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Trying my hand at lettering

Started by Dodsy, 02 January, 2014, 12:57:50 PM

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Dodsy

I fancy having a go at trying some lettering. Can anyone recommend any cheap (or free!) packages or apps that I could try out? I've a Windows laptop but would prefer to do it on my ipad if possible.

How about some of you seasoned letterers, any tips or hints/ Does and Don'ts for a newbie who is planning on dipping his toe in the water?

Cheers for any help  :D

-

I appreciate there is a (kind of) lettering topic stickyed but that appears to be for only one program and the link for  'General Lettering discussion' in the Tutorials and Tips Meagthread only takes me to the 2000AD store. Also, neither seem to get much attention so I figured it wouldn't hurt to start a new thread.

Twitter - @dodsy84

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: dodsy on 02 January, 2014, 12:57:50 PM
I appreciate there is a (kind of) lettering topic stickyed but that appears to be for only one program and the link for  'General Lettering discussion' in the Tutorials and Tips Meagthread only takes me to the 2000AD store. Also, neither seem to get much attention so I figured it wouldn't hurt to start a new thread.

The reason that thread only deals with Illustrator, is because almost all professional lettering is done in Illustrator!

Nate Piekos has a good article on the basics of balloon, text and type-setting conventions of lettering here.

PJ Holden gives a quick overview of lettering in Manga Studio here.

I don't think you're going to find anything suitable for lettering on your iPad, but I don't own one, so I'm prepared to be corrected on that...

Cheers

Jim
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

pauljholden

Unaware of any pro level lettering tools available on the ipad (there are some fun things that can let you add lettering to create simple comics).

On the desktop, MS5 lets you do some lettering http://manga.smithmicro.com/buy.html (right now MS5 is $47,99) but doesn't have the advanced tools you'd want for kerning, sound effects, etc.

Jim, I'm sure will correct me, but if you're talking about proper pro level lettering it's pretty much dominated by the expensive adobe illustrator.

If you're talking non-pro level then I'd suggest doing it the old fashioned way : by hand...

-pj

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: pauljholden on 02 January, 2014, 01:11:42 PM
If you're talking non-pro level then I'd suggest doing it the old fashioned way : by hand...

That's CRAZY TALK, Holden!

Cheers

Jim
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

pauljholden

Man, I'd forgotten I'd written that Manga Studio lettering guide! Cheers Jim!

-pj

clavell

There's also the freely available Inkscape, which has a similar toolset to Illustrator. You can do a quick search for Illustrator alternatives if you want to find more.

- C
Writing Future Shocks is hard !

Jim_Campbell

I haven't used it, but the very impressive-looking iDraw has an iPad version, although you do have to pay for it...

Cheers

Jim
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

Dodsy

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm only looking to dip my toe in the water at the minute so don't want to buy a professional package but I'll give the free ones a go/ read the articles and see where I go from there.
Twitter - @dodsy84

Dodsy

Quote from: clavell on 02 January, 2014, 02:15:29 PM
There's also the freely available Inkscape, which has a similar toolset to Illustrator. You can do a quick search for Illustrator alternatives if you want to find more.

- C

Thanks for the advice Clavell, been having some fun messing around with Inkscape this afternoon.
Twitter - @dodsy84