Chris Eliopoulos' Guide to Lettering
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 5:00AM When he's not working on his webcomic, Misery Loves Sherman, Chris Eliopoulos is a letterer for Marvel Comics. He has kindly provided for us this detailed guide to his hand-lettering process.
Hand-Lettering
With the advent of computer-lettering and the comic-style free and pay fonts, it’s become easier to letter comics quickly and with greater ability to edit. One of the skills that has slowly been pushed to the side is hand-lettering.
For years, almost all comics were hand lettered. Two examples that are obvious exceptions were MAD magazine and the delightful and uniqueBarnaby by Crocket Johnson. But one of the things about hand-lettering and even the choices made by Crocket Johnson or MAD magazine is that the lettering contributes to the overall look of a strip. If you look at strips like Peanuts or Pogo or even Cerebus, the lettering became an important part of the overall look. A font was created of Charles Schulz’s lettering and even if there is no art and you saw that lettering, you’d know who the author was.
There are many good reasons to use computer fonts and there are equally good reasons to hand-letter; with hand-lettering, your lettering will be unique. With these readily available fonts, you see them on every strip and there is no individuality. You can also better integrate the lettering and art. Sometimes it looks like computer fonts are just pasted on top of a strip. And, of course, when done, you have a whole strip on a board to frame or sell.
But, how does one get good at hand-lettering? Well, like most things, it takes time and practice to get good at. Just like you practice drawing hands or using a certain pen or brush, hand-lettering takes time.