(x) Skateboarder - ITC Grouch {Mark S}

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Bald Condensed
18 Nov 2005 — 10:49am

Looks like some very black condensed Caslon, something from the seventies.

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jupiterboy
18 Nov 2005 — 11:28am

Yeh, but that lc “k” with the ball. God I loved that magazine. Sigh.

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dezcom
18 Nov 2005 — 12:11pm

We used to do stuff with photostats and amberlith in those days so don't discount hand touchup.

ChrisL

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Dan Weaver
18 Nov 2005 — 2:50pm

Chris you will have to explain what a photostat and amberlith are to most young computer generation designers.

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Mark Simonson
18 Nov 2005 — 3:00pm

The font is ITC Grouch, condensed a bit with a customized k. Grouch and the recently ID'd Grizzly are among the ITC fonts which were available at one time only from Bitstream, but no more. Somebody should give ITC a good talking to. If they're going to go around revoking distribution rights, at least they should offer it themselves.

Edit: Actually the k is an alternate that was part of the original design. It included a few other alternate characters (which were not included in the Bitstream version).

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david h
18 Nov 2005 — 3:12pm

"Amberlith: Also known as camera amber. Brand name for a red or orange coated acetate sheet used on a mechanical or on artwork as marking material to position halftones, ares of color, and tints. The coating is 'stippable'; that is, it can be selectively cut and peeled away to create outlines and silhouettes"

"Photostat: Trade name for a photoprint, more commonly rreferred to as a stat. Stats are most commonly used in mechanicals to indicate size, cropping, and position of continuous tone copy. the original copy is photographed by a special cam,era and produces a paper negative. From this a positive stat is made

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dezcom
18 Nov 2005 — 3:45pm

When you "mix and match" stats, amberlths, swivel knives, and paint and ink, you get the old school version of Adobe Illustrator--the Adobe was mud and the illustrator was you :-)

All the above stuff plus an airbrush was Photoshop circa 1968.

ChrisL

PS: The "Special Camera" I used was a Robertson but there were many others.

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Miss Tiffany
18 Nov 2005 — 3:53pm

Amberlith was the orange and Rubylith was for the red

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dezcom
18 Nov 2005 — 4:00pm

"Amberlith was the orange and Rubylith was for the red"

That's right Tiff! But are not old enough to know that!

ChrisL

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Miss Tiffany
18 Nov 2005 — 4:21pm

Yes. I am. Considering my father started the ad agency when I was 11 and I was always underfoot. :^P

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dezcom
18 Nov 2005 — 4:30pm

Tiff, you are still underfoot :-)

ChrisL

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jonathanlawley
19 Nov 2005 — 7:38am

Thanks Mark. How did you find this out? I can't believe such a good typeface has been resigned to history. It's very sad because I have the perfect use for it and looking at it on MyFonts its tantalisingly close.

Thanks again

Jonathan

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jupiterboy
19 Nov 2005 — 8:06am

Look for vintage phototype books that have the face and redraw what you need if it is something short. Not impossible, but a quest for sure.

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Mark Simonson
19 Nov 2005 — 11:35am

It was one of the fonts that was included in the original Bitstream Type Shop CD-ROM in which you could get the whole Bitstream library for about $500. They still sell a product like that, but without any ITC faces.

Other "lost" ITC fonts from that era (many never digitized at all) include Aki Lines, Bernase Roman, LSC Book (3 weights + italics), Caslon 223 (not to be confused with Caslon 224), Caslon Headline, LSC Condensed, Didi, Firenze, Milano (neither of the two by that name on ITC's site are ITC Milano), Neon, Tom's Roman, Grizzly, and Uptight Neon.

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jonathanlawley
19 Nov 2005 — 3:31pm

I have written to ITC to find out why they are no longer avalible.

Out of interest does anyone still have copies of ITC Grizzly and ITC Grouch bought before they were removed from the Bitstream library?

Jonathan

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jonathanlawley
19 Nov 2005 — 3:33pm

ITC wrote:
Hello Jonathan,

I'm sorry; we have no immediate plans to release ITC Grouch or Grizzly asdigital fonts.

Allan

Thats a shame

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Bald Condensed
20 Nov 2005 — 8:17am

> Out of interest does anyone still have copies of ITC Grizzly and ITC Grouch bought before they were removed from the Bitstream library?

I purchased the Bitstream Typeshop CD-ROM when starting out and upgraded it to the TypeHigh CD-ROM when they still had loads of yummy ITC faces on it. Never regretted it -- terrific value for money, better digitisations than most of the "official" Linotype and Adobe versions, and it allowed me to license loads of typefaces I was very reluctant to spend any money on but had to own licenses for due to the reality of the marketplace.

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Bald Condensed
20 Nov 2005 — 8:19am

So, yes I am the proud owner of licenses to ITC Grizzly and ITC Grouch. ;^P

I really don't understand why ITC can't strike some sort of deal with Bitstream to have these perfectly fine digitised faces available to the public.

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Mike F
20 Nov 2005 — 9:32am

I have both via the CorelDraw 8 CD bundle, although they are named Grizzly BT and Grouch BT - no ITC in the name or copyright. Perhaps thay make an appearance with other CorelDraw versions.