Lettering
| Tools | The Idea | Penciling | Inking | Scanning / Touch Up | Lettering | Finishing Up |
Now for the interesting part. I use a 10 pt comic book font for all my usual lettering. I will also bold emphasized words or product names (movies, games, bands, etc.). In the beginning I tended to make long oval balloons around fairly lengthy text, but lately I’ve been working on breaking up the dialogue and trying to “round out” the text layout. I have found this makes for more pleasing balloons and better dialogue timing.
I also tend to do a lot of editing and re-writing at his stage. Sometimes to punch up a gag or just fix a joke’s timing.
To create a balloon I use the oval tool. I use a white fill with a 2pt black stroke. I also use the oval tool with the crosshairs in the center. This allows me to place my cursor in the center of the text (my best guess that is) and form the oval out from there.
This is infinitely easier than trying to work from a corner of the text and do trial and error to get the right shape.
Once the balloon is created, it tends to be overlaid on top of the text. All I need to do is hit Ctrl + [ a few times to push it back a few layers.
I will also use the alignment tools to make sure the text is centered horizontally and vertically within the balloon.
To create the little “arrow” pointing to the character speaking, I just use the “pen” tool to create a few points. I usually just do the three points needed to create the “arrow” and leave it open. It will be closed in a later step.
If I ever need to curve an arrow around someone’s head, I just take the point editing tool (typically the open ended arrow tool) and adjust the curve of the end point.
Once I have everything laid out the way I want it, I select the balloon and the arrow and perform a “unite” function. This basically merges the two images together, deleting any extraneous points (like the ones at the ends of the arrow).
It makes it a single, easily moved image. Plus, I don’t have to erase arrow ends in PhotoShop later (which I used to do before I figured this out). I also eventually figured out that there was a spell check in Illustrator that has helped me immensely.
And viola! You have your own very clean and groovy word balloon. We are now ready for the last step before posting.
