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Fonts Of Wisdom And Delight
2 years ago
General
In my comic strip, I use different fonts to indicate how I think the characters' voices should sound. Jinjur's voice is arrogant and dry, so I use Papyrus. Madam Jade speaks with a Middle Eastern accent, so I use the more calligraphic "Matura." Songween has a quavering voice, so I use the wobbly "Blank Eye. " Murphy's "Jerry's Game" looks like the scrawl of a child. And so on.
I started off hand lettering the comic but was told my writing was nearly illegible, so I picked a font--"Beetle"--that looked like it was drawn by hand. This was my default font for the first several years of the comic. Occasionally I used different fonts to set certain voices apart, like "Wasser" when Kathy was diving underwater to speak to Morrie the eel, or the crisp and mechanical-looking "Copperplate" for Penthesilia's Darth Vader-esque voice.
When I added Fred, though, I wanted to indicate that he had an English accent. So I used Times New Roman, but eventually changed over to Book Antiqua because it took up less space. The use of lower-case letters makes the words look "softer" to match his dignified and somewhat smoky tone of voice.
Maybe I have some kind of synesthesia, where I can hear written words, but the system works for me. I used "Porky's" for Vyschuss, which is difficult to read, to make people slow down to the laborious speed at which she talks. I use "Andy" for small and cute characters, and "Digital Strip" for the loud and staccato way the Rackenroon hyenas talk.
Recently I've received some criticism about how unprofessional using several different fonts looks, and how difficult the fonts are to read. Now, usually, I try to pick legible fonts (with the exception of Vyschuss and possibly Songween) because it's the story people come for. But I feel that, if every character used the same font, readers would not be cued as to which ones have different accents. And in my large cast, there are a lot of accents.
It's no longer politically correct to write dialectical dialog, like Mark Twain used in his stories to brilliant effect. When I made panda lady Kuchiku Sosumi speak with transposed Rs and Ls, I was copying the way a Taiwanese friend of mine spoke, but I got chastised for it by several readers.
So what do you folks think? Does the use of fonts to indicate accents work, or not?
Full disclosure: I'm not going to change to a single font, because multiple fonts are now part of the look of my comic strip. I'm just curious as to your opinions as readers.
I started off hand lettering the comic but was told my writing was nearly illegible, so I picked a font--"Beetle"--that looked like it was drawn by hand. This was my default font for the first several years of the comic. Occasionally I used different fonts to set certain voices apart, like "Wasser" when Kathy was diving underwater to speak to Morrie the eel, or the crisp and mechanical-looking "Copperplate" for Penthesilia's Darth Vader-esque voice.
When I added Fred, though, I wanted to indicate that he had an English accent. So I used Times New Roman, but eventually changed over to Book Antiqua because it took up less space. The use of lower-case letters makes the words look "softer" to match his dignified and somewhat smoky tone of voice.
Maybe I have some kind of synesthesia, where I can hear written words, but the system works for me. I used "Porky's" for Vyschuss, which is difficult to read, to make people slow down to the laborious speed at which she talks. I use "Andy" for small and cute characters, and "Digital Strip" for the loud and staccato way the Rackenroon hyenas talk.
Recently I've received some criticism about how unprofessional using several different fonts looks, and how difficult the fonts are to read. Now, usually, I try to pick legible fonts (with the exception of Vyschuss and possibly Songween) because it's the story people come for. But I feel that, if every character used the same font, readers would not be cued as to which ones have different accents. And in my large cast, there are a lot of accents.
It's no longer politically correct to write dialectical dialog, like Mark Twain used in his stories to brilliant effect. When I made panda lady Kuchiku Sosumi speak with transposed Rs and Ls, I was copying the way a Taiwanese friend of mine spoke, but I got chastised for it by several readers.
So what do you folks think? Does the use of fonts to indicate accents work, or not?
Full disclosure: I'm not going to change to a single font, because multiple fonts are now part of the look of my comic strip. I'm just curious as to your opinions as readers.
For the record, I usually use two different fonts in Couch Kitties: ACME Secret Agent for character dialog and Ki Comic Italic for offscreen TV voices and such. I also generally use lines or thought circles instead of balloons, as the background is a simple gradient. :)
To be honest, I found it difficult to get through Walt Kelly's dialectical style. But it's been years since I tried reading Pogo.
I'm working my way through Pogo: Bona Fide Balderdash, The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips Volume 2. I started buying the paper books, but I've given them up (they're hy00ge) for the Kindle editions. I've lived with Kelly's work since I was a child; my Dad was a fan. Dealing with the dialects is challenging but worth the effort. One has only to lie back in the swamp and let it wash over them...
My husband, though, has a Don Martin sound effects web page bookmarked...
When I read it, I don't see fonts, i "See" voices.
Vix
That's what prompted me to post the question. I have a lot of respect for the guy who dislikes the fonts, because he's a fellow artist, buy I am so glad he's really just one lone dissenter out there!
That's a relief!
Most likely, I just accepted them as the way the character talked and never thought beyond that.
-Badger-
I know that some people have used varying fonts on Fur Affinity. I haven't figured out how to do that yet. I have annoyed people with italics and bold, underscore and
strikethrough, subscript and superscript. So far the push back (three whole whiny parties) haven't convinced me to change my evil ways.I understand that some folks consider font/colour swapping to be unprofessional but I have always believed that it is an artist prerogative to exercise... consistency is the only semi rigid rule. As long as the font choice has a consistent meaning each time and the average target reader can readily grasp this then all is good in my book... as inexpert and amateur as my book is!
Keep up the good work, you're doing great.