Tutorials
Typography
Okay... first of all, I must confess that I don't know any rules on how the text should (or shouldn't) be done. I only can share with you the things I found out when making fanart and learning by myself. This isn't even an actual tutorial, it's rather a set of my (very subjective and perhaps amateurish) thoughts and notions about typography.
All the examples are my own artworks. The fonts I used are from different places, the links can be found here. Please don't publish this tutorial on your site/forum/etc. Linking this page is okay. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me using the form below. Thanks. :)
Now, let's start.
Amount
I just said I don't know any rules and I need to correct myself, I do have the rule: less is more. I think the idea of art is to picture things, not to type them :) Besides, it's really hard to put long lyrics or quote into piece without making the pic dull and crowded. And neat short quote always hits harder than looooong one.
Examples:
Not too good. Yes, this long quote
is heart-wrenching and important in terms of concept. But it's, well... long.
And while it reads really good, it looks boring.
Better. The text is very short
(= easy to absorb at the first glance) and fits with the concept as well as
composition in general.
Placement
My method (:)) is to pretend that the text is not the text, but one more image, and think of its placement the same way I think about placement of a screencap, considering its size, shape, colour etc. Although I usually add text on the last stage, I consider the text placement while I am working on composition, so to leave some room for it. Also,
1) I don't place text over faces.
2) I try to avoid putting text in corners, because (IMHO) this way it doesn't look like part of the piece. However, I try not to place it in the very middle of the canvas too, as I don't want it to take whole viewer's attention.
3) I never use 'align left/right/center' options. Actually, I never put all lines in one type layer; every single line (sometimes even every single word) of my text has its own layer so I can move it around and change its settings without affecting other lines. It's boring, (especially when I realize that the font I've chosen doesn't fit so I have to edit every word), but result may be a good reward.
4) I never make the spaces between lines (leading) bigger than the font height. I think, it actually works better when those spaces are narrow, because this way the text looks more 'monolith' and is easier to be included in composition.
Examples:
Not too good. Although
the text doesn't actually run across face, it crosses Buffy's chest and arms.
It's also placed too close to the edge. Looks like there was not enough space
for it in the canvas.
Better. The text has
its own place (places) in the composition, lines create interesting rhythm
and work as parts of the piece, helping to balance it.
Font size
In the academy, I learnt the basic proportion: canvas height/character height = 1/20...25. This proportion is constructed for architectural drawings/presentations and isn't always valid for fanart, but I find it helpful nonetheless. It works for titles and short simple quotes quite nicely.
If my text is longer than just a few words, I might apply the rule only to the 'key words' and do the rest of the text in smaller font; this way the typography looks more interesting, I think. ('Key words', I mean those that express the major emotion of the piece or explain its concept.) Rarely, I also make the key words bigger than 1/20 of canvas height. The key word of this sentence is 'rarely' though.
Example1. Example
2. Major part of the text is done using small font size, while the "key
words" are about 1/20...1/25 of the canvas' height.
Example 3. In this collage,
"key words" are huge, but they do work as part of the composition
and fit with the comic-like style of the piece. (This piece is very old, sorry.
I couldn't find any newer example that could fit :))
Font choice
I figure that the more text I have in the piece, the simpler should be the font, because sophisticated/distorted/pretentious fonts grab too much attention and 'compete' with the rest of the piece. Plus, they are kinda hard to read, and I don't want to tire the viewer. Actually, simple 'classic' fonts, like Garamond, Verdana, Arial, are always better (exceptions are rare). However, several lines of same font might look really boring, so I often add one more font just for a few 'key words', but carefully. My rules are:
1) The fonts must differ in terms of shape of characters: narrow tall letters go well with small round ones, etc.; similar fonts (like Times New Roman & Garamond, Still Life & Bustamalaka, Saginaw & Scriptina) don't work together well. (Well, they do sometimes, but I personally find this much harder to achieve.)
Here are some examples.
These fonts are similar and don't go together very well:
While these combinations (built on the principle of contrast) look a lot better:
However, the styles of the fonts you're using shouldn't be too different. I mean, Celtic font won't go well with grungy one, cartoon-y and calligraphic ones won't be friends either:
Also, the more eye-catching is the second font, the more neutral must be the first (basic) one. I love using Garamond, Arial etc. as my 'basic' fonts, because they fit with almost everything, which gives me a lot of freedom about the second font choice. Here are some of my favorite "basic" fonts that I find the most useful:
2) Style of fonts must fit the concept, mood, and style of the piece. For example, for my collage about William, I chose a 'classic' font called Trajax and one a-la old handwriting (Cezanne), because those fonts went well with the19th century's style and with William's scribbling.
And
3) The more crowded/detailed is the piece, the simpler should be the font.
Also, there are some fonts on the net that were used so often by so many artists that they became cliche. For example, Scriptina. It's a lovely font, but having seen it in the fanart for over two years now, it makes me cringe ;) Same about so-called "famous" fonts - the ones we know from movies, logos etc. For example, Buffied. These fonts are 1) too recognizable and therefore cliche; 2) not that pretty and look good only when you use them for the words they were designed for (logotypes etc):
Obviously, such font isn't a good choice.
Colour
I know two ways of choosing the colour for the text.
First (and usually the most effective) one is to pick the colour from the piece using the Eyedropper Tool. I prefer using colours from the piece, because the text looks more like a part of the artwork when the colours match. I don't always use the exact colour, though; I play with it, altering it a little, making it slightly darker or lighter or more/less saturated. The eyedropper helps me not to break the general colour scheme.
My other way of choosing the colour is to choose the one that contrasts with the general tone of the piece. But that should be done very carefully, because wrong colour can destroy the artwork completely. Colours that contrast must match, nonetheless. I am not that good at theory myself (plus, this tutorial is about typography, not about colour theory), so I won't try and explain it here. If you're a beginner, I advise you not to try it before you have some experience or knowledge of colour theory.
I have used contrasting text only a few times. For example, in this piece. As you can see, general tone of the artwork is dark green/cyan and the text is bright red. The harsh contrast helped me create dramatic mood I was going for. Notice that I added some blood-red brushwork here and there. It let me unite the text and collage, make the piece more "whole".
Blending modes, layer styles, and effects
I also use different blending modes for my text to mix it in better. My favorite ones are soft light and screen; they make the text slightly transparent and not as "standing out" as normal blending mode. Multiply, overlay, and dodge are good as well.
I almost never use those scary default layer styles for my text; though, sometimes I do use gradient overlay, drop shadow and/or glow. But I choose the softest and lightest settings for these effects so they don't look overpowering. Here's an example:
Uh...
I'm afraid, there won't be a proper conclusion in this tutorial, as my brain is smoking already and I have nothing to add except one thing. There are no strict rules in art. You can use my notions for your work (and, hopefully, find them helpful), but, if you feel they don't work for your own style and your personal vision of art - forget them and do what you feel is right.
Now, I think, that's all. Did I miss something? Do you have questions? Please
feel free to ask: