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themightyfro — Comics Lettering Tutorial
Published: 2005-05-11 23:25:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 66012; Favourites: 975; Downloads: 8922
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Description
This is a tutorial I created that gives a basic overview on how to lettering a comic book page. I've had quite a few questions on lettering lately, so I figured I would just write down how I work.Please visit www.balloontales.com for the most comprehensive collection of lettering advice online. You should definately read the entire site if you want to letter. Also, www.digitalwebbing.com/forums is a forum where some great letterers hang out, and they are always willing to share advice. These are the two sites I used when first starting out, and continue to use.
I would like for this tutorial to be a work in progress, so please leave comments, suggests, and further questions!
To check out the actual page featured in this tutorial, go to Black Rose #2, page 15 .
Be sure to check out , who did the lineart featured in this tutorial.
I do mostly writing and lettering, so if you need someone or want to toss around ideas, please drop me a note! I'd love to see more comics action happening around Deviantart, even beyond just posting stuff!
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Comments: 136
ok, i think it is, i haven't used the tutorial yet with freehand, but both programs are really similar
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Very thorough and helpful...I'll be sure to make use of this in the future.
Thanks!
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You're welcome! If you have questions on how to do other things, feel free to ask!
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Dude that is a great guide... I have been trying to figure out how to do that... thanks!
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How free is free?
From my understanding (after emailing NATE PIEKOS about this), free is only free under a particular set of circumstances. Here's what he wrote:
"Adam, as long as you are independent, you can use whatever you'd like. If your book gets picked up by a mainstream publisher, there is a fee per font ($40 - w/ a 25% discount if you license 3 or more."
When I asked him to define the term "independent", he had this to say:
"If you are paying for the printing and promotion of your book, you're an independent."
For a lettering guy, he's a man of few words. Or little time. Anyway, I think there are many comic creators out there who are using "free" Blambot fonts without realizing that he expects to earn a fee, if they are using them in published work (not including self publishing). Maybe this is the kind of thing that I'm just better off not talking about
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Yes, this is all true...you must pay for Blambot's fonts if your book is published non-independently. I'm not sure how familiar you are with the comics industry, but suffice to say anything being published by Marvel or DC is very much not independent, while publishers like Image and Chaos can lean more to the indy side in some respects (but if you are published by such a company you are definately NOT independent, they just do business a little differently). However, all of these companies are at least going to handle the printing of your book/the book you work on. An independent creator/team does everything himself/herself/themselves. Creation, execution, printing, advertising, etc...Dave Sim (Cerebus) and Jeff Smith (Bone), for example, were both pure independents.
So, for somebody trying to learn lettering, creating a lettering portfolio, or creating an indy book that they hope to either self-publish or eventually get picked up by a publisher like Image, Blambot fonts are great. Of course, if you are lettering professionally or if your book actually does get published by a company like Image, the first thing you should do is go run over to Nate's site and purchase all the wonderful fonts that you lettered your now non-Indy book with. In regard to webcomics, the same rule should probably apply - if you are making money on your comic, you need to purchase the fonts you are using to create that comic.
My limited body of work so far has been entirely independent, so I am covered under Nate's "use whatever you like" statement. However, I agree with you that there are probably some out there who are using Nate's fonts illegally, and that is very sad. He has done a huge, HUGE favor to the indy world by providing such beautiful fonts to anyone who wants to use them. That is a major risk and potential hassle on his part, because of situations like you have described. I would encourage people who make heavy use of his fonts to purchase some of them even if you are working independently - it wil cover you legally no matter what happens, and you will be returning the gesture in kind to a person who has done a lot for the indy lettering world.
I am very glad you brought it up, and I hope that cleared up any misunderstanding!
-chris
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I totally agree, the man's a real sainted martyr of lettering!
I just want to say that my question about the free font thing was absolutely not meant to be taken as some kind of accusation. It's something that recently came up with two different projects, and since Blambot was mentioned already, it seemed like a good opportunity to point it out. Thanks for putting this issue under the microscope and clarifying it for everyone.
So dude, if Piekos and Starkings fought each other, who would win?
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Yeah, I'm glad you brought it up. I didn't think you were being accusatory at all, I was just in Long-Winded Question Answering Mode!
Heh...whew, I'm not sure about that one. Maybe Starkings would win in a straight fight, but then afterwards he'd be taken out back by a few hundred indy creators in the audience.
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"i" with crossbars? Like this "I" ? I am confused
but the rest of the tutorial is amazing! Thanks
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Yes, like this "I"...in comics, there are two versions of the capital I - one with crossbars and one without. The one with them is used as a personal pronoun: *I* am typing. The one without is used in all other cases: icicle, big, etc. Obviously, this typeface doesn't have the same features as one you would use to letter a comics page, nor in all caps, but that's the difference.
Does that make sense?
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Ohhhh, I am so stupid, Ok
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wow, thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge with us!
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Wow.
I hate to sound so stupid... but I never knew that lettering was a profession.
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No, that doesn't sound stupid at all. Usually, you can tell lettering is well done when you DON'T notice it...it just flows with the story as an integral part of the whole.
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That's very interesting... so is the article you made... problem is, I ain't got $500 lying around for the program you use specifically.
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coughcoughmycoughcomputerscoughfirewallc oughdoesn'tcoughallowcoughkacoughzaacoug h
I think I coughed up a lung.
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who needs those anyways? 
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I did two computers ago...
my last computer had zero problems in it's life span cause I never had any P2P software... and I'd like to keep it that way with this comp too.
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I did two computers ago...
my last computer had zero problems in it's life span cause I never had any P2P software... and I'd like to keep it that way with this comp too.
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again, i've never had problems due to p2p software. but thats me.
ah well. you make your own decisions, and that i can't chance.
but p2p software sure help alot... or good friends with cd burners.
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Yeah, I know it...the knowledge and ideas behind lettering still apply no matter how you do it, but programs are pretty dang expensive. It's worth checking around ebay...sometimes you get lucky.
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Wow, that's a really nice! I'm sure people will love you for it.
Goddamn, you must be bored out of your skull in Indy!
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No, not bored...it's just nice to have spare time! If you read the whole thing, did it all make sense?
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Guess I'll have to read it more closely, but what I skimmed made sense...and you have pictures that make it lots easier.
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