I used some selected Selkie comics for my senior art exhibition, and one of the criticisms an instructeor gave me during our oral defense was that he felt the vector speech bubbles and blocky Lucida font looked out of place with the hand drawn lines of the artwork. So I thought I'd give changing the font and speech bubbles a try.
Phfff to your prof. Like the new text but stick to the old speech bubbles. I dunno how you do them but I like the old ones. I use the stock ones in Adobe CS5 under the Custom Shape tool thingie on the bar, then I use ctrl+T to modify them to fit whatever gutters I’ve created. How DO you do yours, Dave?
I use the shape tools too. The oval for the bubble itself, then the pen tool to make the tails. I have the option set so that each bubble and tail is it’s own layer so I can move them around, then I squish them all in to one bubble layer.
ditto to Jade, like the new font but old bubbles were better. seems a lot of people down below agree too.
what I think is this – he was probably judging it based on an ARTIST’S standpoint, NOT a comicker’s. Hand-draw the art, people, scenery etc. as much as you want, but the clean text (and boxes) are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY; if you can’t write neatly, you should computerize it since that will be clean. I know folks who write very neatly, but computerize the text regardless. In my experience, the necessity of the clear text etc. can defy quite a bit of what the art world wants in its art. I’m not the art major though ^o^ Hope that helps.
I agree. I think it’s partly because most of the art is outlined, so it fits better. The new style isn’t bad, though. Innovative. (did I spell that right?)
AGH! NO! No no! GO BACK. Ignore what he said! At very least with your style as it is, the clean speech bubble lines and previous font choice make it much easier and smoother to read! Maybe later when your style is more honed, fine. Change it up. Until then, as a reader, I care less about how the bubble style matches the art and more about the readability
Agreed. I liked the earlier speech bubbles, and also the new font doesn’t work too well with me either – it looks even more out of place. (Looks like Times New Roman to me – have you tried Arial?)
I Didn’t use Arial because I wanted to try a serif font, and I went with TNR because my other Serif fonts were too scripty. I prefer fonts that are clean with minimal ornamentation (unless the scene demands ornamental text of course.)
I rather like the new speech bubbles – I do think they go better with your overall look. But lose the Times New Roman, please, it’s all wrong for a comic. Much too formal and, um… newspaper-y, (which isn’t surprising since that’s what the font was designed for). I don’t think any serif font would work.
Don’t settle for Comic Sans, either. There are many, many free ‘handwritten’ fonts you can download. Choosing the right one is going to be a bit time-consuming, but once you get one that matches your style, you’ll be glad you did.
Many webcomic artists will turn their hand lettering into a font, which has all the benefits of using text tools but doesn’t change the “feel” of the comic at all.
One little trick some artists use, if they letter in ALL CAPS, is to put a slightly different alphabet in for the capitals so letters and words can be varied if necessary.
Yeah I found that site last night after some searching. Also looking through http://www.fontsquirrel.com/ for some ideas on a recommendation.
I hate the All Caps style of dialog, personally. I feel it makes everything look weird, and I feel using normal typing lends an easier feel to the reading.
I would agree with you, but some comics, like, Peanuts, for example, look best in all caps. It is kind of a style thing.
Like Sylvia says, there are lots of fonts out there that can be used without licensing fears. Try different ones, we’ll be sure to tell you what we like ;-P
I liked the old speech bubbles better, but I think that’s just because it’s what I’m used to seeing here. I also think that if you’re going to stick with this font you might want to make it larger. The edges are really fuzzy on this one, at least for your readers with astigmatism.
I like the new speech bubbles, but I think that maybe it’s just the fact that they don’t have borders. Maybe you should write the text yourself? I love it♥
I do agree that Times New Roman is not a font you want to be using for a comic. Probably should stick with Comic Sans. (Why yes, I can recognize the fonts at a glance.)
What I used previously was Lucida Sans, and while I agree it was cleaner, sometimes the blockiness looked strange to me (an opinion I had before my teacher commented on the font, but which I never really acted on). I may have to scour dafont or blambot.
Comic Sans is criticized for webcomic use because it’s used so often, but I believe it would really work with your hand-drawn style. It’s used so much, because it’s so good.
Your instructor (instructeor? :p) was wrong. The new bubbles look bad. I don’t really have a preference about the style of the font, but these letters do not appear to be as dark as the last strip. Or possibly not as sharp, as Amanda said.
You might want to think a little more of color and human anatomy. In the last panel, Grandpa’s shirt kinda merges with Antoine’s hair (I realize his hair is black and the shirt is navy, but they merge nicely on my monitor), and what I presume to be Marta’s hand on Grandpa’s shoulder looks like some funky clip in Antoine’s hair. And for him to turn his head that far to the right would normally require a little bit of turning of the torso.
I wonder if, during the congratulations, Selkie were to kiss Marta, Marta would break out in a rash.
I was re-reading the archives last night. The one where Heather gets adopted, and Amanda throws her fit. “He got adopted, she got adopted, even fish-face got a dad. When is it going to be my turn?” Then she’s just standing there, with tears running down her face. “Why doesn’t anybody want ME?”
And directly below that is an ad. “Ask a child therapist”.
I was just about to suggest blambot, but you’ve beat me to it—failing that, I’ve seen one called “Chinacat” floating around that’s actually pretty close to what Marvel uses nowadays, too.
I like the new text and font bubbles, although it’s possible they could use black lines around the outside. It matches the kind of strokes you’re drawing with now.
Yeah, separating the speech bubbles from the background with black outlines might be be a good idea even just for a later occasiona when you’re going to have a very light background for the text at some point. It would also suit your stronger lines better.
*shakes head* My eye didn’t notice the change in the bubbles, but the font definitely. It’s too thin and I don’t find it a comfortable read the way the other one was.
That being said, the shocked expressions are priceless!
I disagree with your professor. I like the way it looked before. I’m not a fan of typewriter-style fonts; if you want a different font, there are lots of options more suited to comics. The shaky speech bubbles look… i dunno, almost like they were done by hand with a mouse, by someone who doesn’t draw well.
As a reader I’m with pyrpyr. I’ve followed comics for months when I couldn’t tell the characters apart from looking at them, all because I liked the story. But I won’t spend five minutes on a comic if I can’t read the dialog.
Phfff to your prof. Like the new text but stick to the old speech bubbles. I dunno how you do them but I like the old ones. I use the stock ones in Adobe CS5 under the Custom Shape tool thingie on the bar, then I use ctrl+T to modify them to fit whatever gutters I’ve created. How DO you do yours, Dave?
I use the shape tools too. The oval for the bubble itself, then the pen tool to make the tails. I have the option set so that each bubble and tail is it’s own layer so I can move them around, then I squish them all in to one bubble layer.
ditto to Jade, like the new font but old bubbles were better. seems a lot of people down below agree too.
what I think is this – he was probably judging it based on an ARTIST’S standpoint, NOT a comicker’s. Hand-draw the art, people, scenery etc. as much as you want, but the clean text (and boxes) are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY; if you can’t write neatly, you should computerize it since that will be clean. I know folks who write very neatly, but computerize the text regardless. In my experience, the necessity of the clear text etc. can defy quite a bit of what the art world wants in its art. I’m not the art major though ^o^ Hope that helps.
I’m not too sure the speech bubbles work. They just look… shaky. Like the characters’ voices are shaking all over the place.
The new font looks a lot better, but I preferred the outlined bubbles.
I agree. I think it’s partly because most of the art is outlined, so it fits better. The new style isn’t bad, though. Innovative. (did I spell that right?)
I love how happy Selkie looks in the last panel.
First a dad- then grandparents- then an aunt and uncle- and now another uncle! And soon cousins even!
Things are really looking up for her
…AAAaaaand then she’ll find out about Amanda. Yep.
You tiny green cloud on the horizon you!
I feel bad for Amanda… rejected by her parents twice… ouch
I don’t like the new font, it’s too formal, or the non-bordered speech bubbles. There are several comic fonts available, maybe try some of those.
AGH! NO! No no! GO BACK. Ignore what he said! At very least with your style as it is, the clean speech bubble lines and previous font choice make it much easier and smoother to read! Maybe later when your style is more honed, fine. Change it up. Until then, as a reader, I care less about how the bubble style matches the art and more about the readability
Indeed. The bubbles and font were fine previously.
Agreed. I liked the earlier speech bubbles, and also the new font doesn’t work too well with me either – it looks even more out of place. (Looks like Times New Roman to me – have you tried Arial?)
I Didn’t use Arial because I wanted to try a serif font, and I went with TNR because my other Serif fonts were too scripty. I prefer fonts that are clean with minimal ornamentation (unless the scene demands ornamental text of course.)
I rather like the new speech bubbles – I do think they go better with your overall look. But lose the Times New Roman, please, it’s all wrong for a comic. Much too formal and, um… newspaper-y, (which isn’t surprising since that’s what the font was designed for). I don’t think any serif font would work.
Don’t settle for Comic Sans, either. There are many, many free ‘handwritten’ fonts you can download. Choosing the right one is going to be a bit time-consuming, but once you get one that matches your style, you’ll be glad you did.
Dave,
Many webcomic artists will turn their hand lettering into a font, which has all the benefits of using text tools but doesn’t change the “feel” of the comic at all.
I think yourfont (at http://www.yourfont.com) is like $10 to have this done.
One little trick some artists use, if they letter in ALL CAPS, is to put a slightly different alphabet in for the capitals so letters and words can be varied if necessary.
Shid. That’s http://www.yourfonts.com.
Blllaarrrrrggg
Yeah I found that site last night after some searching. Also looking through http://www.fontsquirrel.com/ for some ideas on a recommendation.
I hate the All Caps style of dialog, personally. I feel it makes everything look weird, and I feel using normal typing lends an easier feel to the reading.
1001 Fonts has a number of choices you might want to experiment with. Here’s a handful to start… they all have upper and lower case:
http://www.1001fonts.com/font_details.html?font_id=2296
http://www.1001fonts.com/font_details.html?font_id=2678
http://www.1001fonts.com/font_details.html?font_id=2614
I would agree with you, but some comics, like, Peanuts, for example, look best in all caps. It is kind of a style thing.
Like Sylvia says, there are lots of fonts out there that can be used without licensing fears. Try different ones, we’ll be sure to tell you what we like ;-P
I’m thinking your text is really too small to use a serif font.
I liked the old speech bubbles better, but I think that’s just because it’s what I’m used to seeing here. I also think that if you’re going to stick with this font you might want to make it larger. The edges are really fuzzy on this one, at least for your readers with astigmatism.
Yeah, the font is a bit too small if you’re going to stick to it. I don’t even have eye problems and it still looks a bit fuzzy.
Agree with this, I don’t mind the speech bubbles, but the font is too tiny and hard to read.
I like the new speech bubbles, but I think that maybe it’s just the fact that they don’t have borders. Maybe you should write the text yourself? I love it♥
I do agree that Times New Roman is not a font you want to be using for a comic. Probably should stick with Comic Sans. (Why yes, I can recognize the fonts at a glance.)
What I used previously was Lucida Sans, and while I agree it was cleaner, sometimes the blockiness looked strange to me (an opinion I had before my teacher commented on the font, but which I never really acted on). I may have to scour dafont or blambot.
Comic Sans is criticized for webcomic use because it’s used so often, but I believe it would really work with your hand-drawn style. It’s used so much, because it’s so good.
Your instructor (instructeor? :p) was wrong. The new bubbles look bad. I don’t really have a preference about the style of the font, but these letters do not appear to be as dark as the last strip. Or possibly not as sharp, as Amanda said.
You might want to think a little more of color and human anatomy. In the last panel, Grandpa’s shirt kinda merges with Antoine’s hair (I realize his hair is black and the shirt is navy, but they merge nicely on my monitor), and what I presume to be Marta’s hand on Grandpa’s shoulder looks like some funky clip in Antoine’s hair. And for him to turn his head that far to the right would normally require a little bit of turning of the torso.
I wonder if, during the congratulations, Selkie were to kiss Marta, Marta would break out in a rash.
Sometimes the ads work so nicely.
I was re-reading the archives last night. The one where Heather gets adopted, and Amanda throws her fit. “He got adopted, she got adopted, even fish-face got a dad. When is it going to be my turn?” Then she’s just standing there, with tears running down her face. “Why doesn’t anybody want ME?”
And directly below that is an ad. “Ask a child therapist”.
I was just about to suggest blambot, but you’ve beat me to it—failing that, I’ve seen one called “Chinacat” floating around that’s actually pretty close to what Marvel uses nowadays, too.
I’m liking the change to the speech bubbles, but I’m not digging the font change.
I like the new text and font bubbles, although it’s possible they could use black lines around the outside. It matches the kind of strokes you’re drawing with now.
Yeah, separating the speech bubbles from the background with black outlines might be be a good idea even just for a later occasiona when you’re going to have a very light background for the text at some point. It would also suit your stronger lines better.
I would recommend not using a serif font. Many comic enthusiasts regard it as a faux pas. (Whereas comic sans is a cardinal sin XD)
I like the old bubbles better. Terah’s right, the new ones just look shaky.
What a way to reveal Marta’s engagement. xD I love how Todd’s attention was drawn to the ring on her finger. “Hey wait a second…”
*shakes head* My eye didn’t notice the change in the bubbles, but the font definitely. It’s too thin and I don’t find it a comfortable read the way the other one was.
That being said, the shocked expressions are priceless!
I love, love, LOVE Marta’s “I swear to science” expression. I’m going to start using that myself!
It’s probably another swear equivalent to avoid paying to the swear jar XD
f*ck = fudge ripple
swear to science = swear to G*d
Or it could be – as I interpreted it – an atheist’s swear equivalent of the “I swear to god”.
I’m going to disagree with most everybody and say that I like the new bubbles. The visual unity is an improvement, in my opinion.
New text? Ehh, not a fan. Serifs and stroke widths don’t look right to me in this context.
Anyone else diggin’ Antoine’s totally-not-surprised look in the third panel?
I disagree with your professor. I like the way it looked before. I’m not a fan of typewriter-style fonts; if you want a different font, there are lots of options more suited to comics. The shaky speech bubbles look… i dunno, almost like they were done by hand with a mouse, by someone who doesn’t draw well.
Nope. Put it back, that’s what I say.
As a reader I’m with pyrpyr. I’ve followed comics for months when I couldn’t tell the characters apart from looking at them, all because I liked the story. But I won’t spend five minutes on a comic if I can’t read the dialog.
Love the comic. Hate today’s speech bubbles. This font is fine, the other font was, too.