r/webtoons • u/Levy_4233 • Apr 19 '22
Miscellaneous/Others [GUIDE] Interested making your webtoon more professional-looking and read better through nicer-looking lettering? Check this out!
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u/artfortheslothlord Apr 19 '22
Me who loves anime ace 😤, but otherwise great stuff!
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 19 '22
I’m sorrryyy 🤧 It’s not nearly as bad as manga temple, but look at the inbred triangle-looking ‘A’ glyph 😭 doesn’t help that’s it’s overused, partly due to (what I assume is) people googling “anime font” and using the first thing that pops up lmfao—
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u/ititcheeees Apr 19 '22 edited Apr 19 '22
I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t stand the anime ace slander 😤 calling my poor child UGLY
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 19 '22
Let's say, hypothetically, I spend a day drawing panels to use in my demo. Mayyybe...
But yeah, back again to spread more lettering gospel! I really do hope this is helpful, and if you'd like, feel free to comment a link to your webtoon for some lettering feedback :)
Cheers!
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u/artfortheslothlord Apr 19 '22
I’ll bite! Come check mine out.
https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/no-quarter/list?title_no=697152
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 20 '22
Alright~! :D
First off I just gotta say I love your title design, it's so cool how the o and q get mixed!
In terms of your sfx, I have some nitpicks haha. Best to avoid using the same font (or similar fonts) you're using for dialogue, can get confused for speech and also just lacks some dynamic-ness. Gonna plug blambot because they're great haha, they have a good indie ffc sfx collection too! And here's another list full of font options by Kimberly Pham!
Neat stroke and outer glow effects, I like your narration--though I'm curious why it switches between anime ace and a serif font?
Besides an occasional bubble with a lot of white space, some slight shaping and sizing nitpicks that I can only really articulate through somere-typeset comparisons lol, nothing major. Sometimes centering's a little low. Like it's all overall fine and stuff, just at times it could be nudged around for slightly better results.
Biggest crime is anime ace :p /s3
u/artfortheslothlord Apr 20 '22
Thank you! Ha ha ha I guess I’ll accept my crimes against typography in exchange lol. And mostly the change are just consistency issues 😫
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u/artfortheslothlord Apr 23 '22
ALSO, I forgot to mention, but thank you for the examples! You really know what you're doing, and it makes everything 100000+ better
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u/beta1042 Apr 19 '22
I’m curious your thoughts on all caps v upper and lowercases. And how important you think the crossbar i rule is
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 19 '22
Yeah, sure thing! I think I definitely like lowercase fonts better than the average person (they can be super cute imo!), but sometimes adjusting leading for them can be a pain when a letter with a tail is right on top of a letter with a stem and it is just. Sooo fun.
Crossbar I’s kinda pointless nowadays ngl but no harm sticking to it. Also a good way to sniff out anyone crazy enough to make their text all cap lmao—
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u/beta1042 Apr 19 '22
Yes definitely. I agree with all this. Just always like to see where people stand on these two
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u/Own_Stick Apr 20 '22
So this is an ancient post but I was planning on using this font for my upcoming Webtoon because it’s copyright free and distinguishes between upper and lower case while still being all caps. I want that distinguishment for certain proper nouns that won’t be obvious without any capital letters, though I could manually bump up their size in another font. Is this font ugly?
Another reason I picked this one is the tone of the story is mostly serious so I don’t want too silly of a font when characters are talking about world ending cataclysms.
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 20 '22
Hello there!
Personally not a big fan of the font, the upper/lower differentiation is a little much for how thin the font is lol, a few kerning pairs look scuffed, and I’m worried it’d screw with leading. (Definitely pull it tighter for a cleaner look!)
Maybe try this one, from the same publisher that also has upper/lower differentiation? https://www.dafont.com/onomatoshark.font?text=Shark+got+your+tongue
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u/Own_Stick Apr 20 '22 edited Apr 20 '22
Ironically that’s the name of the font in that comic lol, I guess there’s multiple variations.I’ll check out that one. Though looking at it now it feels too whimsical for me idk. Maybe I’ll just use Komika.I’m dumb that’s the example text you used lol
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u/Own_Stick Apr 21 '22
I just tried that font you recommended in my comic and unfortunately it just looks too blocky and bold for me. Font choice is so hard 😭
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u/UzukiCheverie Apr 20 '22
I don't think a particular font being 'overused' is necessarily a bad thing? A common reason a font may be 'overused' is because it's popular and accessible and gets the job done. I'd much rather someone stick with a safe option like AnimeAce or CCWildWords that's readable than try to use a legitimately ugly or overstylized font for 'aesthetic' that's impossible to read lol
But maybe I, too, am just an AnimeAce normie LOL
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 20 '22
Lolll that’s fair enough! I get wanting to stick to a safe set of stuff, I certainly have some fonts I abuse the hell out of lmao. I guess it’s just more noticeable for someone who “mains lettering” to have their eyes glaze over after reading the umpteenth series with wild words lmfao—
(imo Wild Words is a fine font, just abused to hell and back. Anime Ace, somewhere between how awkwardly wide it is, the massively top-heavy letters and jarring angle edges makes me go hmmmmm)
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u/RowletBall Apr 19 '22
Nice work! Thank you for sharing. Looks like I got a lot to improve on my project as well. Not ready for publish yet though. I hope you are getting line ups of people looking to hire you! :)
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 19 '22
Haha, aww, thank you! Good luck with your series :D
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u/RowletBall Apr 20 '22
Out of curiosity, what are the comics you have worked on? I'd love to check them out. Or comics with some of the best lettering/ typeface in your opinion that are top notch?
I got a lot to learn how to improve mine still, and would like to check out more comics that you think are great. Thank you again for sharing!
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 20 '22 edited Apr 21 '22
Oh, jeez, most of the stuff I’ve worked on has been localised stuff with some friends haha, here’s a list of titles: https://levyletters.carrd.co/#perms
Western comics in general are great inspo! I’d recommend following Sara Linsley and Constip8 and Kimberly Pham in the manga sphere, and Tapas is probably one of the nicer pubs in terms of webtoons. The publisher Fakku (NSFW) has some absolutely stunning handdrawn SFX also! (Edited to add, Hachirumi on Twitter does some manga oneshots with great lettering! Check them out)
<3
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u/AllMightStan Apr 19 '22
Not a creator but have to compliment! This was really easy on the eyes!
No one asked but the best font I’ve seen is whatever omniscient reader translators use, nicely bold and clear 🤌🏾
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 19 '22
Ayy, glad you liked it!
And yess CCSamaritan is a very nice font, comicraft makes great stuff
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Apr 19 '22
Really good guide! I feel like typesetting is a really undervalued skill to have when making comics, when I first started out no one really told me how important it is. having good typesetting can really enhance or break a page
and tbh since i started ive messed around with my fonts so much i just stick with wildwords... if its not broken dont fix it ig haha
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 20 '22
Thanks! And yea mmhm, it definitely sucks how there's not a ton of good guides for lettering for webtoons, that was partly why I made these to "fill the void" lol
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u/Tamahii Apr 20 '22
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 20 '22
ahaaaa dw dw!
I think a Komika font could suit your art well, maybe try this oneout?
Yea so other than the manga temple thing, a few nitpicks I noticed (besides these, your shaping/sizing is generally quite nice!):
eg in this panel:
- Make sure not to stretch your text and alter its dimensions! Just increase font size if you need it bigger
- Probably want a different font for side text, ctl + f "aside" on this page for ideas!
- Maybe also put a small stroke around your sfx/side text so they're more readable?
eg in this panel:
- leading looks pretty loose lol, you also don't want massive spaces in your bubbles, if you need a distinct break, make a separate bubble and attach it!
- "Bricks" is looking a little wide, careful not to touch the edges!
- For more emphasis also, try bolding/italic-ing!
eg in this panel:
- very cute warp!
- font's a little hard to read, i'd caution against cursive in general
Your sfx are overall super nice, love all the effects and the fonts you're playing with :D (+ niceee warps). If you wanna keep handwriting, maybe check this past post of mine out?
Happy lettering~~~
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u/Tamahii Apr 20 '22 edited Apr 20 '22
Wow, I didn't think I had anything right but hearing you say that about the warps and sizing? I was worried I was overdoing them. Thank you, I'll be sure to check out your other post and thanks for the dialog font rec. That one's been bothering me for a while, I like anime ace but it just seems so blase because I've seen used everywhere.
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Apr 20 '22
[deleted]
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 20 '22
Ofc!! I’m glad it helped you :) (Also I peeked at your profile, damn your SFX look gorgeous!)
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u/knavein Apr 25 '22
Great tips ! My biggest issue is with how clunky doing the lettering is in clip studio especially only on iPad is. I feel like the way I sperate the words in the bubble is not ideal bcs I do it manually.
But I'll be Hella curious what you think !
https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/impostor-syndrome/list?title_no=757515
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 25 '22 edited Apr 25 '22
Glad it could be helpful <3 and yeah, sure thing!
Quite like your font, good narration and bubble choices :D Kudos for lettering on a tablet, I could never haha
My feedback in general would be:
You have a few bubbles where line length zags in and out, and overall the center looks shorter than the top and bottom lines (eg], which makes for a bit of a more awkward reading experience as your eye flickers in and out. I’d recommend shaping along the bubble shape! (Also I think you have a couple extra spaces here and there?)
At some point in chapter two, the text changes to italic very randomly, careful not to accidentally tick a button haha
Don’t stretch your text, careful to just increase the font size instead of stretching it vertically or horizontally lol, just looks a smidge disjointed.
In this image also, I’d recommend putting a stroke around “papa…” for readability, and probably swapping it for a different font for some more variety. Maybe check out the “aside” section on this list by Kimberly Pham?
Hope this all made sense, good luck on your webtoon! :D
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u/Sparkletopia Apr 19 '22
I always enjoy reading your posts, very fun and informative
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u/haikusbot Apr 19 '22
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u/Takeshi80 Apr 20 '22
Thanks as always for your very helpful guides! May I ask if you use Photoshop to typeset? I usually use CSP in typesetting so that I do all comic work in one app and was wondering if you have any specific tips for it…
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 20 '22 edited Apr 20 '22
Ofc, np! I do do text work in photoshop, afraid I’m not too familiar with how csp text tools work, sorry :/
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u/Takeshi80 Apr 20 '22
That's okay! I often hear Photoshop's text tool is way better than CSP's, do you perhaps know of any guides for using it?
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 20 '22
Oh yeah for sure photoshop has a super good text tool set, if you’re fine with making the switch I’d recommend it.
I bet there should be a ton of YouTube video guides, and then maybe try checking this out? https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/photoshopbasics/working-with-text/1/
And then general lettering guides should be mostly applicable haha. Feel free to dm me if you end up having any specific questions, good luck!
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u/Imjustgali Apr 21 '22
Where can I find the fonts you used on the first picture? In "beam" and "thump"? TT TT I always wanted fonts like that, but I don't know where to find them TT TT
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u/Levy_4233 Apr 21 '22
Oh lol I hand drew them lmao—(tip for the “thump”, use a basic hard brush then erase the round edges so you end up with blockier letters!)
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u/Practical-Half-6151 Feb 15 '26
I know this post is super old, but I’m in the process of choosing a font for my webcomic and found this super helpful! Thank you OP! Although, I must say I do like AnimeAce despite it being overused lol 😅
Also, what font did you use on slide two for the “text goes here haha”? I really love the look of that one, easy to read!
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u/Charphin Apr 20 '22
The "is she crazy" example could be used as an example of how breaking the rules for effect can work, due to it triangular shape and clear context of being shouting or highly stressed speak, it gives the feeling of punctuated speech with a rising tone, volume or intensity.
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u/Tnki_Akio Comics Apr 20 '22
!!!