What do you use to make speech bubbles?

[BobbyjoeX]

i use a custom tool from the clip studio assets shop so i draw my bubbles out so they dont look too... cookie cutter and computer generated

[ble]

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[JeanGuillet]

I use photoshop's shape too too WITH a caveat...after I've placed my ellipse with a 10pt edge so I can see the line next to the type I use the warp tool to make the outline of the ellipse follow the text as closely as I can.

[azzy-m]

Medibang user here! Yes, it has materials with speech bubbles that you can import into the canvas, but I prefer to use the ellipse snap and then I draw the tail of it.

As for fonts, Medibang already has fonts on the cloud, but just in case you don't want to download it, you can use Blambot, which is where I got the font for the main logo of my comic, and it has a lot of dialogue fons that are free.

[Cavechan]

I use CSP so I draw them with the regular G-Pen tool as a vector.

[andrew17]

I'm old school so I draw them by hand with a brush pen.

[racarter]

I just use Photoshop’s shape tool.
But I also use Zombiesmile’s Free Speech Bubbles PSD File.
It’s great for a variety of bubble shapes and you can just copy and past them.

Sometimes I’ll look for brushes or vectors or attempt to make my own if I’m looking for a more complicated shape.

And most of my fonts come from Blambot and 1001Fonts (only the totally free to use ones tho - Id be lost without the Aladin font, which I use for my title).

[snailienz]

I always drew my bubbles myself. I feel like it has a natural look to it. I suggest looking at "making comics" or "drawing words and writing pictures" for lettering references. They both explain how to do it pretty well. I usually type my letters with a good font and then "ink" over them, then make the balloon.

[LT1986]

I use the rectangle tool and ellipse tool from Illustrator most of the time. Now I'm thinking about starting to be more creative with the designs of some of my speech bubbles.

[Shanny8]

I use Illustrator to do my lettering and word balloons. CSP does have lettering/balloon capabilities, but they're currently not the best- the kerning functions are horrible and it doesnt do well with fonts that have ligatures.

Also Illustrator allows me to create balloons like this:

As for my fonts- I get most of them from Comicraft & Blambot. Comicraft has some SUPERB fonts, but they are pretty expensive UNLESS you catch them on New Year's Day when they have a sale on all of their fonts for the price of the new year(i.e., in 2020, fonts will be on sale for $20.20 each all day on Jan 1). Blambot has great fonts as well- his is cheaper(I can buy his fonts any day of the year coz they usually average about $20-$25); he also has FREE fonts that he allows small indie and webcomic artists to use.

[IndigoShirtProd]

I just draw them myself, It's easier that way. The bubbles coincide with my style

[Darth_Biomech]

I have page template that already have everything I need for a page - templates of bubbles, texts, effects or colors. I simply delete what I don't need in the current page I'm working on. Bubbles are shape-based.

[simplykit]

i use the circle tool and manually add the arrow with freehand

and depending on the tone i increase the outline thickness

[vfinnigan]

I use ComicLife and mostly Blambot fonts, though I might invest in some version of Illustrator in the not too distant future.

[Humbug]

The pen tool and vector shapes in Photoshop. Give's me a lot of freedom. I do freehand a bit if I need a special shape that the tools cannot provide.

[Mari]

[nscomics]

I don't use apps, they seem to shopped and soulless. here's an example of how I do it for my book. the bubbles are blank on purpose but I started out with the text and colored in the space around it then moved the bubbles accordingly to flow with the page as best as possible. I try to give the dialogue as much symmetry as possible spanning over the entire page, binding the panels together further and making it all one big picture. then of course I trace a line around the shapes when I'm doing the final linework. give it a try!

[Shanny8]

I might suggest Affinity Designer- from what I can see it's basically Illustrator, at a more affordable price(one time payment of $40). The subscription version of Illustrator is $50 a month(yikes!) unless you can get an older version.

[kimketli]

I use Clip Studio Paint's bubble tool.
It's easy to manage and edit. It can make simple shapes and custom shapes as well. Its auto color fill part is also really handy. I love it.

[MrTwennysebben]

I'm still using my old copy of Manga Studio 5 (which I think is now Clip Studio or something?) so I just use their word balloon tool. I started out with the ellipse balloon, then switched to the curve balloon for a while but went back to the ellipse one because the curve balloons were looking too messy. Maybe one day I'll try to make them myself but it just saves so much time...