Help me pick what kind of speech bubbles to use for my webcomic!

[Esemerri]

• 1 - Standard Bubble With Border
• 2 - Bubble Without Border
• 3 - Reversed Bubble Without Border (White Text on Black)

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As the lettering stage looms for the first lot of my pages of my webcomic, Bird of Redwater, I've found myself a little stuck trying to decide what sort of speech bubbles to use!

I am pretty much equally comfortable drawing each type, but was wondering which one people preferred.

Here are the 3 -

Excuse the rather rough artwork! (And mobile squueish) I'm launching my webcomic soon so didn't really want to share the actual pages just yet )

Standard is obviously the most readable, but it kinda wrecks the mood a bit? Whereas the other two blend in a lot more and allow incorporation of bubbles into the art much easier.

Personally, MY favourite is the white text on black but I'm concerned that could cause readability issues. Also think it could be a bit too much of a stylistic decision that might distract somewhat.

Love to hear what others have to say on this!

[Oriflamme]

White on black bubbles should be reserved for special occasions. You can use them occasionally to create contrast in the way characters speak. It can be used as a shorthand for a changing tone of voice, or for a character that speaks in a special way, usually sinister or evil.

[Esemerri]

Thanks for the advice! The whole tone of the webcomic is a bit ominous, so white on black would work in that sense, but the idea of reserving for 'Special Occasions' is also an excellent point. As such I'm leaning away from it for general use.

(I think I've been spending too long writing in dark mode on my phone, gotten far too used to that white on black ahaha)

[RED-VELVET-CUPCAKE]

I like the speech bubble without the border best. I think it blends well with the shadowy background and it's still legible but it doesn't stick out too much.

[Esemerri]

Thanks for your input starting to lean to that option even though the standard bubbles with the border all around is currently leading the poll!

(Your art is really cool! The colours and lines are super impressive, especially when it looks like it's hand drawn and not digital??)

[RED-VELVET-CUPCAKE]

Thank you!

Speech bubbles are tricky. I'm not too picky about them, as long as the text is easy to read.