Creating remaining Initials

[lutetiensis]

Note: #115 (comment).

This ticket spawns from #109. It keeps tracks of the current efforts to provide missing initials in EB Garamond.

Here are the steps to add a new initial:

1. Create three SVG files for Initials-Fill1 (the decorations), Initials-Fill2 (the actual letter) and Initials (an exact combination of the previous ones). The glyphs must be 1000x1000 and fully vectorial.
2. Name them X.svg (X being the letter, eg. V.svg) and put them in the following directories: SFD/EBGaramond-{Initials,InitialsF1,InitialsF2}.sfdir/ (0bed85b).
3. Run make and check the output.

Let me know if you want to volunteer for any TBD task.

Letter	Status	Source	Owner
A	Lines were cut in F1. Review (#118)	9716	@lutetiensis
B	Review (#119)	9892	@lutetiensis
C	Review (#117)	9930	@lutetiensis
D	Needs smoothing, F1 & F2 don't exist	9928	@lutetiensis
E	To do	9694	@lutetiensis
F	✓	10661
G	✓	10511
H	To do	10138	@georgd
I	To do	10683	TBD
J	To do	non-existent	TBD
K	To do	non-existent	TBD
L	Needs smoothing	9669	TBD
M	Review (#120)	10644	@astoeriko
N	Needs smoothing	10512	@lutetiensis
O	✓	9679
P	To do	10697	TBD
Q	Needs smoothing	9796	TBD
R	To do	10168	TBD
S	To do	10033	@astoeriko
T	✓	9739
U	To do	non-existent	TBD
V	✓ (#114)	9737
W	To do	non-existent	TBD
X	To do	non-existent	TBD
Y	To do	non-existent	TBD
Z	To do	non-existent	TBD

[lutetiensis]

JKUWXYZ initials don't exist, but the letters could be borrowed from's Dürer's capital letters (and here) which seem very close.

[bt2901]

This link does not have JUW.

[bt2901]

I think the J from this page comes close:

ETA: or from here https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Various-InitialLetters/pages/alphabets-18thc-amsterdam-155/

[georgd]

JKUWXYZ initials don't exist, but the letters could be borrowed from's Dürer's capital letters which seem very close.

I’m sorry, but the Dürer letters are a different style, created almost 100 years earlier, still closer to calligraphic writing than the Garamond style letters.

I think the J from this page comes close:

ETA: or from here https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Various-InitialLetters/pages/alphabets-18thc-amsterdam-155/

Both of them are even further away from the Garamond style than Dürer's. Although I hate to say it, I’m quite confident that we won’t find a good drop-in for JKUWXY and that they will have to be drawn from scratch. A tiny chance might exist for Z but it’s not very probable.

[lutetiensis]

JKUWXYZ initials don't exist, but the letters could be borrowed from's Dürer's capital letters which seem very close.

I’m sorry, but the Dürer letters are a different style, created almost 100 years earlier, still closer to calligraphic writing than the Garamond style letters.

You're right, but that could serve as a base if we intend to create the missing initials. :)

[georgd]

Oh, the letters themselves are not the issue for me. I have sources for most of them and I'm capable of drawing the missing ones. It's the ornament what I'm struggling with.

[bt2901]

I see, the ornaments are indeed difficult to imitate. Could something from Historic design in printing serve as inspiration?

[bt2901]

After some thought, I think that initials by William Morris could be a good fit.

These designs should be public domain, e.g. see https://freesvg.org/william-morris-letter-i
I was unable to find all letters collected in a single place with proper attribution, but it appears that this website got them all as font: https://www.dafont.com/goudy-initialen.font
And this one provides them as SVG: https://pixabay.com/vectors/alphabet-english-font-vintage-4244798/

That's my super quick and dirty mock-up of what would initials look like if added to the current font. It is obvious that the design should be significantly simplified, but the ornamental elements (curved lines, leaves, and flowers) and overall shape seem consistent with EB Garamond.

[lutetiensis]

@georgd I haven't abandonned this. My computer died a month ago and I cannot work on this anymore... for now...