Earlier this year, during the course of one of the Hot Seat critiques, I went into a discussion on the importance of word balloons. It’s one of the simplest fixes to make in your comic that delivers the biggest return-on-investment.

Well-done word balloons increase the professionalism of your comic, they help convey the proper tone for your comic, and — most importantly — they make your comic easier to read. And smooth readability is of paramount importance when you’re working in a format that bases most of its merit in being able to be consumed quickly.

And as I wrote the critique, I began to look at my own work a little more closely. And I wasn’t crazy about what I was seeing.

My confession

Since the very first days of my first comic, “Greystone Inn,” I did word balloons backwards. I completely went against the elementary advice I gave to every novice I ever met. Instead of lettering first and drawing the balloon around the words, I drew a balloon and then later filled it with digital type.
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