Lettering?

[LenNWallace]

Who can teach me how?

How hard/complicated is it on computers?

Will I have to buy a bunch of crazy crap I can't afford to do it?

[Boris the Blade]

I just use photoshop.

I have no examples at work though, sorry.

[Ben Rosen]

i use microsoft picture it 2000 because i'm kinda good at the crappy program. get adobe illustrator if you have the money.

[LenNWallace]

I just use photoshop.

I have no examples at work though, sorry.
Hmmm... This sucks, because I have a pretty small laptop harddrive, (6 GB) and I've heard it takes quite a bit of memory to properly run photoshop. Hmmm...

[LenNWallace]

i use microsoft picture it 2000 because i'm kinda good at the crappy program. get adobe illustrator if you have the money.
Is MS Picture complicated to use?

[Boris the Blade]

Hmmm... This sucks, because I have a pretty small laptop harddrive, (6 GB) and I've heard it takes quite a bit of memory to properly run photoshop. Hmmm...
I didn't have any problems running photoshop on my craputer, and that only had 4 gb of space.

[Chris McCarver]

You can create word balloons on Microsoft Word using the Drawing toolbar. It's a little restrictive, but it has dialogue and thought balloons pre-loaded.

[LenNWallace]

I didn't have any problems running photoshop on my craputer, and that only had 4 gb of space.
Hmmm... Well, I'll see if I can 'aquire' the program, and give it a shot. What about Fonts? How many people download them from different places, and from where? How many people make their own?

[LenNWallace]

You can create word balloons on Microsoft Word using the Drawing toolbar. It's a little restrictive, but it has dialogue and thought balloons pre-loaded.
Seriously? Think I could get a run thru on 'how to'?

[Caley Tibbittz]

Buy this book: The DC comics guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics, by Mark Chiarello and Todd Klein.

[PhilipClark]

Illustrator all the way, baby.

Also, check this:

http://www.comicrazy.com/e/env/0001ftYnlhwh1iIkFA435I7/comicraft/catalog.html?link=/comicraft/catalog.html&item=comicrazy:cbl1 (http://www.comicrazy.com/e/env/0001ftYnlhwh1iIkFA435I7/comicraft/catalog.html?link=/comicraft/catalog.html&item=comicrazy:cbl1)

[Ben Rosen]

blambot.com is great for free fonts. and honestly, if you don't know it already, i wouldn't go with picture it.

[chamber715]

Who can teach me how?

How hard/complicated is it on computers?

Will I have to buy a bunch of crazy crap I can't afford to do it?

It's not that hard to letter with the computer... you'll need some sort of vector graphics program. Something like Adobe Illustrator. I would advise against using Photoshop because it'll be harder to edit your letters with that program than something like Illustrator.

[LenNWallace]

blambot.com is great for free fonts. and honestly, if you don't know it already, i wouldn't go with picture it.
Thanks, dude. How old are you, by the way? I just read some of your mini-comic, and i really dug it.

[Chris McCarver]

blambot.com is great for free fonts. and honestly, if you don't know it already, i wouldn't go with picture it.

Blambot's fonts are free as long as you're doing small-press or non-profit comics. They charge licensing fees if you use their fonts in paid-for professional work. Scott Kurtz (PvP) found that out the hard way.

[Ben Rosen]

Thanks, dude. How old are you, by the way? I just read some of your mini-comic, and i really dug it.

15, and thanks! Post what you thought when you finish. :D

[Ben Rosen]

Blambot's fonts are free as long as you're doing small-press or non-profit comics. They charge licensing fees if you use their fonts in paid-for professional work. Scott Kurtz (PvP) found that out the hard way.

wow. what happened?

[JoshuaFialkov]

Illustrator's the only way to do it properly (or any other vector based graphics program(. Photoshop doesn't handle the vectors properly, so you get jagged lines on everything.

Pick up Comic Book Lettering: Letterng the Comiccraft Way by Richard Starkings, it's a positively brilliant resource.

[LenNWallace]

Blambot's fonts are free as long as you're doing small-press or non-profit comics. They charge licensing fees if you use their fonts in paid-for professional work. Scott Kurtz (PvP) found that out the hard way.
Oooo... Not cool. Does it cost a lot to get their permission?

[LenNWallace]

15, and thanks! Post what you thought when you finish. :D
Damn, seriously? Well, whatever it is you're doing, kid... Keep doing it.

[Ben Rosen]

Damn, seriously? Well, whatever it is you're doing, kid... Keep doing it.

hahahaha yup, seriously. thanks. :D

[Chris McCarver]

wow. what happened?

Well, at Scott's panel at Wizard World Texas '04, Scott said that up until he got the cross-publication deal with Dork Storm, he was using Blambot fonts. When he got the deal with DS, Blambot gave him a phone call, on the reasoning that PvP was now a "professional" piece of work, basically charging up somewhere in the mid-to-high three figures in licensing fees. Scott replied, well, how about I give you (much lower amount, can't remember what exactly) and you never call me again? Blambot said cool. Since then, Scott had bought the Comicrazy font from Comicraft (pricey at nearly $130 but less than what Blambot was charging him) and he's used it ever since.

Blambot will give you full disclosure on their professional license fees, but you have to ask for the info. It's not on the website, but they give you contact info so you can ask.

[Christian Beranek]

Illustrator's the only way to do it properly (or any other vector based graphics program(. Photoshop doesn't handle the vectors properly, so you get jagged lines on everything.

Pick up Comic Book Lettering: Letterng the Comiccraft Way by Richard Starkings, it's a positively brilliant resource.

The variation between Illustrator and Photoshop is minimal at most. Illustrator is the preferred choice, but I've seen some great Photoshop work done.

As with everything in comics, there is no wrong or right way to do it, so long as the finished product looks good.

[JoshuaFialkov]

Photoshop has no control over kerning, limited vertical pitch, doesn't allow you to overprint blacks, and doesn't allow you to do outlines of your fonts, all of which lead to problems in print. Finishing your pages in photoshop is fine, but the actual lettering should be done in a vector based progam.

[Blake Sims]

I use this thing called my hand and pen. Its a little rusty sometimes but is does pretty good overall.

[Christian Beranek]

Photoshop has no control over kerning, limited vertical pitch, doesn't allow you to overprint blacks, and doesn't allow you to do outlines of your fonts, all of which lead to problems in print. Finishing your pages in photoshop is fine, but the actual lettering should be done in a vector based progam.

Whatever looks good when printed is the rule of thumb.

A lot of people can't afford Illustrator. Some people need to take baby steps until they graduate to other programs.

[Christian Beranek]

I use this thing called my hand and pen. Its a little rusty sometimes but is does pretty good overall.

Fuck yeah! On my first book Burke and I printed our lettering out on the computer and glued it on, I thought it looked sweet!!!

[Blake Sims]

Fuck yeah! On my first book Burke and I printed our lettering out on the computer and glued it on, I thought it looked sweet!!!
I've also done that before.

[JoshuaFialkov]

Whatever looks good when printed is the rule of thumb.

A lot of people can't afford Illustrator. Some people need to take baby steps until they graduate to other programs.
People pay for Adobe software? I've never heard of such a thing. :cool: :p

[Christian Beranek]

People pay for Adobe software? I've never heard of such a thing. :cool: :p

:rolleyes:

Seriously, do whatever looks good. If Illustrator works for you, cool. But it is not the be all end all.

There are no absolutes... unless you're talking about vodka.

Ah, vodka... I'm out. :cool:

[JoshuaFialkov]

Anyways, back to your original question, you can also use this resource as a 'how to get started' guide.

http://www.balloontales.com/articles/beginners/index.html (http://www.balloontales.com/articles/beginners/index.html)

[Christian Beranek]

Will I have to buy a bunch of crazy crap I can't afford to do it?

Yeah, you do gotta buy it, unless you can copy it off somebody.

[Saul Colt]

Not sure if this was mentioned cause I didn't read all the posts but lettering is really one of the most underappreciated art forms in comics. Bad lettering sticks out huge on good art. I live and die with my comicraft guide to lettering and use illistrator. Photoshop works well but for a polished professional job illistrator is the way to go. Most people may not notice the difference but I usually can.....but then again I have super eyesite and study books closer then most.

S.

[Ben Rosen]

lettering is so important. bad lettering sticks out so much. and the placement of word balloons is so important but i didn't notice it until i did my own book.

[Saul Colt]

lettering is so important. bad lettering sticks out so much. and the placement of word balloons is so important but i didn't notice it until i did my own book.

Very true (on my part as well) I thought lettering was a piece of cake and when I went to do it for the first bunch of times I would get very frusterated at how hard it is to do well!

S.

[Christian Beranek]

lettering is so important. bad lettering sticks out so much. and the placement of word balloons is so important but i didn't notice it until i did my own book.

Placement, choice of font and font size are the key elements. My brother Nick handles the lettering for most of our books and does an outstanding job.

He has Illustrator and a crapload of other programs and mix in matches until he gets what he wants. He's like a fucking painter and shit.

[chamber715]

Photoshop works well but for a polished professional job illistrator is the way to go.

Not to mention lettering is so much easier with Illustrator... I lettered with Photoshop before I learned how to use Illustrator. Now that I know how to use Illustrator, I get things done much, much faster.

[Aaron]

Photoshop has no control over kerning
Not true at all. It's in the type pallette.


doesn't allow you to overprint blacks
True, but Photoshop default blacks aren't black to begin with. They're actually an unprintable mix of CMYK. An excellent black mix (if you are looking for a rich black) is 30C 20M 20Y 100K. Prints beautifully. Write that mix down, everyone.

That said, don't bother fooling around with overprints yourself - leave that to your printers, who know what they're doing. There's nothing more annoying than getting light grey type set to overprint that is going over a dark background.


doesn't allow you to do outlines of your fonts
Not true. If you want to outline your type, then use the layer styles. In fact, Photoshop has the same degree of control over the look of your type as Illustrator, with the exception of overprint.


all of which lead to problems in print.
Not true, just your quality won't be as nice. Your piece will still print fine, overall.


Finishing your pages in photoshop is fine, but the actual lettering should be done in a vector based progam.

Absolutely correct. If you're going to use a vector program, use InDesign in combination with Illustrator. It'll do you a world of good, as you can set up your page layout and have access to all the spiffy features that Illustrator offers in a very viewing friendly format.

[JoshuaFialkov]

Not true at all. It's in the type pallette.
Right, but you don't have the fine control that you do in Illustrator.



True, but Photoshop default blacks aren't black to begin with. They're actually an unprintable mix of CMYK. An excellent black mix (if you are looking for a rich black) is 30C 20M 20Y 100K. Prints beautifully. Write that mix down, everyone.


That said, don't bother fooling around with overprints yourself - leave that to your printers, who know what they're doing. There's nothing more annoying than getting light grey type set to overprint that is going over a dark background.

Every single printer I've ever used has specifically asked for files to be exported with Blacks overprinted. If you don't you get haloing.



Not true. If you want to outline your type, then use the layer styles. In fact, Photoshop has the same degree of control over the look of your type as Illustrator, with the exception of overprint.

In my experience, that is just not true.




Not true, just your quality won't be as nice. Your piece will still print fine, overall.

Um. I come from the school of "I want my stuff to look as nice as possible." Maybe I'm crazy.



Absolutely correct. If you're going to use a vector program, use InDesign in combination with Illustrator. It'll do you a world of good, as you can set up your page layout and have access to all the spiffy features that Illustrator offers in a very viewing friendly format.
At least we're in agreement about something. :p

[Christian Beranek]

If it looks good, it looks good.

[Aaron]

1. Right, but you don't have the fine control that you do in Illustrator.


2. Every single printer I've ever used has specifically asked for files to be exported with Blacks overprinted. If you don't you get haloing.

3. In my experience, that is just not true.

4. Um. I come from the school of "I want my stuff to look as nice as possible." Maybe I'm crazy.

5. At least we're in agreement about something. :p

1. Regarding the type pallette - it's the exact same pallette. EXACT SAME. I shit you not. Same options, same everything.

2. Haloing only really every comes into play if your printer isn't maintaining registration, which can be difficult depending on the type of press and the print run size (the larger the run, obviously there's a greater chance for error). How your printer makes its plates (film or direct-to-plate from digital), will determine how text traps, so to a large degree, it's pointless for you to be farting around with trapping. On our system, black text under 16 point automatically overprints. If we want, we can tell it to overprint all of it. It's not a lot of work. Where we do have a problem is when someone just starts playing with trapping willy-nilly without actually knowing what they're doing and why. It's not actually your responsibility as a client to be doing that. It's great if you CAN, but if you're going to do it, do it exactly to the printer's specs.

This is, of course, working under the assumption that you're not outlining your type and supplying the printer with fonts. When outlined text comes into play, it does get a little trickier, but the rip system still weeds out a lot of it.

My day job is at a press house, so I know this to be fact.

3-5. I agree, type in photoshop doesn't look as good as vector based type, but it can be used effectively. As I said at the end of my statement previously, I MUCH prefer Illustrator and InDesign's use over Photoshop. I never said it would look as good, just that it's print quality would be fine. Provided it's at a high-resolution that is. And generally, I get annoyed when people DON'T do their type in a vector program. That said, do as much as you can within your layout program.

But anyway...