look.
Here is a chunkier take on a bold, hand-drawn brush font. Will you draw your letters with a brush? Or will you try digital brushes in Procreate or Photoshop?
Hand-drawn fonts can use other aesthetics too, like this chunky sans serif font. Try working with your handwriting and making it thicker or bolder. That can be a fun way to come up with a lettering idea.
Isn’t this cute font adorable? Try getting in touch with your cutesy side when you’re hand lettering. Add embellishments, curves, and other fun touches.
Here’s a fun, bouncy script font that takes strong influences from calligraphy. You could take a calligraphic approach or draw something like this in a more illustrative way.
A sketchy approach can make for a really fun aesthetic. Try drawing your own letters and partially coloring them in. This can work really well in chalk too.
These letters have a lot of energy in their long, sweeping strokes. It’s a great idea to practice lines like these if you plan to take a calligraphic approach.
Isn’t this chunky font cute? An idea like this one is nice and beginner-friendly too. Download this font or try your own lettering with chunky, filled-in counters.
Isn’t this handwriting font charming? Have you tried taking a look at your own script writing? Try it out with different pens too, to see if you can create different effects.
This font has a stylish aesthetic that’s also simple to draw. Download this font, or try drawing your own long, thin letters. They work well with and without serifs.
Brush fonts and brush letter strokes can be trickier to draw, but well worth the practice. Try this with a brush pen. Don’t want the mess? You can do this with digital painting too.
Here’s a sweet font that looks really welcoming. A curvy, hand-drawn style like this could work so well for decor, invitations, and other fun projects.
This handwritten font has a really popular aesthetic. It’s a fun one to try to draw in your own way too. Try adding serifs or mixing up the line width.
The width of your lines can make a big difference in your hand lettering, as you can see in this font. Think about what thickness you prefer for your project.
When it comes to more decorative letters, decide if you prefer single strokes or if you want to fully illustrate the letters first. Those are the two ways you could approach letters like this font.
You can also mix script elements with standalone letters, as you can see in this fun font. Remember, you can play with texture too. How about watercolor or chalk?
You can also add design elements to your letters, like the playful lines we see in this cute font. Download this font or try experimenting with lines in your own hand lettering.
We’ve looked at several chunky fonts, but how about a really thin aesthetic? This can pair really well with a long, tall script look. Give a look like this one a try.
Notice the variation in line width in this font. This is something you can do with varying pressure when you’re drawing letters by hand. It makes for a stylish effect.
These stylish letters have a musical quality, don’t they? It’s so elegant. The same principles can apply here too: press harder for thicker lines and lighter for thinner ones.
There’s something so welcoming and friendly about handwriting, isn’t there? Try out a font like this one or experiment with your own writing for personal messages.
Even More Cool Writing Fonts on GraphicRiver
If you’re not necessarily looking for an entire library of fonts, check out GraphicRiver. It’s an awesome choice if you prefer a la carte downloads. Only download one or two cool writing fonts. Only pay for what you need.
Check out these inspiring fonts from GraphicRiver that you can download now:
Scripts and calligraphy aesthetics can really make for a romantic look. Isn’t it sweet how the heart here connects with the strokes? Try adding shapes and other design elements to your hand lettering too.
You can also leave parts of your letter cut out, as we see in this fun font design. When you’re hand lettering, you can get really illustrative and creative with your letters.
Check out all the movement in this lettering. It almost feels as if it’s flying forward, doesn’t it? The angle at which you draw your letters really makes a difference.
Handwriting can come in so many different styles too. Try out your handwriting and take a look at the writing of others too. There might be aesthetic qualities in both you’d like to try.
Or you can keep a script more uniform, like this type design. Notice, too, that not every letter necessarily has to connect. You can get creative with that.
We can take that same look and push it towards a regal aesthetic by adding some decorative strokes and curves. Try adding extras to the ends of your letters.
What Hand-Lettering Project Will You Create?
So, if you’re looking for cool fonts to draw, which will you try? Consider starting off with your own easy, cool fonts. Try your handwriting and add a creative twist, for example. Your own handwriting can make the perfect hand-drawn font. It’s a good starting point. Or start from an illustrative place and go with a decorative look. There are so many directions you could try.
Remember, you can download thousands of cool writing fonts on Envato Elements, all for one low price. It’s an awesome deal if you love fonts.
Or, if you’re just looking for one or two cool writing fonts, check out GraphicRiver. It’s a great choice if you’d prefer single downloads.
Looking for even more font inspiration? Check out these collections from Envato Tuts+:
In the following steps, you will learn how to create a pastel gradient background in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. This timeless trend will give a soothing effect to any design. All you have to do is look for the best gradient combinations.
Looking to download some pastel gradient backgrounds? Head on over to Envato Elements, where you can find a large selection of premium backgrounds, including this trendy pastel gradient background with AI and JPG files.
What You’ll Learn in This Pastel Gradient Tutorial
How to create a pastel gradient background in Illustrator
How to create a pastel gradient background in Photoshop
What You’ll Need
You will need the following image in order to create a pastel blue gradient background:
Hit Control-N to create a new document. Select Pixels from the Units drop-down menu, enter 1920 in the width box and 1080 in the height box, and then click that More Settings button. Select RGB for the Color Mode, set the Raster Effects to Screen (72 ppi), and then click Create Document.
Step 2
Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a shape the size of your artboard (1920 x 1080 px). You can do this manually or you can click on the artboard to open the Rectangle window. Enter the size values and then click OK.
Let’s start with the most basic method that you can use to create a pastel aesthetic background. Make sure that your rectangle is selected, open the Gradient panel (Window > Gradient), and click the gradient thumbnail to apply the default black to white linear gradient.
Double-click the left gradient color and change it to R=131 G=132 B=240, and then double-click the right gradient color and change it to R=251 G=231 B=185. Simply click on the gradient bar to add a third gradient color, set the Location to 50%, and change the color to R=244 G=145 B=220.
You can set the angle of this pastel pink gradient from the Gradient panel, or you can select the Gradient Tool (G) from your toolbar and adjust the angle of the gradient directly on the shape.
Step 3
The second type of gradient that you can use to create a pastel aesthetic wallpaper is a radial gradient. You can easily apply one using the button from the Gradient panel.
Pick the Gradient Tool (G) to adjust the size of this gradient and use that black dot handle to squeeze or stretch the gradient as you wish.
Step 4
The third type of gradient that you can use to create a pastel aesthetic background is a freeform gradient. You can easily apply one using the button from the Gradient panel.
Illustrator will add four color stops to your rectangle. Select the color stops one by one and adjust the colors as shown below.
Step 5
You can always add a new color stop with a simple click, or you can delete a selected color stop.
Using the circular area around the color stop, you can increase or decrease the spread of that color. This value can also be adjusted from the Gradient panel. Select the bottom left color stop, and increase the Spread to 100%.
Simply click and drag a color stop to change its location.
Step 6
Another way of creating a pastel gradient wallpaper is by using a mesh.
Create a rectangle that covers your entire artboard and make sure that it stays selected. Pick the Mesh Tool (U) from your toolbar and click in the center of your selection to turn your shape into a mesh. Now you can easily select these mesh points and change their colors as you wish.
Switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select the leftmost mesh points and change the color to R=107 G=245 B=202. Select the rightmost mesh points and set the color to R=253 G=225 B=186. Then select the middle mesh points and change the color to R=252 G=128 B=180.
Step 7
With your mesh and the Mesh Tool (U) still selected, add a new point as shown in the first image.
Switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the mesh points highlighted in the second image, and change the color to R=235 G=240 B=168.
Step 8
If you want to adjust the position of a mesh point or a mesh point handle, simply click and drag it using the Direct Selection Tool (A).
Pick the Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C) when you want to drag a mesh point handle independently or when you want to click a mesh point and drag new handles.
Step 9
Let’s add a subtle texture to this mesh. Select it and press Control-G to Group it.
Make sure that your group stays selected, open the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance), and add a new fill using the Add New Fill button.
Select it and set the color to black (R=0 G=0 B=0), and then lower its Opacity to 70% and change the Blending Mode to Overlay.
Step 10
With that black fill still selected, go to Effect > Sketch > Reticulation. Enter the settings shown in the following image and then click OK.
Let’s start with the most basic method that you can use to create a pastel gradient in Photoshop.
Create a 1920 x 1080 px document and select the Gradient Tool (G) from your toolbar, and then click the gradient thumbnail from the control panel to open the Gradient Editor.
Double-click the left gradient slider and change the color to R=131 G=132 B=240, and then double-click the right gradient slider and change the color to R=251 G=231 B=185. Click somewhere close to the bottom edge of the gradient bar to add a third gradient slider. Select this new color stop, set the Location to 50%, and change the color to R=244 G=145 B=220.
Once you’re done, you can click the New button to save your pastel gradient in the Presets panel, which will make it a lot easier to use it later.
Click OK to close the Gradient Editor panel. Focus on your canvas, and drag a path from the bottom left corner to the top right corner to easily apply your pastel pink gradient.
Step 2
Alternatively, you can apply a pastel gradient on a layer using the Layer Style dialog box.
Move to the Layers panel (Window > Layers) and add a second layer using the Create New Layer button.
Double-click this new layer to open the Layer Style dialog box, and enable the Gradient Overlay. Click the gradient thumbnail and select your saved gradient from that list, and then feel free to adjust the angle or the other properties as you need.
Step 3
The second type of gradient that you can use to create a pastel gradient background is a radial gradient.
You can easily switch to a Radial gradient using the Style dropdown menu. Keep in mind that you can manually adjust the center point of the gradient directly on the canvas. Simply click and drag to change this location.
Step 4
Besides linear and radial gradients, in Photoshop you can also apply Angle gradients, Reflected gradients, or Diamond gradients.
Step 5
The Gradient Overlay technique can also be used to apply a pastel gradient to a photo.
Download this Heavy clouds from above photo and drag it inside your document. Double-click this new layer in the Layers panel to open the Layer Style dialog box and activate the Gradient Overlay.
Apply your saved gradient and change the Blending Mode to Hard Light to make the gradient blend with the photo.
Step 6
You can always try different gradients or blend modes. Feel free to use this pastel rainbow gradient or look for the best gradient combinations that suit your need.
Congratulations! You’re Done!
Here is how your cool gradient background should look. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and can apply these techniques in your future projects. Don’t hesitate to share your final result in the comments section.
Feel free to adjust that final pastel rainbow gradient as you wish. You can find some great sources of inspiration on GraphicRiver, with interesting solutions to improve your pastel gradient wallpaper.
Popular Pastel Aesthetic Backgrounds From Envato Elements
Envato Elements is an excellent resource for pastel aesthetic wallpapers. Here’s a short list of some of the most popular pastel aesthetic wallpapers that you can find.
Don’t waste your time looking for the best gradient color. This collection comes with the best gradient combinations and can be easily used to give your presentation a touch of color.
This massive collection of bright and vibrant pastel aesthetic backgrounds can be used for presentation backgrounds, foregrounds, websites, book covers, and more.
Want to Learn More?
We have loads of tutorials on Envato Tuts+, from beginner to intermediate level. Take a look!
