Comic Book Lettering: The Comicraft Way (Paperback)

by Richard Starkings (Author), John Roshell (Author) "Despite the fact that his studio was less than ten minutes away from me, I was more than happy to keep him as the distinguished..." (more)
Key Phrases: lettering artists, pen tool, Sam Rosen, Astro City, Richard Starkings (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A must-have for any would-be graphic designer, fan, or student of the printed arts." -- Joe Kelly - (Superman, Justice League)

"COMIC BOOK LETTERING THE COMICRAFT WAY is an excellent bare bones start to the world of computer lettering." -- Augie De Blieck - Comicbookresources.com

An essential resource on the craft of comic-book lettering. --Communication Arts Magazine

I was amazed at the level of scientific thought that goes into directing your eyes and reader voice through letters on the page. I cannot say enough good about this work... if you are going into the industry or hope to, buy this book. (4/4) --Alexander Ness, SlushFactory.com

Want to know more about comics? It's a must-buy. Want to make your own comics? It's a must-buy. Don't miss it. --Maggie Thompson, Comics Buyers Guide

Product Description
Because You Demanded It! 64 pages of comic book lettering tips and tricks from the award-winning Comicraft studio. This full color step-by-step guide is filled to the brim with the wisdom -- and wit! -- of Comicraft founders Richard Starkings and John 'JG' Roshell.

Comic Book Lettering the Comicraft Way features a stunning cover of HIP FLASK by Brian Bolland and two HIP FLASK comic strips created by Kurt Busiek & Stuart Immonen and Jeph Loeb & Ian Churchill, alongside contributions from a galaxy of comic book stars including J. Scott Campbell, Dave Gibbons, Christian Gossett, Ladronn, Scott Lobdell, Joe Madureira, Carlos Pacheco, Joe Quesada, Tim Sale, Kurt Busiek, Joe Casey and Joe Kelly.

Step by Step, Comic Book Lettering the Comicraft Way guides readers through the process of lettering a comic strip digitally. From font design to balloon placement, sound effects, signage, title page and publication design, the creators of The World's Greatest Comic Book Fonts cover every conceivable aspect of comic book lettering. Lavishly illustrated by examples drawn from Comicraft's ten years as America's premier comic book lettering studio, this manual is an essential tool for comic book creators everywhere.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Active Images (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974056731
• ISBN-13: 978-0974056739
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #414,737 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good book on *computer-based* lettering, August 1, 2005

By	John Hughes "Dabbler" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Don't get me wrong by the rating - this is a good book. A point that the author's make pretty well is that if you are interested in lettering comics professionally, you'll need to manage the tight deadlines common to the industry. You'll have a very hard time meeting deadlines lettering by hand, and so the subject of the book turns to migrating over to an electronic lettering strategy.

A caution for readers: To follow the methods outlined in the book, you should expect to shell out a fair amount of additional cash. Of course you'll need a computer, but you'll also need a vector graphics program like Illustrator, a scanner, and a font-making program like fontographer or fontlab. (Alternatively, you can visit the author's web site and download their fonts for about $50 a pop.) All told, you can easily spend a small fortune before you can even decide if this interests you. If you want to learn more about the craft of *hand-lettering* comics, this book won't help you that much. If you're looking up this book, though, chances are you have most of the software and hardware described above.

Cautions out of the way, I used the strategies described in this book to effectively produce my very first handwriting-based font in one weekend, and I'm very pleased with the results. Once you have the fonts you want, the book serves to inspire with a good deal of really great font samples, and demonstrations on how to use them to good effect in your typical power-fantasy genre comic book.

If you're interested in other genres (like serious graphic novels such as "Ghost World"), the basic info will still be helpful, though some of the examples may not interest you. (You may not find much use for creating an interesting layout of the word "FTOOOM," for example...)

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YOU WON'T NEED ANY OTHER LETTERING BOOK!, April 5, 2004

By	Tex (Hyde nr. Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews

If like me you're putting together your own small-press comic book from start to finish, or perhaps you want to work as a professional comic book letterer, this is a book you NEED.

All you need is a copy of Adobe Illustrator and this book and you'll never be stuck again on a lettering problem. And even if you were, Starkings and Roshell will help you personally through their website's 'ASK Mr. FONTASTIC' service.

Comic Book Lettering: The Comicraft Way covers literally everything, including creating different types of balloons, balloon placement, lettering style, choosing fonts, creating sound effects, signage and how to place it in perspective, and how to create your own fonts, to name but a few.

It's put together in an incredibly well-designed comic-book style format, and the amazing design skills of the Comicraft guys means they've been able to pack an unbelievable amount of tips, tricks, techniques, and examples into what you would expect to have been a much larger book to accomodate the quantity and quality of advice contained in this treasure trove.

Richard Starkings and John Roshell are more than ably assisted by such comic book luminaries as Jeph Loeb, Kurt Busiek, Brian Bolland, Ian Churchill, Tim Sale, Ladronn, and Mike Wieringo, and at under ten dollars this is the how-to bargain of the millenium.

I can't recommend it highly enough. Buy it!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for comic artists interested in lettering, November 17, 2005

By	Ray Cornwall "wishlish" (Avon By The Sea, NJ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Comicraft, the producers of this book, handle a great deal of lettering jobs for Marvel, DC, and other publishers. This book is a great introduction to the methods necessary to creating good digital lettering for comics.

Before Comicraft, most lettering was done by hand, which isn't as cost-effective for major publishers. Sadly, most publishers are now looking for digital lettering as opposed to manual lettering. However, this doesn't mean that lettering has to look bad; on the contrary, Comicraft has shown through projects like Astro City and Batman: Hush that digital techniques open up a wide array of new possibilities.

This book is a necessity to anyone serious about using digital lettering in their comics. And it's dirt cheap!