The Art Of Lettering: How To ADD TEXT To Speech Bubbles In Comics And Manga

As a comic artist, one of the most important things you need to master early on is readability. Before even worrying about the art or panels, your dialogue is what could make or break your ideas getting across. Just look at One Punch Man, the original manga was lacking in the art department but stood out in the writing. In this video, I am going to show you the PROPER way to letter your comics so your readers will never complain about being distracted by your lettering.
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#Comics #Manga #Webtoons

[@Dark_Peace]

Monitor Comics : don't use comic sans Toby Fox : very interesting, I'm gonna ignore that right away

[@MonitorComics]

LOL Rules were meant to be broken...

[@mak_707]

Thank you so much! I always try make sure to do lettering as easy-to-read as possible because it makes the comic more comfortable to digest. It's funny because it is actually a way of helping the brain into liking something. The brain is quite sensitive to these subconscious inadequacies which our consciousness might take a while to acknowledge.

[@MonitorComics]

Yess exactly! Readers take good lettering for granted, they easily notice it when it is bad LOL

[@HeliumCry]

Really helpfull for when I'll have done all the pages of my 1st chapter, thanks alot man!

[@MonitorComics]

Nice!

[@ADaemonKnightly]

Thank you, this will help me out a lot with my comics!

[@MonitorComics]

I'm glad! Best of luck with your project!

[@yungartisan4186]

Once it's monitor comic approved it's gucci 👌

[@IKP1000]

Thank you. I'm just starting out, and this is so helpful!

[@MonitorComics]

I'm glad to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to check this video out and leaving a comment!

[@dameanvil]

00:20 📖 Readability is crucial in comics. Lettering plays a significant role in how well a comic is received. 01:27 🖋️ Proper spacing is key. Dialogue should sit comfortably within speech bubbles without being too cramped or stretched. 02:09 ✏️ Split dialogue appropriately. Consider creating a new speech bubble for each sentence to maintain legibility and flow. 02:52 📏 Dialogue should resemble a square shape. It should be neat and not take up excessive space on the page. 03:07 🚫 Avoid tangents. Be mindful of where you place balloons to prevent awkward intersections with other elements. 03:22 📐 Avoid bisecting balloons from the widest position. Slicing towards the top is a better choice. 03:36 📏 Negative space is important. Keep dialogue in a square-like shape with a bit of space on each side for a clean look. 04:03 ✒️ Consider font choice. Recommended fonts for comic lettering include ccy words, digital strip, and Lafayette comic strip. Avoid fonts like Comic Sans.

[@MonitorComics]

Thank you for the timestamps!

[@Rekter]

I mostly draw comics n stuff mobile, and so I have an art program called “Autodesk Sketchbook”. It has a font called “Noteworthy” that I use when I just draw things like mini-comics.

[@MonitorComics]

Very cool! I haven't played around with drawing on my phone too often, so thank you for the feedback. I just looked up the font and it's definitely better than comic sans lol

[@imoutodaisuki]

The ironic thing about WildWords is that the font has been used so much that I've seen artists recommend not using it because it makes your comic blend too much with the rest and lacks uniqueness.

[@Sonicfalcon16]

Wingdings ftw when inwant to write a character is spraking another language

[@warrenbradford2597]

I need to plan out the speech bubbles first before writing them in my manga. I need to make sure they fit in with the visuals in natural and appropriate way.

[@malalalalala2985]

Can’t tell what you’re talking about when you say look at the lettering. It’s too zoomed out and you go too fast!

[@name2913]

Beautiful

[@MonitorComics]

Thank you!

[@jodelthompson]

Every comic artist says don't use Comic Sans so I think I shouldn't use Comic Sans. At least not for anything professional.

[@MonitorComics]

Yeah, personally I just think it gets hate for the jokes at this point. But editors might look at it as childish, and it's easily recognizable, so I'd just avoid it when there are a million other fonts :D

[@saqvobase4301]

At 4:20, three fonts are listed. But how do you spell the third one? No visual name was represented

[@najmaul7830]

Very useful for me

[@MonitorComics]

I'm glad to hear that!! Thanks for taking the time to watch and leave a comment!

[@cancelled148]

My mind has officially been destroyed with all this knowledge 💀

[@MonitorComics]

LOL knowledge is power 🦥

[@cancelled148]

@@MonitorComics PERIOD!

[@cancelled148]

Are the fonts already built in with correct spacing?

[@MonitorComics]

@@cancelled148 Yes, they should be! Most art programs allow you to adjust kerning, leading, and other font settings as well if you would like to change the spacing sizes!

[@constantdoodle32]

Well I don’t have those cool fonts... is there any way to find them and import them into clip studio?

[@MonitorComics]

constantdoodle yes! Fonts are actually saved to your computer and not clip studio itself. So just search up the fonts and download them! If you’re using a windows computer than you’ll want to download the installer, if you’re using a Mac you’ll want to just drag and drop your font file into the Font Book software! It’s a very simple process, but if you’ve never done it before there’s plenty of short tutorials online!

[@uliseslea7824]

Thanks

[@MonitorComics]

Thank YOU for taking the time to comment!

[@mayalabo3906]

3:23 Tail should never cross but I see Kamen America Comics use it a lot~ but it was kinda creative and effective~

[@MonitorComics]

There are always people that "break the rules" and try out there own things. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. If you think it fits your story and page layouts then give it a shot!

[@HeliumCry]

And lol, spitted my energy drink when I saw Project Divider. Like, how can you mess something that bad...?

[@TheOnlyTrueFather]

LOL same. I came to the comments to see if anyone else caught that.

[@antinihilizm]

black butler

[@antinihilizm]

i saw the page i had too