yes, yes, I know.

ashess · Post by **ashess** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 5:24 pm

stop patting yourself on the back, girl.

but I had to show this one somewhere. I'm rather proud of it.
<img src="http://pesky.keenspace.com/comics/pes20020318b.jpg">

J. W. Cornelius · Post by **J. W. Cornelius** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 5:28 pm

Your lettering could stand to be straighter, just rule out some lines, or better yet use an Ames guide.
I like the fish drop effect from one panel to the next, very nice.
A valiant effort.

Post by **Greg Stephens** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 5:47 pm

Good work! I especially like the expressions in panel 6 and, as you probably know, the fish jumping from one panel to another is pretty cool.

I don't see that the lettering is especially crooked- I'm a great fan of a more hand-lettered look- but it does seem a little cramped in panel 5. The way to deal with that is to ink all the lettering first- before any panel borders or figures.

The coloring is interesting, too. How did you do it? Looks like a mix of marker and watercolor, but maybe that's just the jpg compression.

ashess · Post by **ashess** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 6:16 pm

thanks. it's marker, watercolour and pencil. I always like to mix stuff. (ink and pens too)
that thing about doing the lettering frist sounds like a good idea.
but, I don't meant to sounds stupid, but what's an Ames guide?

J. W. Cornelius · Post by **J. W. Cornelius** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 6:23 pm

Ames guide looks like this...
http://www.draftingdeals.com/amletguid.html
You use it with a t square. It's helpful.
Upon further consideration, Greg's right, it's not THAT crooked. But, it could be straighter. Good lettering can really help a comic, I like the hand lettered look as well, it's just tough to do it right.
You'll have more of a tendancy to write rather than draw the letters, I do it too, that's why I'm leaning on fonts right now.

Post by **Greg Stephens** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 6:26 pm

An Ames Lettering Guide is one of these. A tool used by many comics artists/authors to make straight lines for lettering that are set apart by precise distances. I've been meaning to buy myself one, but have been able to get along fine with just a regular ruler (though some may disagree). It has the advantage of being much faster to use one of these to rule out the lines rather than almost any other method.

Edit: J.W. beat me to it by three minutes- must have posted while I was Googling. Looks like we did the same thing to find the link to the Ames Guide, too, since I recognize that page as being near the top of the list when doing a Google search for Ames Lettering Guide. The lesson here is- When in doubt- Google!

J. W. Cornelius · Post by **J. W. Cornelius** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 7:13 pm

heh heh
Busted!

ashess · Post by **ashess** » Tue Mar 19, 2002 2:28 am

lol. well, I think I'll try without it for a little while longer- try lettering first & stuff. it'll prolly look okay, if I just give 'm more space.