Comics and YOU - "Pacing and Speech Bubbles" - Garry's Mod

Another in my infocomic series, this time focused on the post-process editing part. [img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21161113/Comics/pacing_speech1.jpg[/img] [img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21161113/Comics/pacing_speech2.jpg[/img] [img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21161113/Comics/pacing_speech3.jpg[/img] If you have any questions, I'll happily elaborate here. I'd also like to say that nothing was targeted to a specific comic or member, these are pet peeves of mine and issues that I see in many starting comic makers.

it's great and else, but the last ones have it's phrases almost unreadable because of the motley background. You could add some glowing on the text to solve this. Also, it might be a good idea (and i do it so) to add cinematic black bars on the top and bottom, and use them for phrases. White text on the black background is perfectly readable and can contain up to four different phrases,the position of the text shows who's speaking, and (it's very important if you're making a beautiful comic sheets) the text will not "steal" the picture from being seen like the bubbles do

Interesting.

[QUOTE=antianan;31285067]it's great and else, but the last ones have it's phrases almost unreadable because of the motley background. You could add some glowing on the text to solve this. Also, it might be a good idea (and i do it so) to add cinematic black bars on the top and bottom, and use them for phrases. White text on the black background is perfectly readable and can contain up to four different phrases,the position of the text shows who's speaking, and (it's very important if you're making a beautiful comic sheets) the text will not "steal" the picture from being seen like the bubbles do[/QUOTE] I think you missed the whole point of the alternate lettering. It, like the example of repetition, was to show how not to do it. Black bars are also flawed, you have to order ragdolls by the order they speak, and it comes off more as reading out of a screenplay if you label names. Black bars also add to vertical length (increasing the size of the comic), and don't allow for complex conversations to be had in only a few frames. It works for screenshots, but we're talking about narrating upwards of 50 frames. As for loosing your image, if you take screenshots with adding text in mind, you don't loose anything. You have to remember that a comic is like a quilt. No one patch is significant on its own, but as a whole, they come together to make something incredible.

In some of your points where there were long trails in between two speech bubbles (Panel 4 for example), I had a bit of trouble reading it in the correct order, as it seemed to be structured almost the same as a "back and forth" conversation between two people. Probably just traditionally how I read comics, but whatever, it's nice anyway. Also, you spelled regard incorrectly.

I personally prefer to type in text under each of my 1920x1080 interactive panels, alternating [b]BOLD TEXT[/b] as I see fit.

[QUOTE=PopwarBunny;31285321]I personally prefer to type in text under each of my 1920x1080 interactive panels, alternating [b]BOLD TEXT[/b] as I see fit.[/QUOTE] Yay Popwar, you're not dead!

Well-made tutorial and I found it quite useful, also you spelt [B]jpeg_qualiy[/B] wrong.

[QUOTE=PopwarBunny;31285321]I personally prefer to type in text under each of my 1920x1080 interactive panels, alternating [b]BOLD TEXT[/b] as I see fit.[/QUOTE] weird me too

[QUOTE=PopwarBunny;31285321]I personally prefer to type in text under each of my 1920x1080 interactive panels, alternating [b]BOLD TEXT[/b] as I see fit.[/QUOTE] Well you have to contend with the average screen to be honest. A lot of people use laptops which tend to go to <800hor more often than not. It's usually best imho to keep a comic's hor at around 600.

[QUOTE=Sie-Sveinhund;31285273]In some of your points where there were long trails in between two speech bubbles (Panel 4 for example), I had a bit of trouble reading it in the correct order, as it seemed to be structured almost the same as a "back and forth" conversation between two people. Probably just traditionally how I read comics, but whatever, it's nice anyway. Also, you spelled regard incorrectly.[/QUOTE] Were you reading left to right, top to bottom? I mean, in panels with one person, you should assume that's the overall order, and splits in speech bubbles normally serve for new ideas or paragraphs, or short pauses in speech. Connected bubbles, unless directly separated by another bubble, should be read back to back. Chances are if you're reading to search for a response somewhere else after a short break, you've read a lot of comics that don't type out conversations properly. As for the trails, I had to modify the lengths a bit because yes, this was one person talking, and there was a lot to be said that should be read in a particular order. Also thanks for telling me where, I had to comb through the near to 900 words to hunt it down and fix it. [QUOTE=Caluminium;31285992]Well-made tutorial and I found it quite useful, also you spelt [B]jpeg_qualiy[/B] wrong.[/QUOTE] Uh, no? I mean you just spelled it exactly the same way as I wrote it in the comic. I checked, that's the command.

I always associate fancy fonts with fancy accents.

[QUOTE=Lt_C;31288972] Uh, no? I mean you just spelled it exactly the same way as I wrote it in the comic. I checked, that's the command.[/QUOTE] "jpeg_quality", bro

I have no admit I'm not overly fond of the size of your text and how it fills almost completely the speechbubble, but I reckon this will help newcomers or less experienced comic makers (if there are still any). Great job!

Int +10

Your comic-making skills have increased, you should sleep and meditate on what you've learned.

My only problem is: how the [I]hell[I][/I][/I] do you make it so that you can mess with the edges of the ellipse tool? I can draw it, I can move it about, but I can reshape the edges. Also, it's just showing up as a solid white circle. Any help would be great, I really want to get my first project off the ground soon! EDIT (five minutes later) Nevermind, I just found a wonderful new thingy called "Show Bounding Box"

Very good advice especially regarding saving space and less scrolling as it not only helps the user read but the maker too. This kind of efficiency really reduces the making/editing process time imo which is important cause I think one of the reasons good quality gmod comics are so rare these days is the production time and effort required just kills some people especially the newer ones who are trying comic making for the 1st time. Also regarding the ellipse tool, its much easier/faster to simply place your mouse over the center of the text, hold alt, and then draw outward.

[QUOTE=MrStevenWolfe;31431712]My only problem is: how the [I]hell[I][/I][/I] do you make it so that you can mess with the edges of the ellipse tool? I can draw it, I can move it about, but I can reshape the edges. Also, it's just showing up as a solid white circle. Any help would be great, I really want to get my first project off the ground soon! EDIT (five minutes later) Nevermind, I just found a wonderful new thingy called "Show Bounding Box"[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://filesmelt.com/dl/easybubbles.png[/IMG]

Dear Lieutenant, may I ask what program you are using? I've got in-game Post Processing down, and posing is a cinch, my only problem is that I feel making some beautifully posted, high-quality comic with poorly made text bubbles and various other effects from MS Paint.

[QUOTE=Imasargent;37822647]Dear Lieutenant, may I ask what program you are using? I've got in-game Post Processing down, and posing is a cinch, my only problem is that I feel making some beautifully posted, high-quality comic with poorly made text bubbles and various other effects from MS Paint.[/QUOTE] Like it says in the comic, I use photoshop. That doesn't mean these techniques can't be adapted for other programs, thing like stroke and drop shadow are pretty universal. Also, not that I'm unhappy to see this comic back from the dead, next time PM me with questions.

I don't mind the bump. I think it's good that people see this every once in a while. [editline]27th September 2012[/editline] This should really get put in the sticky thread.