Lettering Comic Books with Illustrator

Learn the art of comic book lettering—designing word balloons, dialogue, sound effects, and more—with Adobe Illustrator.

Introduction

• Welcome
• What you should know before watching this course
• Using the exercise files

1. Overview

• The main goal: Storytelling
• A brief history of lettering in comic books
• Tools and prerequisites
• Getting ready to letter

2. Word Balloons

• Arranging a line of dialogue
• Typographic traditions
• Drawing a basic balloon
• Drawing a tail
• Joining tails and balloons with the Pathfinder panel
• Joining tails and balloons with the layer method
• Butting and masking balloons
• Working in lowercase

3. Type Treatment

• Emphasizing words with typography tools
• Emphasizing words in a sound effect style
• Creating a jagged burst balloon
• Creating a double-outline burst balloon
• Fitting into tight spots

4. Captions and Other Balloon Styles

• Thought balloons
• Whisper balloons
• Weak or "deflated" balloons
• Electric and radio balloons
• Special voices
• Voiceover captions
• Narrative captions

5. Comic Book Sound Effects

• Creating a basic sound effect
• Enhancing sounds with the Free Distort effect
• Adding outline stroke effects
• Creating a large, hollow sound effect
• Creating a sound effect palette

6. Finishing Touches

• Designing a title, credits, and a tagline
• Creating signage
• Adding color
• Looking back over the page
• Rhythm and consistency

7. Final Output

• Creating PDF proofs
• Overprinting and using rich blacks
• Generating output files
• Basic compositing in InDesign

Conclusion

• Charging for your services
• Being professional
• Conclusion