need help with speech baloons in photoshop7

Krytos55 · Post by **Krytos55** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 1:42 pm

Ok, I recently started drawing in photoshop 7 and once I have so far just written out the text with a line instead of using speech baloons. The problem is: 1. This looks like crap and really annoys me and 2. I have comics where the background makes the text very hard to read.

I've tried drawing them with the pencil tool and then filling with paint bucket but they alwasy come out distorted and shitty looking. I've also tried using the elipse tool but I don't understand how photoshop incorporates vectors and it is very confusing and more trouble than it is eventually worth.

If anyone has a technique they use and would be willing to share I would be greatfull enough to sacrifice my first born child in their honor.

Sopheia · Post by **Sopheia** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 2:25 pm

I made a speech bubbles tut once... it's probably not the best way to do it, but I hope it's helpful...

http://alurwyn.keenspace.com/tuts/tut1.html

Christwriter · Post by **Christwriter** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 3:44 pm

1. Write your text. Posision it where you want it.

2. Select the circle Marquee and select circles around the text. Add in all your joiners and indicators now. If you need to, use the paint bucket to fill in individual circles and make all your joiners and indicators on top of the filled circles, then fill those in the same color.

3. If you filled individual circles and joiners, use the Wand tool to select them all. If you use a vairity of colors or transparent word baloons, clear the selection. Take the paint bucket and fill the selected word-bubble shape with white or the preffered color.

4. Go to Select>Modify>Border. Enter in the number of pixles you want to border the shape. Click OK. You should have a thin outline of your word-bubble shape selected. Use the paint-bucket or brush, whichever you preffer, and fill in the selection.

5. Deselect.

CW

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 4:03 pm

Make a new layer.

Give the layer a black, one or two pixel inside stroke. You do this via the Layer menu, Layer Styles, Stroke. An inside stroke will give you a nice sharp point in the arrowy part of the bubble.

Now just draw some speech bubbles in white and the stroke will appear around them. You can create any shape bubble but the standard ones can be done by selecting an area with the elipse selection tool (that's the bubble) and then holding down shift and drawing the arrow with the polygonal lasso tool. After that, just fill your selection with white.

If you need any clarification, just yell.

Edit:

That button will turn off the vector shapes and make them normal, well behaved shapes. You need to select one of the shape tools to see the button though (line, elipse, etc).

- Joel Fagin

EMH · Post by **EMH** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:29 am

No, no, no!
Don't listen to them!

Listen to me, and use, or at least try Vector Speech Baloons

The other people will try to make you use marquees/selections, or bitmap drawings, with borders or strokes...
but they only say so because they don't know the true goodnes of Vector Speech Baloons, OR because they want to keep it secret from you!

I hope I'm not too late.
They always seem to swarm on threads like this one, before I have the chance to post the only true method, and then they swarm after I do so my posts get lost in the noise, and then another poor soul joins their ranks...

BTW, Sorry, but Sopheia's method may as well be the worse method ever.
It takes longer than the others, and as for the results...
It annoys me when every speech bubble has different thickness of the border (for no reason at all), and it's impossible to get consistent results with that method.

War · Post by **War** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:41 am

Arrr, use vectors.
Grab your ellipse tool, draw the circle, grab the pen tool (make sure it's set to add to existing paths), add the tail (you can make it nice and curvy by putting in some extra anchor points and jiggling them around).
Then you just want to stroke the vector layer. All done.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 2:49 am

You know, guys, if you really want to spread the good word about vectors to knowlessmen and newbies, then you need a better tutorial. They're not intuitive things for your average amature. Pixels, now they make sense. Computers function on them all the time. Vectors are a bit hairier.

Apart from anything else, I'd like to try it but I really can't be bothered figuring it out myself. I never did get vectors in Photoshop.*

- Joel Fagin

* On the rare occassions I need them, I use Illustrator.

Phalanx · Post by **Phalanx** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 3:18 am

Joel Fagin wrote:You know, guys, if you really want to spread the good word about vectors to knowlessmen and newbies, then you need a better tutorial. They're not intuitive things for your average amature.

Agreed.

I'd try them out, except that I don't get them, even from that tutorial.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 3:56 am

You know, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have some tutorials on things like this at the Gear. Not even the best way of doing them, but the most basic and straightforward professional-looking method.

- Joel Fagin

K-Dawg · Post by **K-Dawg** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 8:32 am

Sopheia wrote:I made a speech bubbles tut once... it's probably not the best way to do it, but I hope it's helpful...

http://alurwyn.keenspace.com/tuts/tut1.html

Whoa I didn't know you could move the speech bubble after you made it. Thanks a lot that tutorial really helped me out.

Sopheia · Post by **Sopheia** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 11:38 am

EMH wrote:BTW, Sorry, but Sopheia's method may as well be the worse method ever.
It takes longer than the others, and as for the results...
It annoys me when every speech bubble has different thickness of the border (for no reason at all), and it's impossible to get consistent results with that method.

I'm sorry you find it so horrible, but it works for me. I couldn't find a single tutorial online about speech-bubbles in photoshop, so I eventually figured out a way to do it... The thing I like about this method is that the lines don't have equal thickness... they vary slightly. Appearantly, you don't like the difference, but I do.

I'd love to see a comprehensive tutorial from you though, EMH... Sounds like you have a good way of making bubbles. And if it saves time, it would really help!

K-Dawg wrote:Whoa I didn't know you could move the speech bubble after you made it. Thanks a lot that tutorial really helped me out.

I'm glad it helped!

(even though I'm not entirely sure why... I don't really know of a method that doesn't allow you to move the speech bubble) I've always hoped it would be useful to someone. I was pretty sure I wasn't the only one without a clue of how to make balloons... I referred some other people who had problems with it too... besides that, I also have links to another good speech-bubbles-tutorial... although their method is in Illustrator.

So, how the speech-bubbling going, kryptos?

YarpsDat · Post by **YarpsDat** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 11:42 am

Phalanx wrote:
Joel Fagin wrote:You know, guys, if you really want to spread the good word about vectors to knowlessmen and newbies, then you need a better tutorial. They're not intuitive things for your average amature.
Agreed.

I'd try them out, except that I don't get them, even from that tutorial.

The turorial, you mean mine tutorial?

1) draw elipses (white filling, black outline) around your text. On one layer. (vector layer of course)
2) draw pointy thingies, pointing to your characters, on another layer. Use point-to-point vector tool, or whatever it's called. I mean the thing that lets you draw polygons.
Make sure they are filled with white, _not_ transparent!
3) duplicate the elipses layer, set it to "screen" and place it above "pointy thingies layer"

What's there not to get? o.O
I mean seriously. I cannot comprehend someone could be unable to comprehend that. Especially if the person in question does know how to use the computer, and is relatively famous webcomic artist know for her awesome computer colouring and stuff.

Though, I have to admit that I once tried vectors in photoshop. And I couldn't get them. They seemed to be making separate layers for everything, and kept creatign lotsa weird stuffs some "paths" or something and it was all weird. But then again, the whole photoshop is weird to me.

And vectors in PSP... these are cool.

I really don't see what could possibly be complicated there.
You have vector layers, and they contain vector objects.

And vector objects... well they are sorta like normal pixel/bitmap drawings, except they have that sorta magical omnipotent Undo/Redo.
You keep drawing, and ie. if you realize the elipse you made half an hour ago is too small or in wrong place, you can just enlarge/move it.

...

>_>

Gah. I can't explain it. Ask some more detailed questions please.

Krytos55 · Post by **Krytos55** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 2:09 pm

Thanks for the tips everone. I've got a satisfactory method now although I'm not going to say what it is seeing as there seems to be quite a harsh and violent divide between vector users and the godless heathens that oppose us.

Christwriter · Post by **Christwriter** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 12:51 am

I have no idea what a vector IS, let alone how you can use it for a speech bubble.

I think my brain froze after half the tutorial, if I ever even looked at it.

Maybe if vectors could be explained a bit better, I'd start using them.

CW

Sopheia · Post by **Sopheia** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:00 am

krytos55 wrote:Thanks for the tips everone. I've got a satisfactory method now although I'm not going to say what it is seeing as there seems to be quite a harsh and violent divide between vector users and the godless heathens that oppose us.

Eh, doesn't that mean you're using vectors?

Or am I missing a joke?

On a totally unrelated note... Eh, well... I don't mind using vectors... exept that I really honestly don't know how. None of the things above make sense to me. YarpsDat, you can say that it makes sense to you and 'what's not to understand' but I really don't know. Call me stupid, whatever... but the last couple of times I tried... they just totally confused me.

If I would know of a better method to make balloons, I'd probably use a better method. But as long as I can't find a comprehensive tutorial online, I'll stick to my own. Which works for me.

And really, vector people, if you find my way of making balloons so appalling, then please please please help me out by putting a tutorial about vector made bubbles on your site. Sheesh, it's not like I hate you guys for it or anything. I'm actually curious about it. I want to know. Please reveal the truth to me, and I will worship that truth!(I think)

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:05 am

christwriter wrote:I have no idea what a vector IS, let alone how you can use it for a speech bubble.

"Vector" is actually a misleading and inaccurate term. From the programming perspective, such pictures are called metafiles.

Anyway, what it is is when you don't draw any pixels, per se but rather draw shapes. The art program will store the important data about the shape - radius for a circle, length and height for a square and so on - and calculate what it should look like. You can then move it around, resize it, twist it, rotate it, change the resolution... Whatever - and the art program will recalculate what the shape will look like. This means that, no matter what horrible crimes you inflict upon the shape, it remains perfectly smooth and precise. Tripling the size of a vector shape would not result in huge blurred pixels, for example.

If you've played with the shape tools in Word, those are vector shapes.

- Joel Fagin

Christwriter · Post by **Christwriter** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:29 am

So--to rephrase what you said--a "vector" shape is a shape form saved to the computer with a program dedicated to calculating the form? And when you make it, you can twist it around, reform it without it getting blurry or chewed looking?

(DO correct me if I'm wrong)

I actually DID fool around with the shapes in MSWord, for a newsletter I saddled myself with.

...I think the newsletter is the main reason why I'm downloading RoughDraft for NaNoWriMo this year. I never, ever, EVER want to do that again.

However, I do like the marquee way of doing things...if vectors are made by the shape tools in Photoshop, I really don't want to play with 'em too much. Though I think CS has some pretty nice shapes in its memory, Seven does not.

A guy showed me some tricks with Photoshop and CS. Paths was something he showed me--and that I promptly forgot because it was too dang complecated and wouldn't serve much of a purpose for me. However, layer sets are a VERY nice toy, especially because I insist on doing my blocks of text in a different layer per block (it makes it easier to arrainge them around the artwork). And he had a (drool) Wacom tablet.

But yeah, Yarps...Paths is WAY convoluted.

CW

EMH · Post by **EMH** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 2:26 am

Oh- kay.

I'll go for PSP, it may be slightly different in Photoshop.
I may even put some screenshots in a while.

1) On the layers palette, right click one layer, and select "New vector layer"
1.1) You can name the layer "bubbles" for convenience
2) Left click on the layer to make it the active layer
3) Select vector shape tool. (second to last on the tool bar)
4) Press "O" key untill the tool options show.
5) Set the tool like this:
Ellipse,
[not] retain style
[yes] anti alias
[yes] create as vector.
5.1) Adjust linewidth to your liking.
5.2) Make sure you have Black and White as active colours.
6) Click and drag to draw ellipses around your text.

And when you are done with all the ellipses...
7) Right click on the layers right click the bubbles layer, and create another vector layer.
7.1) Name it "pointy thingies"
8) Select line tool (above the vector shape tool), and set it like this:
Point to Point line
[yes] anti alias
[yes] create as vector
[no] close path
8.1) Set the linewidth to the same as you used for bubbles.
8.2) Make sure you still have Black and White as active colours.
8.3) And also, make sure the background is set to solid colour, not "none"
9) Left click on the pointy thingies layer to make it active layer
10) Draw pointy thingies.
a) Left click somewhere inside the bubble.
b) Left click somewhere around the character's mouth
c) Left click somewhere inside the bubble, again.
d) If you're not satisfied with the looks of it, you can adjust the position of vertexes untill you are.
e) If you want some curvy pointy thingies, click-and-drag instead of just clicking, and then adjust the arrows to your liking, and press "Ctrl+X"* to make the point of the pointy thingie.
f) Press "Ctrl-Q"* to finish the pointy thingie.
11) Repeat 10 for other pointy thingies.

12) Duplicate the bubbles layer, and set the layers like this: top->bottom
Duplicate of bubbles-set to screen.
Pointy thingies.
Bubbles.

*You can also right click and select these options in a pop up menu.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 2:39 am

christwriter wrote:So--to rephrase what you said--a "vector" shape is a shape form saved to the computer with a program dedicated to calculating the form? And when you make it, you can twist it around, reform it without it getting blurry or chewed looking?

Correct.

christwriter wrote:if vectors are made by the shape tools in Photoshop, I really don't want to play with 'em too much.

They can be but you can turn off the vector shapes and make normal ones instead. It's in one of my posts above.

- Joel Fagin

EMH · Post by **EMH** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 4:21 am

okay.
I made a painfully comprehensive tutorial

Any questions?

Oh, yeah, it's for PSP. I have no intentions of getting near Photoshop.
I think it should be quite similar there too...
But if it's not Photoshop lusers are on their own... unless someone else decides to help them.