I downloaded the template and filled it in on my computer using a Wacom Cintiq.  It only took 10 minutes or so just like they said.  Once I uploaded my completed template it took about 40 seconds to create the font ready to be downloaded.  I was really blown away with how easy it was.  My only problem is not being able to control the kerning of the letters but you can do that in Photoshop or Illustrator.  They suggest using FontCreator to get more technical.  But as far as a font made out of your own hand writing, I’m impressed.

Better yet, I happened to stumble across the site when they had a free promotion code so I made a bunch just for fun.  Here they are:

Anyway, I still need to master my word balloons and sound effects.  I’ll save that for another time.  Plus, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve learned this week.

This may seem like a no brainer to some of you but I know that there are many who have no idea why Comic Sans is a bad choice. I know because I was one of them. In fact I completed three whole comics in Comic Sans MS and paid tons of money to print ‘em. I still have copies of these books and I’m embarrassed to try to sell my leftovers. Other newer comic creators have asked me to explain why Comic Sans MS is so bad so here is my list.

I decided to start calling the spreads "pages" now because I don't like that Google's number 3 keyword for my site is "spread". In case you are wondering why the page numbers don't quite match up to the spread number, it's because I'm using the page number of the printed book just so I don't get confused. Worry not, you are still seeing all the pages here.

How to get 10,000 unique viewers in 3 days.

So if anyone wants to know how to get 10,000 unique viewers in 3 days, then write an article about how much you love or hate Comic Sans MS and submit it to a few sites. A warning though. With great arguments comes heated comments. Not so much on my blog but on the websites linked to my article. 

Most of the negative comments came from my statement that people will hate you for using Comic Sans in your comic. Now I know the truth, may people will hate you for talking about Comic Sans no matter what the context. So to please all the haters, I have changed my statement from "many people will hate you" to "many letterers will want to dropkick you." I hope you will take me seriously from now on. I never joke. Comic artists don't exaggerate anything. EVER.

I was going to compose a top ten list of hate comments from other sites linking to my post but it would be to hard to weed through. Plus, some are so vulgar it would make a drunk navy trucker quiver. So I decided to share one of the funniest comments I read among the rantings. And here it is:

"Comic Sans is based on Watchmen. Why do you hate Alan Moore?"

This quote truely sums up the power of the internet. I laughed, I cried. I scratched my head because, Wow!

First of all, Watchmen was written by Alan Moore, not lettered by him. Dave Gibbons lettered Watchmen and in an interview with him he says Comic Sans is "an appalling-looking font" and "Comic Sans is so ugly" and "The major sin about it that really bugs me is that it only includes the uppercase I, the one with bars on the top and bottom, which as you know, you only use in comics for the first-person pronoun."  Read the interview here.

With all the opinionated controversy behind me, it's time for my next subject. Why Mac's are better then PC's. ha!

I finally got my Page Rank back!

I'm sure there are a number of you who love this technical stuff like PageRank and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) but I am mostly clueless about making my site stand out on search engines. From what I know, search engines like Google, rank websites depending on things like who and how many links they have going to them. The more incoming links a site has the higher the page rank. The higher the page rank, the better chance that site has of being displayed in a search with similar keywords.

Before I switched from Blogger to WordPress, my site had a 3 out of 10. Shortly after I switched, it dropped to 0 and I couldn't figure out how to get Google to know I had switched. Apparently I didn't submit a sitemap to google. My IT guy helped me and a week later my site was recognized by google again. I now have a 3 out of 10 page rank.  The funny thing is, I still had the same amount of traffic after dropping to a "0" as I did with a "3" from before. So now I'm trying to figure out why. It seems like many of you understand this better then I do so maybe you can shed some light on it. I also read that there is a difference between a PageRank and a page rank. So confusing. Anyway, I have a 3 now and I feel better about myself but I'm not sure what it's really doing for me.

I already talked a bit about Fonts, Lettering and Creating Your Own Comic Font so now I’m going to try to walk through my process of making speech bubbles. I made a video. Not just any video. A video I made really late at night after drinking to much coffee and wondering what I should post. I tried to make a better one but every version kept getting sloppier until all forms of helpfulness went out to door to make way for muttered grumblings and miss-clicks. Don’t even ask why my word balloon points to both Victuals AND Sonja. I guess I was just showing off how abstract my story telling ability could get.

Anyway, when I started making this video I thought it was a great idea. Now that it’s time to post, I am wondering if it’s clear enough. I guess I’ll leave it up to you to tell me. I can always make another one to replace this if I have to. Below the video is also an explanation of what I do to make my word balloons for reMIND.

It wasn’t until a few months ago that I finally found this method of making word balloons for reMIND. I went through all my pages and recreated them from the ground up and here’s how I do it.

First I create a folder in my layers called “Text”. I keep all my text and bubbles in this folder so I can easily turn it all on or off. Next I create a new layer that I call “bubbles”.

Then I double click on the new “bubbles” layer that I made in Photoshop even though nothing is in it yet. A “Layer Style” window will appear. On the left side at the very bottom of the list of  layer styles is a filter called “Stroke”. Click on “Stoke”. Make sure it’s highlighted so that the adjustment window will change. If you just click the check box it will turn on the feature but adjusters will not be visible.

Once the “Stoke” property box is open, I change the size to “4″ and the position to “inside” and hit “OK”. A line, 4 pixels thick, will appear over the edge of anything I create in the balloons layer from now on. This line will be drawn on the inside 4 pixels of any shape with an alpha. (a transparent background)

Now I start drawing in bubbles with the “lasso” tool. I love doing these by hand so that I can have an organic hand drawn look. You can even use a solid pencil or hard edge paintbrush if you prefer but the lasso is nice for getting crisp lines easily.

If you are looking for really perfect bubble lines then I suggest using “Paths”. Nate has a great tutorial about using Paths to create word balloons. Check out his blog if you haven’t already. His project is AMAZING!

Now all you have to do is use Comic Sans MS to letter the stupid thing! (I’m going to milk this as long as I can)

My Top 10 Favorite reMINDblog Articles…so far.

1. Before You Start Your Graphic Novel – This was the first real article I made to try and convey something I learned about the GN creative process. It started as an answer to a question that someone asked me in a forum. I didn’t feel like I was qualified to answer but once I started writing it, it was clear to me that I had some important things I wanted to say and warn people about. I’ve updated it since it’s inception so check it out again.
2. Outsourcing Comic Pages (Specifically Flats) – What I learned in this series of posts on Outsourcing really changed everything for me. I was able to color my last 2 pages in an a hour and a half last night, and it was largely because I learned about flatting and outsourcing. This article has a few parts to it so keep clicking.
3. Interview with Ian Hannin (a professional comic colorist) – It’s not everyday that I get to interview someone working on Batman. Plus it’s very informative of the creative process of coloring comics.
4. Making Your Own Comic Font – When I first started my graphic novel, I didn’t seem to care about my fonts or anything to do with Lettering. After showing some pages on forums, my eyes were opened and I realized that the Lettering is just as important as any other aspect of my comic. I tried to find the right font but had trouble getting one I was happy with that matched my style. Shortly after, I learned how to create my own font and never looked back.
5. Blogger Vs. WordPress – I started out using Google’s Blogger for reMIND but once I starting getting serious about blogging I learned about WordPress and the ComicPress theme. What I discovered completely revolutionized the direction I took with reMINDblog.
6. RGB Vs. CMYK in Photoshop – This has been a tricky learning curve for me because there are so many opinions of the right way to do things. Even so, I never understood the real working difference in Photoshop until I made this video comparing the two modes. Decide for yourself which mode you want to work in but only after you see what the difference really is.
7. 1000 Ture Fans – This is an encouraging article about making a living off your comics or graphic novels. The linking article by Kevin Kelly is a must read and can really change the way artists think about their work.
8. 7 Reasons to NOT use Comic Sans MS in Your Comic – This is by far my most trafficked and controversial article to date. Some hate it and some love it. Before just plopping the first comic font you find into your artwork, check out this article.
9. Easy Word Balloons – I made a quick tutorial a while back about word balloons. I’ve made them many ways over the years and this is the easiest and best way I’ve discovered.
10. Unnatural Talent – I know this is a new article but I think it’s one of my most heart felt posts I’ve written so it definitely deserves to be on this list.

Thank you for all your support and comments over the last 6 months. If it wasn’t for all your warm encouragement I’d still be trying to finish the first Chapter.