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First attempt at lettering

Started by chilipenguin, 14 June, 2010, 04:32:31 PM

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chilipenguin

Here's my first attempt at lettering (using Illustrator). Taken from the activites thread over at digital webbing (can't post it there yet as my account hasn't been approved  :( )

Let me know what you think.


Jim_Campbell

Quote from: chilipenguin on 14 June, 2010, 04:32:31 PM
Let me know what you think.

Any chance of a slightly bigger version -- I can't read this one, I'm afraid!

Cheers!

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

chilipenguin

Ooops! I just realised its a bit on the small side but I'm not sure how to increase the image size in illustrator. I'll post a bigger one once I work that out.


Jim_Campbell

Quote from: chilipenguin on 14 June, 2010, 04:37:26 PM
Ooops! I just realised its a bit on the small side but I'm not sure how to increase the image size in illustrator. I'll post a bigger one once I work that out.

Increase the DPI in the export options ...

Cheers!

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

Emperor

Its a good start, especially for a first shot at it, and I'm sure Jim will be able to break it down in more detail from a bigger image, but what strikes me is that there doesn't seem much whitespace around the letters in the balloons (of course how much varies with manga tending to go for a lot more), the tails on the balloons are rather long (usually if you can get them pointing at the relevant character you don't need to take it almost all the way to their mouth. Although if you need such big tales it might also be a sign your placement of the balloons needs rethinking) and the flow is unclear across the page (especially in the first and second panels where a number of people are speaking).
if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

Fractal Friction | Tumblr | Google+

chilipenguin

Cheers for the crit Emps. I can't seem to get a larger version. I've upoaded about four different sizes to photobucket but they are all being displayed as the same size. I'll try image shack or something.


Emperor

Is that really the dialogue?  :o

Anyway I think my points stand but it also seems like you are using a range of font sizes (that first panel seems to have 4 in 4 balloons, which seems unwise) and it seems wise to stick to a standard size and a smaller one for whispering (possibly a larger one for shouting but see what Jim says), plus the ones you'd play around with for special effects.
if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

Fractal Friction | Tumblr | Google+

chilipenguin

#9
Yeah, the dialogue really sucks, but that's what came with the art. In the first panel, there are only the two dialogue font sizes (8pt & 6pt A.C.M.E. Secret Agent) plus the critter font (Maneater at 16pt I think). I tried to keep it to just the two, plus the FX font (Charred). I think the only time I used a different font size was for the exclamation in panel 4.

Should the critter font be the same size as the dialogue font?

HdE

'Tis a cleanly done job, and no mistake!

The only bugbear I have with the page is hat some of the tails on your balloons look a little awkward and ungainly. It IS a tricky thing to get the hang of, mind - I'm by no means proficient at it yet myself.

I'd suggest maybe trying to make the part where the tail meets the balloon a little narrower, and nudging the tail into place so that it joins the balloons at a slightly more pleasing angle.

Check out my DA page! Point! Laugh!
http://hde2009.deviantart.com/

Jim_Campbell

#11
Right ... firstly, the good news: that page is harder than 90% of any job you'd get handed professionally. It's a swine -- I've spent about an hour on it, all told, and would normally consider 30 minutes to be a difficult page. Even so, I'd still send that back to the editor with an advisory that they should consider editing down the script because some of the horrible lettering -- particularly the impossible to follow speaking order in panel -- is unavoidable.

The fact that you've managed to hammer it into some sort of shape is no small achievement.

You have, however, missed a couple of script instructions for a start -- the bad guy, Emplate, is supposed to have a different balloon style, and Chamber speaks telepathically.

I've marked up the stuff that immediately leaps out:



I should also mention that the balloons for Trance are waaaay too much -- you have a double outline, a gradient, transparency, a glow and little floating bubbles!

And this is how I would have tackled it:



EDIT TO ADD: The reading order in Panel 2 is the best of a bad job -- what I've basically done is abandon Grunge's "Wow, Rox" line and left that floating -- it's not part of the reading sequence, but something had to give, and it sort of reads like an "aside" so I bumped it out of the flow of the balloons. As I say: not ideal, but I couldn't find a way to get all the dialogue in the order it's scripted, and reading left-to-right without crossing balloon tails or putting a balloon on someone's face!

I think most of the rest is self-explanatory, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Cheers!

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

chilipenguin

Cheers Jim! Wow, I wasn't expecting such an indepth crit. Thanks for taking the time. I can't believe I missed the instructions for Chamber and Emplate! Total schoolboy error on my part there.

That second panel was a complete pain in the ass to try and arrange properly. I don't know if someone just threw some text together for the activity or if that is actually the script that the art was drawn for. If it's the latter, then it's really weak.

I knew as I was doing Trance's balloons that they were too effect heavy but I was having fun and got carried away.

So apart from the big things you mentioned, is it mainly just placement that I need to work on?

p.s. Those damn crossbar I's. I went through specifically to find those little buggers. As you can see, I missed a couple.

Cheers again for taking the time.

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: chilipenguin on 14 June, 2010, 08:50:55 PM
p.s. Those damn crossbar I's. I went through specifically to find those little buggers. As you can see, I missed a couple.

If you have Word, you can just paste the text into a Word document and then follow my handy guide to preparing your script for lettering and you need never worry about it again!

Cheers

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

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: chilipenguin on 14 June, 2010, 08:50:55 PM
So apart from the big things you mentioned, is it mainly just placement that I need to work on?

Placement is the key here. The temptation is to look for the emptiest bit of space in the panel and stick the dialogue in that. This then means that your balloon shapes and tail lengths are dictated by that initial choice. However, you shouldn't be afraid to shove the lettering front and centre in the artwork if the story requires it. I can do no better than quote the inimitable Tom Orzechowski: "As I've said before, the letterer's task is not to keep the script out of the way of the artwork, it's also to get the artwork out of the way of the script."

Cheers!

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