What size font do comics use?

[batmanbooyah]

is it 9 or 10?


also, what are some popular fonts that comics use as well? I've been using "jack armstrong" from blambot (bought and paid bitches!) but it seems a little too....squiggly i think. atleast for narration.

[Kody]

Believe it or not, fonts will vary in size a little depending on who created it. A 9 point in one font will sometimes be the same as a size 10 or 11 in another font. They're supposed to be 72 points per inch, but not everyone follows that guideline.

My advice is to set the text in a few different sizes in a few different balloons, and then print the page at actual comic size. Then pick the one you like best.

[innocentboy]

xxx123

[batmanbooyah]

Believe it or not, fonts will vary in size a little depending on who created it. A 9 point in one font will sometimes be the same as a size 10 or 11 in another font. They're supposed to be 72 points per inch, but not everyone follows that guideline.

My advice is to set the text in a few different sizes in a few different balloons, and then print the page at actual comic size. Then pick the one you like best.


i knew the first part (up until 72pt) was just seeing what the consensus was.

though i'm having trouble printing this thing from illustrator. and i always have problems trying to fit it to comic size. basically i go to document setup, change the dimensions to inches, set the comic size (6"x9" for non bleed or whatever) then shrink the image at that point.

[Beatle]

is it 9 or 10?


Way too big. it should be 6-6.5 points with 6 or 7 point leading.

[batmanbooyah]

p....point leading?

[Alex K.]

Easy trick, just make the page on your screen the same physical size of an actual printed comic, then just figure out what point size is comfortably readable for the font you're using, sitting about arms length from the screen.

[Thomas Mauer]

Here are a few different dialogue fonts with the same visual font height:

Comic Book Commando: 9.5pt
ComiCraft Comicrazy: 6.35pt
ComiCraft JoeKubert: 6.75pt
Blambot DigitalStrip: 6.35pt

This'll give you about the same result as Marvel comics. DC usually goes a bit larger on font sizes, Vertigo in particular.

[Thomas Mauer]

though i'm having trouble printing this thing from illustrator. and i always have problems trying to fit it to comic size. basically i go to document setup, change the dimensions to inches, set the comic size (6"x9" for non bleed or whatever) then shrink the image at that point.

In Photoshop:

Resize your art file to printsize:

6.875x10.4375" document size

6x9" live area (height may vary up to 9.4374" but width should be 6")
top margin: 0.5"
side margins: 0.4375" each
bottom margin: 0.9375" - 0.5" (this is your variable. Just make sure the bottom margin isn't smaller than the top margin)

Change mode to CMYK or grayscale if necessary

Save as TIFF with LZW or ZIP compression

In Illustrator - change your units to Inches (general) and Points (stroke, type) right now:

Set your document size to 6.875x10.4375"

Place your printsize art file - it fits perfectly now

Letter. Flatten layers, delete art file, save as AI

In Photoshop:

Place the AI file using the BLEED setting. For print, turn off anti-aliasing. For web or proofing, turn on anti-aliasing.

Flatten image.

For print, save as TIFF with LZW or ZIP compression.

For web or proofing, resize image to 125dpi (that gives you 860px width), then Save for Web:

JPG at 40% quality if saving color or grayscaled pages
PNG 8-bit with 4 to 16 colors if saving inks only with the occasional gray SFX.

[PhilipClark]

According to Kevin Tinsley's "Digital Prepress for Comics," a standard font is WhizBang at 6.5 pt.

That's probably a good place to start.

[Beatle]

p....point leading?

Stolen from wikipedia

"In typography, leading (IPA [?l?d??], rhymes with heading) refers to the amount of added vertical spacing between lines of type. In consumer-oriented word processing software, this concept is usually referred to as "line spacing." Leading may sometimes be confused with tracking, which refers to the horizontal spacing between letters or characters."

I am a professional illustrator, and I used to do a lot of graphic design back in college. We had to learn all these terms in Typography class. You'd be surprised to see that there is a lot more to lettering and design than people really notice or appreciate.

When designing type it is really best to focus on the "Point line and plane" of the text you are arranging first, and worry about what it says second.

[batmanbooyah]

i just finished reformatting my computer cause fucking illustrator was being a piece of shit. i've lettered before, but i always feel like i'm doing something wrong. i'm going to read all of this again tomorrow. tom, gabe, philip, professor and mary anne, thank you all.

[stevapalooza]

I use 6.35 with a 7.5 point leading. But that's just what works best for the font I use (Blambot's Tokyo Robot).

Also bear in mind that lettering is usually done after the art has been reduced to its final print size. 9 or 10 pts on a reduced page would look huge.

[batmanbooyah]

I use 6.35 with a 7.5 point leading. But that's just what works best for the font I use (Blambot's Tokyo Robot).

Also bear in mind that lettering is usually done after the art has been reduced to its final print size. 9 or 10 pts on a reduced page would look huge.


before i've lettered then resized. i guess there's no real difference?

[Beatle]

before i've lettered then resized. i guess there's no real difference?

Letter at print size so you don't get any surprises.

[Thomas Mauer]

Letter at print size so you don't get any surprises.

Exactly. If you resize your images to printsize before lettering, you can place balloons and effects exactly where you need them and you'll know that's where they end up.

Plus, it gives you control of the proper margin and live area sizes to resize first.

[Thomas Mauer]

In fact, if you're a paranoid, lazy mofo, resize the inks to printsize before the colorist gets them. You'll have even less surprises that way because the colorist will work on the same file you use.

Lettering on the inks while the colorist does his job also speeds up the production cycle.

[batmanbooyah]

In fact, if you're a paranoid, lazy mofo, resize the inks to printsize before the colorist gets them. You'll have even less surprises that way because the colorist will work on the same file you use.

Lettering on the inks while the colorist does his job also speeds up the production cycle.



the second part, nice. sounds like a plan.


the first part though, what surprises will you get as long as the balloons are placed in safe areas and everything is shrunk down at the same percentage?

[Thomas Mauer]

the second part, nice. sounds like a plan.


the first part though, what surprises will you get as long as the balloons are placed in safe areas and everything is shrunk down at the same percentage?
Basically, if your artist uses bleed art and you don't set the live area and margins during the resize before the colorist gets the pages, you may end up with up to an inch of bleed art missing on one margin. So after you resize, you'd have to return the page to your colorist, maybe even your inker to add that missing bleed art after the fact. It's time consuming.

These two links might be interesting to you:

Creating margins on an unruled Bristol board before starting to draw (http://www.outcaststudios.com/wiki/index.php?title=Understanding_%26_Creating_Margins _on_an_Unruled_11x17%22_Bristol_Board)
How to streamline production (http://www.outcaststudios.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Streamline_Production_from_ Script_to_Print)

There are probably better ways to do this but this works for me.

[batmanbooyah]

nice, thanks. yeah the pages i'm doing don't have any bleed right now. that part always confused me.

[Thomas Mauer]

Okay, if you don't have bleed art, it's real simple to resize:

Crop the original inks including all panel borders.

Resize the page to a width of 6 inches. Your document height should be between 9 and 9.4375 inches now. If the height is below 9" after resizing the width, resize the page to a 9" height instead (as long as the width then isn't larger than 6.25").

With your live area resized, add the top margin (+0.5" height, canvas anchored at the bottom).

After this, go back to canvas size, anchor the page at the center top and add the side and bottom margins by using these values: 6.875" width, 10.4375" height.

Voila, the live area is where it's supposed to be.

If this goes to ComiXpress or a printer like it, make the height 10.5" instead.

[batmanbooyah]

Okay, if you don't have bleed art, it's real simple to resize:

Crop the original inks including all panel borders.

Resize the page to a width of 6 inches. Your document height should be between 9 and 9.4375 inches now. If the height is below 9" after resizing the width, resize the page to a 9" height instead (as long as the width then isn't larger than 6.25").

With your live area resized, add the top margin (+0.5" height, canvas anchored at the bottom).

After this, go back to canvas size, anchor the page at the center top and add the side and bottom margins by using these values: 6.875" width, 10.4375" height.

Voila, the live area is where it's supposed to be.

If this goes to ComiXpress or a printer like it, make the height 10.5" instead.

you're very helpful dude, like me, but probably lighter.


comixpress asked for the files as pdfs. when i sent it over to them, i'd make the image 6.615"X10.5" then they'd get mad, cause i was doing it wrong. all i know is, for the pitch i'm doing, i'm just shrinking the image down so the width is 6" (it will make the length about 9.1") and i'll have a solid live area. i print it out, put it in the envelope, and whalla, a rejection letter is soon to come!