... but the Word would be nowhere without his little friends: the letters.
I'm looking into taking over the task of lettering for Spiketown, and am in the midst of researching the ins and outs of it. Being that my penmanship is of the "sucking" variety, I'm focusing mainly on digital lettering. Myke suggested that I try a product called "Comic Life" that came with his Mac. The problem is, I have no Mac. I mean, sure I could borrow my wife's iBook, but I don't think that she got Comic Life with her computer anyway. But all is not lost, there is a Windows beta available from the creator's website http://plasq.com/comiclife , so I'll have to check it out and see if it measures up.
Another product that I will be trying out is Comic Book Creator by Planetwide Media http://www.mycomicbookcreator.com/. I seem to recall seeing this for sale at London Drugs in the past, but I couldn't say for sure. They do have a downloadable trial version on their web page, so I'll have to give it a whirl.
Now if one of those or their ilk aren't adequate for our needs, then I may have to turn towards more traditional methods, i.e. using Adobe Illustrator or something similar. I'm thinking that this will involve a bit more of a steep learning curve, but the appear to be a few books out there to help me out. The ones that I have found so far are the following three:
Comic Book Lettering: The Comicraft Way
http://www.amazon.com/Comic-Book-Lettering-Comicraft-Way/dp/0974056731
DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics
http://www.amazon.com/DC-Comics-Guide-Coloring-Lettering/dp/0823010309/
Digital Prepress for Comic Books : The Definitive Desktop Production Guide http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Prepress-Comic-Books-Definitive/dp/0967542308/
If anyone has had any experiences, good or bad, with any of these books, feel free to share. I'm going to check to see if any of them are in stock at my local comic shop and give them a good once over to see if any or all of them are worth picking up.
I'll be back again later with my impressions of these products.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Spiketownopolis or Spikeopolis, I Suppose
Will I ever get tired of -opolis titled posts? At this rate, not anytime soon.
I just realized a short while ago that I have neglected to mention on here one of the biggest projects that I am currently devoting my time to: Spiketown. Spiketown is a comic book series that I have been developing with the assistance of the much talented Myke Allen - I do the wordy bits he does the arty bits. Currently, we have planned out about a half-dozen issues, the first two issues' scripts have been written (mostly), and the first issue is being meticulously crafted by Mr Allen. There are also numerous character portraits, concept drawings, and documents that are being produced as part of the process. It's been a fair amount of work, especially considering that we are both holding down full-time jobs as we've been doing this, but excitement levels have stayed consistently high and the thought of having the finished product printed off and in my grubby paws is a real motivator.
We're both novices at this sort of thing, so I have been doing a schwack of research to try to come up with some options for publishing this puppy. I've come up with a list of possibilities that runs the gamut from courting third-parties to going for full-out DIY Indie publishing. I will be making the occasional post here to share my thoughts and experiences on whatever strategies we decide to employ.
Currently we are making preparations to enter the Comic Book Challenge (http://www.comicbookchallenge.com/), sponsored by Platinum Studios, as a way of potentially getting our book out there. I'll keep you apprised of the situation as it plays out. I should also be posting soon about the comic itself and what that's all about, as hopefully I've piqued your interest.
I just realized a short while ago that I have neglected to mention on here one of the biggest projects that I am currently devoting my time to: Spiketown. Spiketown is a comic book series that I have been developing with the assistance of the much talented Myke Allen - I do the wordy bits he does the arty bits. Currently, we have planned out about a half-dozen issues, the first two issues' scripts have been written (mostly), and the first issue is being meticulously crafted by Mr Allen. There are also numerous character portraits, concept drawings, and documents that are being produced as part of the process. It's been a fair amount of work, especially considering that we are both holding down full-time jobs as we've been doing this, but excitement levels have stayed consistently high and the thought of having the finished product printed off and in my grubby paws is a real motivator.
We're both novices at this sort of thing, so I have been doing a schwack of research to try to come up with some options for publishing this puppy. I've come up with a list of possibilities that runs the gamut from courting third-parties to going for full-out DIY Indie publishing. I will be making the occasional post here to share my thoughts and experiences on whatever strategies we decide to employ.
Currently we are making preparations to enter the Comic Book Challenge (http://www.comicbookchallenge.com/), sponsored by Platinum Studios, as a way of potentially getting our book out there. I'll keep you apprised of the situation as it plays out. I should also be posting soon about the comic itself and what that's all about, as hopefully I've piqued your interest.
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