Comic tip! leading reader through speech bubbles

[ebeethe1st]

I'm guilty of creating some awkward speech bubble arrangements. Sometimes you have a really nice page layout but then discover the dialog just doesn't fit nicely in the space available. I need to be more conscious of that.

[Sketchmazoid]

I always place the dialog in the storyboard, since it's so important to the flow of the narrative it's best to do it as early as possible I think.

[ebeethe1st]

I do that too, but I suppose I don't make my storyboards detailed enough because it still happens sometimes. Well, when I say I put the dialog into the storyboard, I mean I draw where I want the speech bubble to be and a quick word to let me know what dialog I wanted to put there. But often times I under estimate how large/small the bubble will need to be and I will rearrange it, and the effect won't be as nice. Or other times I think it flows and then later realise it's not as fluid as I thought it was. I suppose I should put a bit more thought into that stage of development in general.

[apurviance]

I've finally started putting in the text in the panels first, before sketching the art. This really helps on smaller panels with more text, so I don't fill the space with graphics first and then have to cram in the text awkwardly.

One technique that bothers me for some reason is the inverted speech arrow to indicate someone speaking off screen. Is it just me, or does this feel weird? Personally, I think if the character cannot be seen their sound still has a direction and the arrow should point to where the voice is coming from. Or, leave out the arrow. What do you think?

[ebeethe1st]

It doesn't exactly bother me but I personally just leave the arrow out, and hope my readers can assume the person speaking is the one off panel. Unless there are more than one person off panel and there needs to be a clue as to which one is talking, in which case I would probably use the outward arrow sooner than the inverted arrow. Though, I suppose it is a good way to save space and not worry about the arrow covering the background when it's unneeded. It's a technique that works, I guess it's just up to personal preference. Some people know how to make it work. I know I see it in manga a lot.

[Raven_C]

I don't mind the inverted arrow; sometimes I use it, especially if an off-screen character is either directly in front of or behind another character who's on screen. But personally I like using colored speech bubbles more in order to differentiate who's speaking.

[Sketchmazoid]

I don't think I've ever seen the inverted arrow before? I don't see what purpose it serves that a bubble with no tail didn't already serve? Kinda looks like the speech bubble itself is speaking to me, which is pretty fuckin' meta.

[kurisquare]

Yes, good advice! I try to figure out my speech bubble placement when thumbnailing for that same reason, speech bubbles guide the reader way more than panels do. (I laughed too much at "awkward pause" and I'm not sure why I found it that funny but yes....)

Also cool video! makes me want to try doing one but first I'd have to think of cool tips to share

One technique that bothers me for some reason is the inverted speech arrow to indicate someone speaking off screen. Is it just me, or does this feel weird?

I used to do this, but I eventually stopped doing it for no particular reason...guess I don't really mind xD

[jerzydrozd]

Great walkthrough, and I'm so glad you're sharing tips like this. We often see tips on proper balloon usage, like the latest creator's guide or Nate Piekos' 10 Mistakes Made by Amateur Letterers, which are useful guides for understanding the mechanics of creating word balloons, but seldom do we see guides for thinking of word balloon/sound elements as design tools in our comics.

You can do some seriously creative storytelling using thoughtful balloon placements. An example I often cite is the 80s comic Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn, and Ernie Colón. In the following example they got double-duty out of two panels through word balloon placement:

This is an aspect of comics that many creators overlook, and I'm always excited when I see people using sound elements in an integrated, thoughtful way.

I recently had a 2-hour discussion with cartoonist Zack Giallongo (Ewoks: Shadows of Endor, Broxo, The Stratford Zoo Midnight Review) about this very topic. Throughout the discussion he highlights the visual, narrative, and rhythmic nature of sound design in comics. It's a fun talk that you can watch or listen to here.

[PotooGryphon]

This thread post inspired me to re-evaluate my word balloons on the page I was just about to finish up. haha Thanks @Sketchmazoid my page came out better for it.

@jerzydrozd That page is crazy phenomenal. There's so much going on in that page, I not sure if I would have caught all of it on my own without seeing your guide under it.

[Sketchmazoid]

Woah, I just started listening to LIA on @bitsfair 's recommendation. Really cool show, definitely gonna listen to that one. That page is quite the feat as far as layout goes. jesus.

[SpavVy]

Vary good tip! Good thing I'm revamping the prologue in my story right now so this was vary refreshing!

[PotooGryphon]

Found these tips on Facebook by Nate Piekos, and thought I'd share here too.

[scythe]

Thanks for posting. I watched the video and found it insightful.

[globuline]

Thanks, those are brilliant advice! It's funny how naturally, I was applying some of these rules without really being able to say why !

[allenthomas]

This is amazing advice. I actually read something similar from one of Scott McCloud's books ( I believe Making Comics) It is very important to guide the readers eye in a smooth way that doesn't unintentionally jar them away from the storytelling. I'm getting a little better at this.

[PotooGryphon]

Found this one on twitter. It's more of an ad for a letterer, however, i still think it's a good example of lettering and speech bubble placement.

[Icelug]

Thank you so much. I'm so glad you shared this.
Number 2 (and 10) is so hard to do (for me at least). I'm always struggling to do that the right way. .'

[Spinester]

Another thing to keep in mind is not just the balloon placement but the tails of the balloons. They are basically arrows pointing the eye and when used effectively can really help in leading the reader around the page.

[PotooGryphon]

Found another comic lettering tip on Twitter today from Nate Piekos ( @blambot ).