Production: Electronic Lettering Composition
- Compositing Using QuarkXPress
- Printing EPS Files in QuarkXPress
- Lining Up Lettering & Artwork
- Placing Balloons
Compositing Using QuarkXPress
Julie asks:
"I think I grasp the idea of using Photoshop
for coloring and Illustrator for lettering.
However, I'm not sure how QuarkXpress comes
into play. Can you please explain how colored
and lettered work gets imported into
QuarkXpress for printing? Thanks."
Quark (or Pagemaker) is used once the coloring and lettering are
finished, to put the two together. It's easy to do, and it keeps the
lettering from becoming a permanent part of your colored artwork, in
case you want to use the artwork unlettered for a promo piece, or
have it relettered in another language, etc. at a later date.
Here's how: Save your Photoshop files as .TIFF and your Illustrator
files as .EPS. Open a new Quark document with the actual dimensions of a
printed comic (generally 6.625 x 10.125). Create a picture box, import
the colored artwork (TIFF) file, and resize it to fit (usually 67%).
Create another picture box on top and import the lettering (EPS) file,
resizing to fit (you may have to set the background color of this box to
"none" to let the artwork show through). Repeat as necessary.
Be sure to talk to your printer about how they want the pages ordered
and arranged before you start, because when you save them time, it will usually save you money. And don't forget that they'll need the Quark file and ALL of the separate .TIFF and .EPS files to properly output your pages -- use "Collect for Output" under the File menu to make sure all of the necessary files are included.
For more info on this process, see our Pasteup in QuarkXPress page.
Printing EPS Files in QuarkXPress
Junior wrote:
"We purchased your font "LosVampiros". After many tries, we've found that font doesn't print when we launch the printing via Xpress. The error message is : "Some EPS images use fonts that aren't installed on your System."
Sounds like you're printing to a non-PostScript printer (such as an inkjet), which don't always get all the info from placed EPS images.
Here's what to do:
1. Save a copy of the Illustrator file, in case you need to make type corrections.
2. "Create Outlines" on all the text in the EPS file.
3. Update the link in Quark, and try printing again.
"Creating outlines" on all text in your Illustrator EPS files is a good idea in general -- it can prevent output problems, and will remove the need to send the fonts to whoever's doing the final output of your files.
Lining Up Lettering & Artwork
Vincent writes:
"What method do the professionals at Comicraft use to align the art to the
letters? Even my method does not allow for the kind of precision I see on
display in Comicraft-lettered books. Is this a trade secret? Or can you
share it with me?"
Actually we can't take all the credit -- the job of "pasting up" the
lettering is usually done by the publisher or color-separation house --
for most of the books we letter, we send the finished EPS lettering
files and they take over. However, we've worked a lot with them
to make the process go smoothly, so I can make a few suggestions
to hopefully improve your results...
- When you're scanning your artwork, be sure to crop each page of art
to precisely the same size. If you're using Illustrator 6 or above to
letter, resize a COPY of each artwork file to 144 dpi, and save them as TIFFs.
For earlier versions of Illustrator, or programs that can't place TIFF
files, create 72 dpi placement files and save them as EPS.
- Import the scan into Illustrator, and draw a box around the edge of the artwork, another at the crop lines, and a third at the copy safe area.
Give them each no fill and different colored strokes. Save this file as
your "master lettering file", and then each time you import a new scan
to letter over, it will line up in exactly the right spot!
- When you're finished lettering, create outlines, and "Save As..." in EPS format. Delete the scan and the inner two bounding boxes, but leave the outside one -- it will give you a reference to match up
to the artwork when the two are placed in QuarkXPress, and since it's outside the trim area, it won't show up on the finished comic.
If you're still having trouble lining things up onscreen in Quark,
here's a trick to get a higher-res placement image: In Illustrator,
scale your outlined EPS lettering file 200% (be sure to check "scale
line weights"). Then when you import it into Quark, reduce it 50% --
this gives you a 144 dpi placement image instead of 72dpi, which
helps a lot when trying to match things up precisely onscreen.
Placing Balloons
Leesa Dean writes:
"I've never done lettering before -- what would you suggest as the best method of placing balloons and fonts in the artwork? I had figured on using a combination of my artist's handdrawn balloons, and placing the fonts inside of them using Quark, after they're inked. But a printer (at Brenner) suggested that I use pre-done balloons 'cause the circles are rounder. Also, I want the fonts and balloons to look uniform -- I don't want the fonts darker than the balloons or vice versa."
The "best" method depends on the look you want. Perfectly round balloons aren't necessarily better, if you prefer a hand done look. If you're not sure, keep in mind that creating balloons (and doing the lettering) directly on the computer will be quicker and easier to change later.
The method we use at Comicraft is to draw the balloons in Illustrator and then type the lettering over them. Both the lettering and balloons are saved as a single EPS file and imported into QuarkXPress for compositing.
If you really want to use handdrawn balloons, here's an idea: Have your artist draw balloons in a variety of sizes and shapes, separately from the artwork. Scan them in, save them as .TIFF files (or better yet, EPS files with clipping paths around the balloons as described below), and place them in QuarkXPress, where you'll be able to move them around, resize them, and reuse them. You can probalby do your lettering directly in Quarkon top of that.
Nicholas writes:
"If I save a balloon picture as a .TIF file, as you suggested in Photoshop, and then place that in PageMaker, there is a box that appears around the image that I can't get rid of, and it covers the artwork. Do you know how to let PageMaker know that the image needs to have an alpha channel?"
Two suggestions:
Create a clipping path in Photoshop:
- with the magic wand tool, select the area around the balloon
- invert the selection
- "make path" in the "paths" palette and "save path"
- save file in EPS format (make sure to select your clipping path in the next window; set flatness to 3)
or
Convert your TIFF file to Illustrator outlines using Adobe's autotrace program "Streamline."
If you don't have Streamline, here's a way to autotrace using Photoshop:
- select the black line of the balloon in Photoshop with the magic wand
- "make path" in the "paths" palette
- use the open arrow and highlight all the points of the path (click and drag over them). Hit Copy (command-C)
- switch to Illustrator, make a New Document and Paste (command-V)
- set the fill of the outside line to black and the inside line to white.
- save as EPS and place into PageMaker (or Quark)
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