5 (And 5 More!) Amateur Lettering Mistakes

[CHWolf]

Originally Posted by JimCampbell

What's the problem with doing this:



…?

Cheers

Jim

Well, I should probably have made a better diagram. XD Heh

In this example, however, isn't interrupting the eye line a no-no?

Or, as I suspect, are some no-nos acceptable to prevent WORSE no-nos?

[JimCampbell]

Originally Posted by CHWolf

In this example, however, isn't interrupting the eye line a no-no?

Or, as I suspect, are some no-nos acceptable to prevent WORSE no-nos?

Of all the 'rules' of lettering, breaking the eyeline is the one I probably care least about. (Other letterers are available, your statutory rights are not affected.)

But, yes, in my mind there is most definitely a hierarchy for these things: tangents, crossed tails, balloons on faces are at the top of the list. I'm OK with the balloon tail pointing only vaguely at the bottom half of the speaker's face and entirely unconcerned if the layout forces me to break the eyeline.

Cheers

Jim

[HdE]

Well said, Jim.

I've read up on the 'rules' of lettering quite a bit, and I've never seen anything yet about breaking the eyeline.

[JimCampbell]

Originally Posted by HdE

I've read up on the 'rules' of lettering quite a bit, and I've never seen anything yet about breaking the eyeline.

Can't find a link to it right now, but there's definitely something about it in one of the tutorials on the Comicraft site. It's one of those things where -- in ideal world -- I'll try not to do it, but I won't create an ugly or hard-to-read arrangement of balloons to avoid blocking the characters' eyelines.

Cheers!

Jim

[Todd Klein]

Some editors care more about this than others, but I agree, it's a low priority that I consider when I have the room, ignore when I don't.

[t_orzechowski]

The consensus is in line with my own instincts. In terms of visual information, character eye contact doesn't mean much so long as the balloons don't fill every scintilla of space between them, effectively cutting the panel in two.

[HdE]

Originally Posted by JimCampbell

Can't find a link to it right now, but there's definitely something about it in one of the tutorials on the Comicraft site.

Oh the irony! The one place online I hadn't looked - how embarrassing! Aheh!

Well, just proves that every day's a school day. Interesting stuff.

[lordmagnusen]

It's not like the balloons actually exist for the characters.

[dsartbr]

Hi! Great post! I learned a lot in this forum - I am an amateur (only yesterday I heard of tangents), of course, but I do not like small leading a and I use a lot of short tails. I should change?

Below is a comic mine as example.

(using google translate)

[Comics Commando]

It's funny this came up--I was wondering about the eye-contact issue only a few weeks ago....not sure if the panels were unusually cramped or what [not even sure what the job was, now]. It's a concern, certainly, but in my jobs, it doesn't crop up too often. As I was composing the lettering to the panels, it was pretty clear--I didn't have much wiggle room. In that case, eyeline be damned!

Todd's so right--It's low priority. Work around it if you can, but no biggie if you can't.

If they don't like it--they can rewrite--and I can charge them $ to fix it.

Kurt Hathaway
Cartoon Balloon Studios
khathawayart@gmail.com

[Erica J Heflin]

That's interesting. I was also not familiar with the eyeline rule, but I think it's intuitive to avoid it when possible.