lettering

[TKlein28@aol.com]

At risk of engendering another FLOOD of "unscribe"s, I'll answer the
lettering questions from the last 6 or 8 digests. Skip ahead if this doesn't
interest you.
     Why would I want to do computer lettering at all? Several reasons: 1) I
like to try new things. 2) While it actually takes me longer to letter a
whole comics page on computer, it saves time for smaller jobs like titles,
cover blurbs and logos. 3) Some companies that do electronic coloring and
paste-ups are now requesting computer lettering, as it's easier for them to
work with.  My feeling is that the computer is another tool to add to the
ones I have been using for many years. A very expensive, complicated tool,
but one that shows great promise. Of course, it can never replace
hand-lettering, and is only as good as the creativity and work you put into
it.

ARTHUR:

    On your list of how it's done:  I've used #1 & #3 , #2 isn't possible.
One company (Homage Studios) sends me scans of the artwork by modem, I do the
lettering on-screen over the scan, but on a separate layer, print out a copy
to see how it looks, fax it to the editor for corrections, he faxes back any
changes, I make the changes, then modem the lettering to the company. Hardly
any real paper involved! Of course, the artist has to draw and ink the
original art on paper.
     I haven't seen any Gladstone stories using computer lettering except for
the recent ones using "Whiz-Bang" as described in an earlier digest. If you'd
like to see an example of good computer lettering, look for any American
stories lettered by Richard Starkings/Comicraft. He is on the cutting edge of
this new process.