The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now (#220) -- Lettering For Yourself

What prompted you to learn how to letter comics instead of just writing them? 

There are several reasons I took up lettering, though poverty is the most prominent of them.

I was working for Shooting Star Comics at the time, and I was already paying fantastic artists to draw my stories for little more than peanuts (even I admit that), and even that meager sum had devastated my miniscule budget (the rest of you indie creators know this all too well, I'm sure). That left me on my own when it came to putting all those words on the comic book pages.

I also learned for more altruistic reasons though. I didn't want to stop at just writing. I wanted to know what it was like to have my hands in the process beyond merely turning in my script and kicking back while everyone did all the heavy lifting. So I lettered my first story in Paint Shop Pro (I DO NOT recommend that. Ever.). After that nightmare, I purchased a copy of Illustrator and hit the 'Net to discover the right (or at least better) way to digitally letter a comic book.

I wanted to be a part of the process of hitting a deadline with a team. I wanted to understand the same pressure that the artists were going through.

And boy, did I... but that's a discussion for another time. Move along, kids. Nothing to see here.

The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now (#68) -- Other Useful Skills

I really want to write comics. What other skills will
help me become a published comic book writer?

Other than the actually writing itself (and particularly if, like me, you can't draw), I think that since at least your initial published work will be independent (if you're a good networker) or self-published (the most typical outlet), you need to learn some of the tools and processes that go into the act of creating a comic.

For example, I learned to letter for two reasons: (1) so I wouldn't have to pay someone to do that for me and (2) because I wanted to be a part of the process and see the story develop.

You also need to learn how to network. And by networking, I don't just mean sitting at your computer and and poking people on Facebook or collecting people on LinkedIn. I mean getting out there and meeting people and making connections and friends. Every single story I've had published -- every single story -- has been the result of the people I know in my circles of creators. I've learned of opportunities from them and returned the favor as I've learned of opportunities.

The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now (#61) -- Learn While Creating

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your comic books?

I learned how to letter digitally.

You see... After paying out of pocket for the art on my first comic book story, "Power" in Shooting Star Comics #1, I had no money left in the budget to pay someone to letter it. (For the non-comicsians among you, lettering is putting the text captions and word balloons in place on the page.)

So, I hunkered down and researched Blambot, Comicraft, and other font sites and took the crash course, and did an amazingly bad job of lettering my first comic book story. But it was a start, and my second one was much, much better... mostly likely due to the fact that I ended up buying a copy of Illustrator so I could do it right.

[Link] Blambot's Guide to Comic Book Grammar and Tradition

by Nate Piekos

Special thanks to Todd Klein, Clem Robins, Scott Allie and Jason Arthur for their time and contributions.

Comic book lettering has some grammatical and aesthetic traditions that are unique. What follows is a list that every letterer eventually commits to his/her own mental reference file. The majority of these points are established tradition, sprinkled with modern trends and a bit of my own opinion having lettered professionally for a few years now. The majority of these ideas have been established by Marvel and DC, but opinions vary from editor to editor, even within the same company. I'm often asked to bend or break these rules based on what "feels" best, or more likely, the space constraints within a panel.

As a letterer you're eventually going to see scripts from writers who don't know these standards, aren't interested in them, or just have poor grammar all around. (Although I find the best writers ARE well versed in these points.) It'll be up to you to spot and fix these in the event that the editor misses them.

To continue reading: http://blambot.com/grammar.shtml