ShowBill Hand Drawn Western Font

Showbill is a hand-crafted display font inspired by old wood type, Western showbills, circus posters, theatre bills, saloon signs and vintage entertainment printing.

Chunky, imperfect and deliberately mismatched, Showbill imagines a collection of old wooden letters that have been cut, carved, printed and decorated over time. Heavy slabs, bulbous curves, strange notches, exaggerated serifs and uneven proportions sit alongside tiny wonky stars — almost as though they’ve been stuck onto an old painted sign or carved directly into the type.

The irregularity is intentional. No two letters quite agree on the rules.

Rather than behaving like a perfectly matched digital alphabet, ShowBill is designed to feel like letters pulled one by one from an old wood-type suitcase and assembled into something new.

THREE WAYS TO PLAY

The a–z keys contain the standard ShowBill letterforms.

The A–Z keys reveal a second, more ornate set of uppercase-style forms.

And every letter also includes an additional decorative alternate, giving you even stranger versions to swap into your words and compositions.

Mix them together, repeat letters, switch in alternates and let things clash a little. Some characters are chunky, some pinched, some covered in stars, some have enormous feet or strange carved edges. They aren't supposed to match perfectly — that's the point.

ShowBill takes cues from old Western show posters, travelling entertainment, circus printing, saloons and theatrical ephemera without trying to recreate one particular historical typeface.

It's an experimental display font made to be played with — imperfect, theatrical, decorative and a little odd.

PERFECT FOR

• Posters & bold typography

• Music artwork & band merchandise

• Western & vintage-inspired graphics

• Branding & expressive wordmarks

• T-shirts, apparel & merchandise

• Bars, restaurants & hospitality

• Festivals & events

• Packaging & independent brands

• Editorial & publication design

• Signs, banners & social graphics

WHAT'S INCLUDED

• OTF font file

• a–z standard ShowBill letterforms

• A–Z more ornate ShowBill letterforms

• Additional decorative alternate for every letter

• Numbers 0–9

• Very limited punctuation

PLEASE NOTE: Showbill is an experimental display typeface intended for headlines, titles, logos and short pieces of expressive typography rather than long passages of text.

The print textures and styling shown in the preview images are not included with the font.

Made from scratch by hand.