The Lettering Blog
Tutorials on the craft of comic lettering — balloons, tails, captions, sound effects and print prep — from the team behind LetterMyComic.
Word Balloon Placement: The Rules That Make Pages Read Themselves
How to place speech balloons so readers glide through your page: reading order, panel flow, breathing room, and the mistakes that break immersion.
· 7 min readThe Crossbar I, Double Dashes, and Other Comic Lettering Grammar
Comics have their own typographic grammar. Learn when the crossbar I is correct, how comics handle emphasis, and the punctuation conventions pros never break.
· 6 min readChoosing Comic Fonts: Dialogue, Display, and When to Break Character
A practical guide to picking lettering fonts: what makes a good dialogue face, when to reach for display fonts, and how many fonts one book can carry.
· 6 min readBalloon Tails Done Right: The Small Detail That Makes or Breaks a Page
Tails are the most-fumbled element in amateur lettering. Learn where they aim, where they emanate from, how they taper, and why consistency matters more than style.
· 7 min readStacking Dialogue: How Line Breaks Shape Great Word Balloons
The balloon is only as good as the text stack inside it. Learn the ovoid stack, how to hunt orphans and widows, and why negative space is the real judge of your line breaks.
· 7 min readCaptions That Read Instantly: Types, Quote Rules, and Color-Coding
Voice-over, inner monologue, place-and-time, narrator, editorial — five caption jobs that must never be confused. Here are the conventions that keep them sorted at a glance.
· 7 min readSound Effects That Don't Look Like Stickers
The worst SFX crime is type floating over the art like a decal. Learn to aim the energy, choose colors that read, escalate repeats, and tuck effects behind the artwork.
· 7 min readPreparing Comic Pages for Print: Bleed, Trim, Overprint, and Clean Files
Print is unforgiving of lettering mistakes that screens hide. A practical walkthrough of page geometry, black-ink discipline, resolution rules, and what files to deliver.
· 8 min read