General Lettering Discussion

[chilipenguin]

Not so much a discussion subject, but I got my first paying lettering gig today. Huzzah! Still working out the details but should be starting later today or tomorrow.

Go me!

[The Legendary Shark]

Go you indeed. Well done!

[Daveycandlish]

Well done Chili - don't forget us when you're rich and famous!

[HdE]

Bravo Chili! It's a great feeling, innit!

[chilipenguin]

Well done Chili - don't forget us when you're rich and famous!

No promises 

Quite psyched up for this. With an artist I've worked with before so clearly I've done something right to get the call up for this.

Oh and HDE, you're right. Tis an awesome feeling.

[chilipenguin]

Not sure of the best place to post this, so I thought I'd put it here as it relates to fonts.

The BBC has an interesting (and a trifle tardy) article about Comic Sans:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11582548

[chilipenguin]

Having a bit of an issue in Illustrator. I'm trying to export some pages in TIFF format, but two of the eight pages seem to change size during the process. The artboard in an A4 but when I export, one page becomes almost square (3408px by 3495px) and another page adds about an inch of white space to the bottom.

The effect is that the art remains in the same place but the white space on the page is increased. I'm confused why this is only happening to a couple of the pages.

I've tried everything I can think of, including checking for any hidden masks that extend past the page boundaries and I've come up blank.

Any ideas?

[HdE]

I've had this problem in the past as well.

Sounds like you're checking for problem elements that might bloat the file's size. It's always worth hitting CTRL + A ('show all') to highlight anything you might have missed. Sometimes stray points and unused text locations will show up outside the artboard.

Possibly this isn't the problem - but it bears checking again.

[chilipenguin]

Cheers for that. My theory was correct but it took your simple yet elegant solution (CTRL+A) to find the stray points. All good now!

[HdE]

Glad to be of assistance, Chili

I've had a devil of a time with lettering projects just lately. These simple checks really help to forestall a lot of frustration.

[Emperor]

Nicked from Jim, a series of interviews with letterers, first one here:

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/letterers-lexicon-1-steve-wands-101112.html

[Daveycandlish]

Any small press letterers out there willing and able to contribute to my time travelling, demon hunting Japanese warrior strip? I'm trying to get a collection together for Christmas, so if anyone can take on an 8 page strip to be done in the next week - let me know!

Locustofdeath, Legendary Shark, Christov and Van Dom have written a series of scripts and myself, elchivo, James Corcoran and Flipr-Mk2 have drawn them up for the collection, with Steven Denton doing the cover. I've already got Jim Campbell and chilipenguin doing some so you'd be in good company

No pay, but you do get a comp copy - think of it as an extra annual from Santa!

[Professor Bear]

The BBC has an interesting (and a trifle tardy) article about Comic Sans:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11582548

Missed this!

I too despise Comic Sans beyond all reason, but then I am a frustrated graphic designer with too much time on my hands.

[HdE]

Just a quick query to lob into the forums for discussion.

I've been exporting lettered pages for a short project recently, and found I get inconsistent results regarding on-screen lettering definition.

I've exported the files as 300dpi TIFFs with the anti-aliasing box unchecked, and this leaves me with a typeface with a jagged edge when viewed up close.

Exporting the same files with the anti-aliasing option checked, this problem disappears.

Now, I'm wondering - is this jagged edge to the type going to translate to the printed pages? Because on the basis of my meagre knowledge of printing computer generated art, I don't think it will. I'm tempted to export with anti-aliasing switched on, but I believe this may cause the lettering to print as a muddy mess.

Thoughts, anybody?

[Emperor]

The Revenge of Comic Sans: New research suggests that less-legible, less-elegant fonts might actually promote better recall of information.

I'm off to hide.