How to Letter a Word Balloon in a Comic Book or Manga With Adobe Photoshop
Whether your comic art leans more towards Spider-Man or Swept Away, let Photoshop put the words in your characters' mouths. Most often in comics or manga -- the high-adventure Japanese serial books -- characters' conversations happen above their heads in word balloons. Even if you didn't create the artwork in Photoshop, you can letter balloon text using Photoshop's type tool. Use one of Photoshop's comic book style fonts or your own creations as you give your artwork something to talk about.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Open Photoshop. Click "File." Select "Open." Browse to the file with the comic book or manga page and double-click the file name.
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2
Click the type tool, the "T" icon, on the tools pane. Click anywhere on the comic or manga to open the type toolbar at the top of the work area.
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3
Click the down arrow next to the font menu. Choose the font for the comic balloon text. The fonts listed in the menu vary depending on what is preloaded on your computer and whether you have downloaded any comic book-specific styles. One option, included with all versions of Photoshop, is Comic Sans MS.
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4
Select a font from the drop-down menu. Choose a size from the size menu. Click the unlabeled color rectangle on the toolbar, and select black.
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5
Type the first balloon's text. Note a new text layer, symbolized by a "T" in a white box, is added automatically to the layers palette.
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6
Drag the text into the balloon. Make adjustments to the font to fit the balloon by highlighting the text and choosing a new font size. Break up a long line of text that extends past the balloon by clicking the cursor between words and pressing the "Enter" key on the keyboard, forcing a line break and moving the words after the cursor to a new line.
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7
Click anywhere on the gray Photoshop work desk to set the text for the balloon.
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8
Add text to the next balloon by clicking the "T" icon again and repeating the process. The last-used font choices will remain in place, so you do not have to reset them on the toolbar.
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