Lettering is kinda like video games

Someone in game design once said that when designing UI or User Interface, the first step is to get everyone who doesn't specialize in UI out of the room. This particular part of making games requires a deep understanding of graphic design, the math of the art world, and as such it is the kryptonite to many, many artists.   The same can be said of lettering in comics.   In the olden days of American comics, almost every part of the art process was split between groups. Your writer was not your penciler was not your inker was not your colorist was not your letterer. It was a factory process, and one suited to the physicality that was required of comics at the time.   These days, a single artist is often in charge of the whole bit. Except for lettering. Lettering is the math of the art world, and artists suck at math. 

This is where I bring up Skjól. In our comic, I handled the writing, and Leo Joxaren handled the entire process of art from sketch to finished colors. It was his first project of this size, and I knew that he could handle everything aside from lettering. So I wanted to share here exactly what I mean when I talk about graphic design.  Now, to be clear: This is not me mocking my artist. Without them Skjól just fundamentally wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't change anything about the book as it currently is. I'm rather trying to show how these are different disciplines of art that require different people. 

We decided to get Cameron Mukwa to do the lettering in the end, and the results are night and day. Cameron also handles social media management for me, including organizing these newsletters! He's good people!

You can find Cameron on Bluesky and Instagram. Back to lettering: Like sound design, many times standard lettering is good precisely because you don't notice it. It blends as part of the overall project. Thick borders to compliment the thick lines in the comic, large text to fit our future print run of the project. It overall is just fantastic.

If you'd like to support our comic, you can order the digital version here. You can also read Gzhel Guardian for free, which shares a universe with this story!