Michael Doret (of Alphabet Soup in L.A.), one of my favorite lettering artists and typeface designers, has been working on a new font that he says is in the spirit of black letter, “but I think it has a lot of other references going on as well.” He told me that he doesn’t usually dredge up typographic samples from the past and clean them up for contemporary use “and this new face, Dark Angel, is no exception.” Although, I see a little flicker of Lucian Bernhard and the Sachplakat in it.
It started out as a sketch for a logo for the California Angels (now the Anaheim Angels) done in a blackletter-ish style. “Over the years, I kept going back to that sketch,” he explains, “and thinking of how I cold turn it into a useful font.” Last year he decided devote his time to its development. “I’m very pleased with the result. I think it’s very different from any other blackletter or gothic script style fonts. I’ve tried to make it seem familiar, yet totally new.”
Dark Angel is a perfect face for the emo and goth among you, but with its historical underpinning it also suggests more contemporary uses. I show it here, in part, because I am truly a fan of Doret’s nuanced renderings. The sample settings are sculptural letterforms, a pleasure to the eye, whether or not you are a Satanist or work in a scriptorium.
More can be learned at Doret’s own blog here.
Additional Resource: Typography for the People
The eBook Typography for the People is full of directional and hand-rendered examples of signage from around the world.