How-to: Beginner's Guide - The Drawingboard

Section Map:
1. Introduction/ 2. Adding the words / 3. Adding the balloons / 4. Finishing up

Computer lettering: part Three
by Patrick Simmons

The most challenging part of computer lettering is creating the balloons. Getting comfortable with manipulating vector objects take practice and patience. I hope you find the technique I am going to explain works as well for you as it does for me.

Lets begin; the first thing you should do is create a new Layer for the balloons, the text should remain the top layer. Once your text is laid out to your liking, you start by creating the bubble of the balloon. This is done using the ellipse tool, simply select the Ellipse tool, click in the work area and drag diagonally. Creating an Elipse - Example

Selection Tools - Example
Unfortunately, the default ellipse shape is a little narrow at the sides, this is especially true when using long, narrow balloons. Fixing this is difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes very easy.
You need to use the Direct-Selection tool to adjust the handles on the points of the ellipse. The table to the right explains the different modes of the Direct-Selection tool. I find this to be the most challenging aspect of Illustrator, it will be frustrating at first, but with a little practice, I know you can master it!

The image to the right shows the Points of the ellipse and their Handles, these are in red. You can see how the left side of the ellipse is now rounder than the right side. This tweaking of the ellipse shape is definitely a more advanced technique, but I find the rounder balloons look cleaner, and the text fits inside them more evenly.
Tip: Once you have "rounded" the first ellipse, simply copy and paste it for the remaining text rectangles.
Text Rectangle - Example

You can select the color and adjust the thickness of the line using the menu seen at the right. The Stroke menu adjusts the weight, or thickness of the line around the ellipse, as well as the tail. I find a stroke weight of 1.5-2 the most comfortable. Color Palette - Dialogue Box

Balloons Tails - Title

The next step is creating the tail for the balloon. This is done using the Pen tool. The Pen tool can be used to draw straight and curved lines. Drawing curved lines is a little tricky, when you click to define your first point, keep the mouse button held down, and drag the mouse. Always drag the first direction point in the direction of the bump of the curve, and drag the second direction point in the opposite direction to create a single curve. Dragging both direction points in the same direction creates an S curve. See the example to the right. Working with the Tail - Example

Next, we will draw the actual tail. I have numbered the points of the tail to show the order in which I have drawn them, I find it is best to always have the point of the tail be second. Use the Pen tool to draw the first curve, after you define the second point of the curve you must click on the point a second time. This is extremely important; doing so makes the end of the tail have a sharp point. The Pen tool mouse pointer will have a small arrow next to it when you are over a curved point. (Pictured at right.) Lastly, it is important that you have the ends of the tail go into the ellipse, also seen to the right, there is no need to close the tail shape. For short tails, I often use straight lines for the tail. This saves time and the frustration of creating nicely curved tails. Creating a Balloon Tail - Example

Once you have clicked on the Unite button, the Word Balloon is complete! That wasn't so bad now was it?
Warning: Make sure to save a separate version of your work before uniting everything. If you want to rearrange the balloons after you have united everything chances are the tails will not be in the right place and you will be stuck redoing those word balloons.
Completed Balloon - Example

You can use the Unite command to combine as many objects as you want! Such as the multiple ellipse word balloons seen at the right.
If you did not create a separate layer for the word balloons you see that your text disappears when you click on the unite button. Do not worry; the text is not gone, it has moved behind the word balloon. To fix this select the word balloon, and go to the menu Object>arrange>send to back, or <shift+ctrl+[>.
Unite Command - Example

Topic #4: Bringing it all together...

Next, we discuss how to combine you word balloons with the comic page!