NEW! ART-TYPE, Book of illustrated fonts.

I’ve released the third volume of my project designing illustrated digital letters using AI. It is a multi-year exploration using free AI tools to create illustrated typography for the application of print on demand product development and marketing. In total, I have produced about 100 complete alphabets of capital letters with special characters and coordinating patterns so far.

The set is found on many bookseller's websites internationally. AMAZON and I will be offering 5 sets of these three softcover print volumes absolutely free on Good Reads.

MINT, An illustrated alphabet in two weights.

To celebrate the new year, I researched AI generators whose business model commits to use public domain works and to compensate artists for the content that they use to train. Closely (though arguably not perfectly) aligned with my criteria, I chose Adobe Firefly to use exclusively in my creative and production workflow for my first new illustrated alphabet of 2026– MINT, in two weights. I used about 8,000 generative credits in my creative process that, after extensive design and art production, resulted in 52 illustrated capital letters, several patterns, and a dozen images for POD product mock-ups. If patronizing ethical priorities in AI will encourage tech companies to reject using content that infringes on copyright or intellectual property rights in programming their AI services, then I am all in. You can see the whole alphabet and products here on the this Art-Type web page.

Found on many bookseller's websites internationally. AMAZON

EMIN'S TOYS, Things you love that love you back.

This is a little book that started out as a design for digital letters and evolved into a short children's story. I've included two pages with the whole animal toy alphabet that you can cut out and turn into a game, trading cards or whatever suits your imagination. You can also see the whole alphabet and products here on the OGRES page.

Found on many bookseller's websites internationally. AMAZON

ART•TYPE: book of illustrated fonts. Two volumes.

(From the Intro, Volume One) I came of age in a remarkable time for typography. When I arrived at Pratt Institute out of high school, I had little experience designing type except to draw logos for local businesses, letters as illustration for the yearbook and to paste up galleys as the editor of the school paper. Then I met David Gates, my Type teacher, who threw the doors open to a whole new world. Type was not a musty old art form.

In my senior year, I won a Guest Editorship at Condé Nast, landing on Madison Ave after graduation. My type world exploded. Photo Lettering was near my office and I took the opportunity to sketch typefaces, walking over to submit them in person. When I first started working, our type was set in metal using samples from The Composing Room to design pages. Type technology sped from metal to film to digital in a few short years. I admired the typographic designs of Ed Benguiat, Herb Lubalin, and Tom Carnase. I loved the U&LC magazine and their sample books of fresh new typefaces like Avant Garde Gothic.

One of my most vivid memories of my Media Studies program at The New School was the day in 1984 that one of the students walked into our round-table class and placed a little Mac in the middle of it. Everything changed. Rubber cement and Xacto knives had been the staples of my art office supplies. Soon everything would be done on the computer. It took a while, but not long.

And so it was natural two years ago, when I learned about the availability of AI to the general public, one of my first thoughts was, “What can you do with type?” Here on the pages of this first in a series of little books is my answer. You can make really fun, beautiful type. In my case, I have used that type to decorate clothing, home decor and gear using POD, print on demand. (Words don't just belong on paper, e.g. Jenny Holzer et al.)

Free AI is an amazing advancement for designers and art directors. But it is not perfect and it still requires ideas, direction and a good deal of production to become print worthy. Prompting requires thought, planning and a clear use of language. An alphabet design does not spring forth like Athena from the head of Zeus—yet. I am confident that my designs are as good as they can be at the time within the limitations of the tools and my abilities. When I began this project, I was working on a ten-year-old computer using software that was long outdated. My rural internet access was a hot spot on my cell phone. Last year, my computer died. My file sizes grew to exceed the capacity of my cell phone. Of necessity, I am now working on a new computer, an up-to-date operating system, design software and broadband internet access.

Inherent in using AI in the creative workflow is also the limitation of AI at that moment. What was remarkable in year one of this project, was consistently unacceptable by year two and all of those early designs begged to be re-done. The concepts were still legitimate but the digital execution had advanced so much that my first year’s work was trashed and everything regenerated. I think this will be one of the enduring characteristics of AI digital design life.

For each typographic design, I present here the alphabet, one letter, coordinating patterns and examples of POD application. I have provided a brief description for each typographic design and sometimes comment on the process of creating it.

Found on many bookseller's websites internationally. AMAZON