Im going to be starting my new comic soon but im not sure if ishould hand draw the speech bubbles and text(like i have in my other two comics) or if i should just use the tools on photoshop! so tell me what u think and if u think i should do it on photoshop what font would be best?
I like to hand draw and ink my panels because I think it's good practice and discipline, but for the word bubbles and text I prefer the computer. Reason being is that there's always a 25% chance that I accidentally have a typo in it and with the text on computer it's easier to change. Likewise, if I want to use the art from a panel for a button or something with new text, it's just as easy to lift off the old stuff and put in new lines.
As for fonts, I'd recommend scoping about Blambot. He offers a lot of free fonts for cartooning that - so long as you're an independent - you can legally use for free and others that might be worth the purchase cost.
Honestly, I think it depends on the style that your comic will be drawn in. Hand drawn bubbles usually don't look good on things like sprite comics or comics with extremely cleanly-drawn lines because they don't usually match (unless you're capable of drawing non-lopsided speech bubbles by hand, which I am not, lol).
For the lettering, I almost always prefer text done by computer unless you have extremely neat handwriting a la professional letterers. It goes without saying that legibility is important for comics, and people shouldn't have to struggle to read your text. But again, it's best to judge based on whether or not it matches your drawing style.
Go with photoshop for text bubbles. Doesn't take long, especially considering the time needed for high-quality hand-written lettering.
As for font, I use DigitalStrip.
I hand draw my speech bubbles and the text in them, but I use a merged version of computer colouring and inking over hand pencils which works artistically.
Bottom line: If there is no 'feel' of traditional mediums in your comic, going with digital bubbles is best. If you have a more traditional mediums feel in your comic or a working blend of the two, you can use hand drawn speech bubbles (but I'd advise against it if you don't handwrite the text, too... which is a no-no if your capital lettering is not legible).
Alright cool i think ill just do them on photoshop. It is a super hero comic so it should suit well and it also means when i can work more on the art and not the spelling errors. im gonna try to perfect this comic before putting it up so ill test and match and see were i end up!
Use whatever fits and looks right with your story. I hand letter and balloon my comic. And that's just me be'n a lazy shit and not takin' the time to learn how to do it on the computer. Falls under the "old dog, new tricks" clause.
"Sometimes to get to the bottom of something, you have to kill your way to the top."
I'm gonna have to be the odd man out here, I draw my word balloons and text by hand. Not because I'm too lazy to learn photoshop tricks, I actually like the look of my handwriting better. Every so often, I'll realize that I missed something in the cleanup stage and my comic looks sort of sloppy for it. Nevertheless I consider it a point of pride that my comics are pencilled, inked and lettered by hand, only final cleanup is done on computer. As long as your handwriting is legible I'd say do it by hand.