Forty fantastical fonts! Forty ways to give your creative project some genre magic! Check out this collection of favorites that I’ve hand-picked for free download!
If you’re like me, design is a large part of the creative projects you engage in. I often find myself throwing open Photoshop, building out a piece of digital art for my website, my stream, a table-top game I’m running, or similar, and feel the need to go thematic with my font choices.
Nowadays, design elements are of a minimalist nature, and post-modern techniques downplay styles that are synchronous with historic, folk-inspired, fantastical, animated, or speculative fiction genres.
Obviously, this is an observation I’m making without a ton of educated peer-reviewed research, but its also easy to see from almost every advertising/marketing outlet on the internet now.
There's a font for everything!
Because I dabble in things like world-building, sci-fi/fantasy fiction, Twitch live streaming, Dungeons and Dragons/table-top gaming, and other geekery, there’s an avalanche of projects which are enhanced by (tactful) use of design and presentation software. Some of those designs are shown below, which I will let speak for themselves.
It was soon after a couple of these I realized that I needed to pluck out a batch of the royalty-free fonts I’ve gathered and provide them to my delightful site visitors! A way to provide a cool design resource as a kindness to the community. … So, I did just that!
What I’m about to show you is a personally curated compilation of fonts which exist as some of my favorites! Many of them can be found individually on sites like 1001Fonts, Google Fonts, and other places, but the convenience of grabbing a single ZIP file of fonts is a time saver!
A teensy, tiny disclaimer about font styles.
Granted, these fonts are not being chosen for how well they’re readable in a long piece of prose. If you’re looking for a great article and listing of elegant modern fonts that are free, I recommend this article, which in part sort of inspired this article.
These fonts are representative of heading styles, bold labels, and limited-use or genre-specific application. Some are cheesy. Some are exaggerated. Some are out of left field. All of them deserve my love!
So, here’s an infographic display of these fonts for your pleasure, along with an easily accessible download link for your convenience!
Happy designing!
How should I use these fonts?
Any way you like! … You may use them in graphic designs, special pieces of prose, in a banner or presentation, and plenty of other options. These have been chosen to give your work a historical, a fantastical, or a mythical feel.
Many of them favor a heading, banner, or logo type of design. However, this is an eclectic collection meant to touch up on various styles. Some belong in more historic themes, whether it is medieval, renaissance, victorian or similar. Some are more modern with cultural flair. Some belong in more animated or comic-related designs. Some are make for interesting branding options.
All of this said, I regret that I am not a design expert, and am not one to recommend font pairings or to provide best-practice design advice. This is more of a share of my personal favorites.
Can I use these fonts for commercial purposes?
Yes. All of the chosen fonts are free for personal and commercial use, whether it be for print or digital media, per their specific license listed below. No payment required to use them. However, selling the font itself is not permitted under any of the licenses.
How do I install the fonts in this pack?
Each font in this pack is a file-type that is recognizable in most operating systems. To install a font, first be sure to close the application you wish to use the font in. Then, extract the ZIP file to a new folder.
Once done, the installation steps depend on your OS:
- Windows
- Double-click on the font file to open it, and click the “Install” button – (Individual)
- Select a batch of individual files, right click, and select “Install” – (Multiple)
- Mac
- Open the “Font Book” application, and Drag-and-Drop each font into the app.
Where can I find more fonts like this?
Free fonts like these are available via many different font vendor platforms.
Credits and Licenses
Alanis Hand – Freeware. (James Paul Fajardo)*
Almendra – Public domain / OFL
Ancient God – Custom license.txt: “Free to use personal and commercial works”
Arty Signature – Custom ReadMe. “Free to use personal/commercial as long as not sold directly”
AvQest – Freeware. (Gemfonts. Graham Meade)*
Bangers – Public domain / OFL
Black Chancery – Public domain / OFL
Blackwood Castle – Public domain / OFL
Caesar Dressing – Public domain / OFL
Carolingia Bigfoot – Custom txt license. Freeware non-commercial.
Cinzel – Public domain / OFL
Comorant Infant – Public domain / OFL
Evil Empire – Free font by Tup Wanders: http://www.tupwanders.nl. CC BY 3.0**
Fantasy Capitals – Freeware. (Vladimir Nikolic)*
Germania – Public domain / OFL
Great Vibes – Public domain / OFL
Grusskarten Gotisch – Freeware (Dieter Steffmann)*
Hamlet – Public domain / OFL
IM Fell DW Pica – Public domain / OFL
IM Full Double Pica – Public domain / OFL
Jessen – Public domain / OFL
Kelt Caps Freehand – Freeware. (Gemfonts. Graham Meade)*
Kings Cross – Freeware (Dieter Steffmann)*
KJV 1611 (King James Version) – Public domain / OFL
Magic School – Freeware (Michael Hagemann)*
Maxine Script – Freeware (Vic Fieger)*
Medieval Sharp – Public domain / OFL
Metal Macabre – Freeware (Bolt Cutter Design)*
Metal Mania – Public domain / OFL
Metamorphous – Public domain / OFL
Moria Citadel – Freeware (Rook543)*
Ninja Naruto – Freeware (sk89q, The Risen Realm, Keiichi Anime Forever)
Norse – Freeware (Joël Carrouché)*
Pure Evil II – Freeware (2020) (Chris Hansen)*
Requiem – Freeware (2020) (Chris Hansen)*
Saucy Jack – Public domain / OFL
Sell Your Soul – Freeware (2020) (Chris Hansen)*
Tachi/Samoerai – Custom ReadMe. “Free to use, designed for all of your personal and commercial use.”
Uncial Antiqua – Public domain / OFL
Woodwarrior – Free font by Anton Bohlin: http://antonbohlin.com. CC BY 3.0**
OFL refers to Open Font License, which renders the font free to use for personal or commercial purposes, but does not allow the font to be sold directly. In this case, it is being distributed freely.
* Freeware means that the font has been freely distributed without license text across multiple platforms. This suggests that it is free for personal/commercial use. With that said, attribution is provided to be on the safe side.
** These are based on the Creative Commons Attribution License, and attribution is provided accordingly. Distributed in their original form. You can find the license here!
Matthew dabbles with other tools of creativity. Check them out here:
- How the IGDN Supports Diverse Voices in Tabletop Gaming - November 13, 2024
- Storytelling: Three Act Structure, and How it Works! (Act Two) - September 30, 2024
- 5 Awesome Fantasy Map-Making Tools on Steam - September 9, 2024
