Speech Balloons Made Easy

Speech Balloons are fairly easy to make but most people only know one way to make them. Like anything else there are many ways to make them in photoshop, and the way that you use may not be the easiest, better looking, or fastest way to do them. I’ll be going over how to make them using either vector paths, selections, layer styles, or custom shapes. In the end I’ll also be going over comic fonts and give you some free downloads to help you out.

I have a video version along with some text and graphics to emphasize the important parts below.

Online Videos by Veoh.comOnline Videos by Veoh.com

Script

Type out your dialogue and main actions. I usually type out the script in a word processor then past them into text squares in Photoshop. It’s easier to edit in a word program and you don’t want to get caught up with any of the tools in photoshop when fleshing out your ideas and inspirations. Focus on hearing the voice of the character and don’t let yourself get distracted.

When using the type tool be sure to drag out a square so that you can adjust the space the text fits into.

Balloons

Use either the shape tool or the selections shapes.

Selections. The easiest way is to make a circle selection and to add a small triangle selection to it by grabbing the the angled selection tool and holding the shift key before making the second shape. Then skip ahead to the “Fill” section of this tutorial.

Paths. I personally like to use paths. They are a little trickier but because they are vector shapes you can endlessly transform them without losing resolution or causing pixelation. If you combine two shapes be sure to click the additive paths combination button at the top underneath photoshop’s head menu.

Custom Shapes. If you click the shapes tool and go to the drop down menu at the top then you’ll find that Photoshop already has a word balloon shape you can use. Press CNTRL + H to hide the path or reveal them.

If you take the time to get your paths just exactly the way you like them then you can save them. This is great because you can drag them out onto on your next webcomic at any size without have to make them from scratch. Just select the path and go to Edit>Define Custom Shape for each shape you create. Then you can save them clicking on the little circled arrow in your custom shapes drop down near the top of the screen and click on “Save Shapes.” The next time you need those shapes click on the encircled arrow again and choose “Load Shapes.”

If you have trouble with your vectors remember the following tips. To apply a vector to a layer you can select the path and go to layer>Vector Mask>Current Path. Then you can choose one of the clipping mask options right below the head menu. You can choose from one of four including additive and subtractive combinations. After creating a shape take a look at your Vectors Window and drag the current vector path into the new vector icon at the bottom of the window so that you can keep a copy of each vector you make. Be sure to do this BEFORE you begin making another vector. Hold the shift key to add more shapes to the same vector.

Remember the following shortcut keys when editing your shapes.
CNTRL + T Transform
Hold Shift + Transform Keeps your proportions
Hold ALT + Transform Adjust the size based on the placement of the axis point, very helpful.
CNTRL + Del Fill with background color
ALT + Del Fill with forground color
CNTRL + H Hide guides and paths

Fill. After you have your shapes choose a fill color and fill by either going to the menu, Edit>Fill or Hold CNTRL + Del or ALT + Del.

Stroke (Outlines) & Other Effects.

Choose your layer and go to Layer>Layer Styles>Stroke.

You can now easily add a “stroke” or outline with lots of settings. Using this method to get your outline is great because you can make endless edits to your shape and the layer effects will update automatically!

Fonts

Lastly, Fonts. Use a good comic font. Please don’t use “Comic Sans.” For further discussions on this statement please visit www.bancomics.com . I have some fonts below you can use which I grabbed from somewhere online. If you need any more resources just go to www.DeviantArt.com, click on categories, and click on, “Resources.” There you can find plenty of fonts, brushes, custom shapes, textures, or anything else you might need.

To install the fonts copy and paste them into your C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\ folder.