Any comic book letterers out there?

[Paladin]

Hey, I'm in desktop buying mode and I was wondering how much memory and speed you'd recommend that a computer should have to be able to do lettering effectively.

 

Do Macs get the nod over PCs?

[sckao]

If you just buy the lettering fonts, they're just Truetype or Postscript fonts and don't require a lot of computing power or RAM.

 

What you probably should concentrate on is displaying the artwork so you can overlay the lettering... which means getting a computer that can run Photoshop relatively fast. (That requires a computer with a lot of RAM and a fast video card.)

A P4 2.8 with 1 gig of RAM is plenty fast (and pretty cheap).. and you can easily buy faster machines nowaday.

 

A large monitor also helps.

[rob_react]

If you just buy the lettering fonts, they're just Truetype or Postscript fonts and don't require a lot of computing power or RAM.

 

What you probably should concentrate on is displaying the artwork so you can overlay the lettering... which means getting a computer that can run Photoshop relatively fast.

 

If my concern was how well I could letter in it, I personally would focus on how it performed in Illustrator. The same concerns apply either way, however.

 

Fill it up with RAM.

[awe4one]

If you just buy the lettering fonts, they're just Truetype or Postscript fonts and don't require a lot of computing power or RAM.

 

What you probably should concentrate on is displaying the artwork so you can overlay the lettering... which means getting a computer that can run Photoshop relatively fast.

 

If my concern was how well I could letter in it, I personally would focus on how it performed in Illustrator. The same concerns apply either way, however.

 

Fill it up with RAM.

 

Do you letter yourself?

 

Jim

[rob_react]

If you just buy the lettering fonts, they're just Truetype or Postscript fonts and don't require a lot of computing power or RAM.

 

What you probably should concentrate on is displaying the artwork so you can overlay the lettering... which means getting a computer that can run Photoshop relatively fast.

 

If my concern was how well I could letter in it, I personally would focus on how it performed in Illustrator. The same concerns apply either way, however.

 

Fill it up with RAM.

 

Do you letter yourself?

 

I've done it before.

[awe4one]

If you just buy the lettering fonts, they're just Truetype or Postscript fonts and don't require a lot of computing power or RAM.

 

What you probably should concentrate on is displaying the artwork so you can overlay the lettering... which means getting a computer that can run Photoshop relatively fast.

 

If my concern was how well I could letter in it, I personally would focus on how it performed in Illustrator. The same concerns apply either way, however.

 

Fill it up with RAM.

 

Do you letter yourself?

 

I've done it before.

 

Is it difficult? Remember you're talking with someone who has no clue as far lettering is concerned...

 

Jim

[rob_react]

 

Is it difficult? Remember you're talking with someone who has no clue as far lettering is concerned...

 

Jim

 

It's not too difficult to simply do. It is difficult to do well.

 

The hardest part for a beginner might be learning Illustrator conceptually. After that comes the difficult part- applying both general typographic and comic-lettering specific knowledge to the problem of applying words to the page.

 

Anyone interested in lettering might be well served reading something like DC's Guide to coloring and lettering or checking out Richard Starking's Balloon Tales. There are plenty of other resources out there, those are just the two that spring to mind.

[Aman619]

actually, the hardest part is manipulating the -script into little segments for each balloon, and breaking the lines so they stack well. Its tedious since you cant just create the balloon location and "pour" the -script into them.

 

BUT - - if you want to letter, go find the incredibly useful book Comiccraft created and published. It was a comics graphic novel about 2 years ago. Not only does it advertise their font catalog (which is all you need by the way) but, more amazingly, it is a veritable how-to guide to ballooon placement and comics lettering theory. You will be amazed at how 'scientific' it is, or rather, just how much thought goes into balloon placement, size, shape etc because YOUR work is what guides the reader's eye.

 

I was surprised that they did that since it was sorta like giving away the keys to the store.

[rob_react]

actually, the hardest part is manipulating the -script into little segments for each balloon, and breaking the lines so they stack well. Its tedious since you cant just create the balloon location and "pour" the -script into them.

 

Wouldn't that fall neatly under "After that comes the difficult part- applying both general typographic and comic-lettering specific knowledge to the problem of applying words to the page."