(a) Pencils. Also known as a "back up word processor" by writers, the pencil
works in much the same way as does the "pencil" tool in Illustrator ,
however you will also need a device known as a "Sharpener" as pencils can be
used for only very short periods of time before they have to be refreshed.
Before you invest in a sharpener, be aware that they are made by a number of
different manufacturers and may have a bus port which is not compatible with
your pencil. You will also notice a high degree of line weight variance
during the course of a pencil's short life. Don't waste time looking for new
supplies of toner, unfortunately pencils have to be completely replaced and
requests for cheaper upgrades are most likely to be met with derision by
greedy art suppliers eager to sell green lettering artists the same tool
over and over again.
(b) An Ames Guide & a T-Square. Unlike your computer programs, your hand and
eye do not seem to be capable of lettering without some sort of guideline.
The Ames guide is an architect's tool which allows the hand letterer to draw
pencil guidelines on which he might then letter with a pen. Be careful; the
Ames guide must be used on a T-square platform and will not remember the
various point sizes required for standard comic book lettering, let alone
for different characters or different page dimensions. And be smart, etch a
"reset button" on the Ames guide with an x-acto blade.
(c) Technical Pens & Speedball Nibs. If your only experience of lettering
comic books has been with a computer, here's some bad news for the hand
lettering novice or "calligrapher"; technical pens and speedball nibs are
not equipped with undo features. "Whiteout", a crude but sometimes effective
pen-and-paper equivalent to undo is available as a kind of plugin from some
suppliers, but despite the careful application of this substance, our
researchers have testified that whiteout is not dependable and will often
cause lettering to revert to a previously saved version of your document if
it is left in bright sunlight. Speedball nibs are strangely named, as they
do not appear to be speedy or ball-pointed. Effective use of speedball nibs
requires the application to the point of the nib of a thick black liquid
known amongst those in-the-know as "ink", which is supplied in small
bottles. Technical pens come with ink cartridges and are therefore somewhat
less problematic than speedball nibs, however, these cartridges are about a
one-hundredth the size of printer toner cartridges which will frustrate
first time pen users accustomed to attending to their printers once a month
rather than once a day. Computer letterers eager to avoid carpal tunnel
syndrome will find relief with the use of pens, however, they will instead
encounter the less well-known calligrapher's callous; an unpleasant swelling
distinguished by a blackening of the digit closest to the pen reservoirs.
(d) Brushes. More bad news for those of you accustomed to the Illustrator
toolbox; handheld brushes are available in different weights but each weight
must be purchased separately and there are no preferences available to help
you remember which weight you used last. Useful for grim screams and sfx or
for filling in blacks on drop shadows, brushes (which also only work with
ink) are nevertheless extremely messy and, once your lettering is composited
on the artwork, bad brushstrokes are very difficult to remove and impossible
to scale or convert to outline. Those of you with the extra money to spend
may like to purchase sheets of vellum (a semi-transparent paper comparable
to the layer feature in your drawing program) so that you might create your
sfx without destroying the artwork, but note well that vellum can be quite
expensive and may provide undesirable ripple effects reminiscent of KPT
distortions.
esponse to our feature HOW TO LETTER COMICS THE COMICRAFT WAY has been very
positive, However, a number of our readers have posted questions in relation
to the topic of "Hand" lettering, claiming that our series is incomplete
without some kind of disposition in relation to this subject, especially
bearing in mind that Comicraft's president and first tiger, Richard
Starkings is, himself, a recovering hand letterer. Our intrepid fontmeister
and webspinner, John "JG" Roshell, confronted Starkings with our readers'
queries at a recent Comicraft retreat in the Santa Monica mountains, and we
are now able to present the definitive computer letterer's guide to the
almost-but-not-quite-forgotten art of -- what was it again -- oh, yeah...
