Oracle Bone Script Font

[clawgrip]

I decided to give this thing its own thread after all.

If anyone doesn't know, oracle bone script is the earliest form of Chinese writing. I am making a font that is a hybrid oracle bone/modern script in that the glyph contours are faithful to the oracle bone script, but the character inventory reflects the modern script. This means discarding variants and obsolete characters, while creating new oracle bone characters for modern characters that didn't exist at the time oracle bone script was used.

Not a conlang accomplishment, but there's nowhere else to post this, and it's not worth its own thread, so..

I have started working on an oracle bone script font.



This is my second attempt, and I'm fairly pleased with it. The first version wasn't satisfying, but this one looks okay I think.

Very nice! I had only planned to browse, but this was worth logging in on the work computer to comment on!

Do keep us informed of your progress! I'd love to see where this goes, and how far you get.

My intention with this font (if it is ever finished) is not to faithfully recreate oracle bone script's character inventory, because it is filled with variant characters, obsolete characters, and lacks many modern characters. Instead, I'm trying to make a one-to-one modern-style oracle bone script. I will just choose one representative glyph for each modern character, won't bother with obscure or obsolete characters, and will probably have to invent new characters for ones that didn't exist in actual oracle bone script, though this will likely mostly just be simple juxtaposed compounds. See how many years this takes me.

Even so, cool beans!

I'd love to see what you come up with for some of those characters that didn't exist at the time.

I'll give you some specific examples of this:



働 and 畑 are two characters that were invented in Japan and thus obviously there are no equivalent characters in oracle bone script. 部 is a character that is not attested in oracle bone script.

働: This one is simple. I took the oracle bone character for 動 and just added 人 on it like the modern character (where 人 appears in an abbreviated form). I put it on the right instead of the left, because it looks better. This sort of swapping is pretty common in the transition from old to modern characters, so it's no big deal.

畑: I created 畑 by combining the characters 火 and 田, just like the modern character. The difference is that 火 doesn't appear on the side in oracle bone script, so I put it on the bottom, where it is often found.

部: I could find no examples of 立 and 口 stacked in anything older than seal script, so I wasn't totally sure what to do. What I did then was look at 言 in oracle bone script (which in seal script is similar to 立 + 口) and used it to guess what this character might look like. I then added the right side radical to it, which is attested in oracle bone script.

[Thrice Xandvii]

Very cool! And I almost suggested a thread, but, didn't want to seem any more overzealous than I already did.

For some reason, likely the symmetricality and straight lines of 山/火 and 田 don't seem to fit with all the curves that are otherwise so pervasive in oracle bone script. As I am not too familiar with the style, is that really what they looked like?

[clawgrip]

They sure did look like that. You have to remember that oracle bone script was of course written on bones and shells, so there are a lot of straight lines. 田 actually had even crazier versions that I didn't use. I've scanned the entry for 田 from my book. Take a look!.

I'll see if I can find a few more boxy ones to add soon to compare.

[clawgrip]

A little update: This is the inventory of characters now:



I don't know why, but I think 垂 is hilarious.

[Lao Kou]

I don't know why, but I think 垂 is hilarious.

If it represents drooping willow branches, I find it rather evocative. My sniggery one is 憂. A bird giving you the evil eye?



Chuckles aside, this project is überkuhl.

[Ahzoh]

I don't know why, but I think 垂 is hilarious.

If it represents drooping willow branches, I find it rather evocative. My sniggery one is 憂. A bird giving you the evil eye?

I thought it was a headless person.

[Thrice Xandvii]

I am amused by the somewhat phallic state of 心. And 冬 looks like headphones.

Chuckles aside, this project is überkuhl.

Indeed it is. I just can't get over how much the visual style of the language has changed so much since that time. (I would surmise that the medium used to write had a lot to do with it.)

[Lambuzhao]

I am a fan of Seal Script, and I cannot but be a fan of Oracle Bone Script.
Kudos on the work, Clawgrip!

But, just to let you know, someone did an Oracle Bone/drippy brush calligraphy mashup font.
https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/okaycat/oracle-bone/

I don't know if you'd agree with the aesthetic, but hey, it's out there.

甲骨文!

[Lambuzhao]

I don't know why, but I think 垂 is hilarious.

If it represents drooping willow branches, I find it rather evocative. My sniggery one is 憂. A bird giving you the evil eye?



Chuckles aside, this project is überkuhl.

Dude, this owl is überkuhl. Did it drink from the Well of Mimir?

He reminds me of this owl:
http://www.birdsandblooms.com/wp-conten ... 00x194.jpg

[clawgrip]

I am a fan of Seal Script, and I cannot but be a fan of Oracle Bone Script.
Kudos on the work, Clawgrip!

But, just to let you know, someone did an Oracle Bone/drippy brush calligraphy mashup font.
https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/okaycat/oracle-bone/

I don't know if you'd agree with the aesthetic, but hey, it's out there.

甲骨文!

Yeah, I came across that one while looking around. The style is fine, but obviously not what I am going for. That's like oracle bone done with a modern-style calligraphy. I am using traditional calligraphy with modern character inventory. So similar fusion of old and new, but different goals and products.

[anacharis]

Gorgeous! the only thing that strikes me as a little jarring is is that the right angles in 田 and especially 畑 look a little too perfect- maybe have the lower horizontal strokes echo the slight curve of the top one, or use the tapered-at-the-ends stroke you have in characters like 一 and 王.

[DesEsseintes]

An I the only one to find the character for 心 rather suggestive of another body part?

[Lao Kou]

Am I the only one to find the character for 心 rather suggestive of another body part?

I am amused by the somewhat phallic state of 心.

Apparently not.

[Ahzoh]

An I the only one to find the character for 心 rather suggestive of another body part?

You guys are crazy!
It is clearly a bird's foot or an ear of corn.

[Thrice Xandvii]

Technically, it should be neither, 心 means heart or spirit.

[CMunk]

Thoughts in order of the characters' appearance in your picture:

Woman and mother are just so cool, like lightning from a cloud.
How do you differentiate between fire and mountain? Were they identical in oracle bone script?
Cool that the dog actually resembles a dog!
Left and right will be much more easy to remember in this font ;)
The bird looks like a bird :)
The turtle also looks like a turtle (but it does in traditional Chinese too)

[clawgrip]

Gorgeous! the only thing that strikes me as a little jarring is is that the right angles in 田 and especially 畑 look a little too perfect- maybe have the lower horizontal strokes echo the slight curve of the top one, or use the tapered-at-the-ends stroke you have in characters like 一 and 王.

I've been thinking of altering it slightly. I made the character early on, but I'm starting to establish a bit more of a design style, so I think I can alter them to be more in line with it.

[clawgrip]

Thoughts in order of the characters' appearance in your picture:

Woman and mother are just so cool, like lightning from a cloud.
How do you differentiate between fire and mountain? Were they identical in oracle bone script?
Cool that the dog actually resembles a dog!
Left and right will be much more easy to remember in this font ;)
The bird looks like a bird :)
The turtle also looks like a turtle (but it does in traditional Chinese too)

火 and 山 are not consistently differentiated in oracle bone script. I've been thinking about this though, and it looks like 火 more often has a rounded bottom, and 山 rarely does. I think I will probably alter the characters to match that.

[eldin raigmore]

A little update: This is the inventory of characters now:
http://www.vgfun.net/lee/langpage/scrip ... bone03.png
I don't know why, but I think 垂 is hilarious.

What is fifth from right on second from bottom?

[Xonen]

A little update: This is the inventory of characters now:
http://www.vgfun.net/lee/langpage/scrip ... bone03.png
I don't know why, but I think 垂 is hilarious.

What is fifth from right on second from bottom?

心 means heart or spirit.