9th February 2007

Greetings all,

In a break from our regularly scheduled programming, this time the associated blurb comes from Jo The Letterer.

Some jobs you apply for. Others you volunteer for. I volunteered to letter Dark Red which is, on balance, probably a good thing. Mainly because if Lynn had asked my qualifications for taking on the job I'd have to say 'Well, I know my way around a computer and I know a bit of calligraphy,' which is, I suspect, less than convincing. On the other hand, I had been vaguely involved with the comic for a while before this and I was interested in the project. Plus she knew where I lived.

I think I've been fairly useful, on balance. I have a very rational approach to the whole procedure and I will often have good reasons for placing the bubbles where I have. Not only that, but I will be able to tell you, in great detail, what those reasons are. On the odd occasion, that approach has helped Lynn -- who is much more intuitive in her approach -- analyse why a page wasn't working so well.

One of the main challenges of lettering a page like this one was making sure the pictures and the words worked together rather than fighting one another. With that wonderful and dynamic split panel, Lynn had already communicated much of the required emotion. The lettering was there to add emphasis and focus to what was already in the art.

I've never told Lynn this, but a whole page of my notebook has been devoted to writing 'ring' in a variety of interesting styles after she mentioned in passing that the sound effect was coming up. However, when the page arrived, they were there already. Lynn had spent considerable time and effort choosing a font online and placing them herself. So I never used them.

I expect I will probably be doing this again, so until then: be safe.

Jo

PS. Dark Red has a small blurb in TBD Issue 64. - Lynn