Part ONE [link]


This is gonna be a quick exampling!

Today, I'm gonna talk about one of the most neglected things in avatar/sprite comics: Speech Bubbles!

First up about SPEECH BUBBLES!

What are they?

Speech bubbles tell you what each character is saying. It's a great organization tool. Speech bubbles are probably one of the most recognizable things in comics. They house all of what your guys say, and can be used in a LOT of ways. For right now, I'm just going to hit on structure of them and what NOT to do first.

Now, what NOT to do.

There are a few things people do instead of using bubbles, which can work sometimes, but often not don't.

FIRST: Numbers.

Some people use numbers to say the order that dialogue is read. Now this CAN work if you have only small amounts of dialogue. Like two or three lines, tops. But the thing is, most times, they're following the rules of speech bubbles (which I'll get into) doing this, and the numbers will either just confuse you, or be wasted.

SECOND: Colors.

Some people will just use colors to set up who's saying what. Again, this can work, if your characters are defined by their colors. I use the TG fairy often, and she's a cyan color. Using Cyan as her text will clearly show that she's talking. Now this leads to a couple problems that are pretty easy to spot. First being, some colors are just hard to read. Cyan is a nice color to show a character's dialogue from another, but it's sucky to read. Second, you have to establish which character is which color. If characters use similar colors, you can confuse your audience easily. For example Eddo, and I use similar colors. Green shirt, Brown Hair, Blue Jeans. We both could use Green, Blue, or Brown as our dialogue color. You wouldn't be able to tell who's saying what.

THIRD: Lines.

Using just a line to point a bit of dialogue is the next closest thing to using a word balloon. The problem with this, is that if there's a bunch of dialogue, the lines will cross over, and get complicated.

Now, the RULES of Speech Bubbles.

First, follow your eye lines.

We, as Americans, are taught to read Left to Right. Then Up to Down. So, if you have two guys talking, the first one to speak should have their dialogue higher, and further to the left. Then the next will be lower, and more to the right. Just like.... [link]

Pip's dialogue is first. You can tell by your eye naturally drawn to that bubble first. Then comes Duck's dialogue. The text moves left to right, up to down. It's as easy as that. And you can tell who's talking, but the tail of the balloon. It leads to each character.

Now what if you have MULTIPLE pieces of dialogue in one panel? You follow the same rules. But the tails could get confusing. You can link one person's bubbles by a line. You can show passage of time, by the multiple balloons. Each balloon should feel like a "second". Follow each balloon like you normally would, so if one person says two things, and the other says one, it'll go

Char 1: Dialogue

Char 2: Dialogue

Char 3: Dialogue

Now it's very important that tails do NOT cross. That will confuse your readers eyes. So, we'll add more dialogue to the original panel I put up. [link]

If I linked the Duck dialogue, like I did with Pip, it'd have to cross behind Pip's bubble. Which can lead to confusion. So I add another tail, pointing to Duck.

It still follows the time flow. You can still tell the order. Each bubble is still like a second. And each clearly has an owner.

Now even this can get confusing, so be sure not to put too much dialogue in one panel. Be sure to space it out.

Now, how do you make these bubbles?

Remember us talking about Layers? They're really nifty. They'll help in this quite a bit. Now, the easiest thing to do is to use your oval tool, and lasso, underneath the layers that have the text on them.

Use the oval tool to make a bubble over the first bit of dialogue. Hold down shift, as you so the next. So on and so on. Now to make a tail, select lasso. Hold down shift, and trace out the tail. Drawing a simple triangle can work, but adding a little curve adds a bit of flair and traditionalism to it.

You can also use the lasso, to draw the links between bubbles.

After you have them all made, again, on a layer lower than the text, but above the art, select "Stroke Selection" on the edit tab. This will trace the selection lines you've just made with a few pixels of paint. Your bubbles are now formed! You just need a little bit to pull it out from the background. The most used way, is to fill the bubbles with white. You then have made speech bubbles!

Now, do they have to be oval? Not at all! Say your character is shouting, a round bubble can work, but a jagged pointed bubble will have more impact! If your character is whispering, maybe a wiggly tail will give it more of a whisper effect. If your character is a robot, maybe a rounded square bubble will give it a more "uniform" kinda feel. Experiment with it, and you'll find out what you need.

Next time, I'll talk about gutters, and panel shapes!