JimShooter.com – Page 23 – Writer. Creator. Large mammal.

Lettering and Balloon Placement Memo

On May 13, 2011

In 04 Storytelling Lecture, Uncategorized

I come from the Stan Lee school of thought regarding lettering and balloon placement. Here are the lettering notes I frequently include in my scripts:

– Lettering should be clear and legible

– Lettering and balloons should be as unobtrusive as possible

– There should never be any question about which balloon comes next

– As much as possible, balloons should stay out of the way of the art:

– Anchor balloons to the panel borders when possible, unless that puts the balloon too far from the speaker or otherwise causes problems

– Try not to cover anything important or interesting—especially light sources, signs, figures, critical details and especially heads

– Characters shouldn’t be wearing balloons like hats or balancing them like trained seals—avoid “resting” the balloons on heads

– If a balloon MUST cover part of a head, try to keep the coverage small. If it’s going to cover a head down to the eyebrows, it’s time to adjust the art

– If you can overlap a head a smidge into the balloon to avoid covering the head or trained seal syndrome, please do

– Try to have short, straight pointers aimed at the speaker’s mouth

– Pointers should come from around the middle of the balloon. Avoid those cat’s claw pointers at the ends of balloons, especially long, narrow ones

– Avoid “snakey” pointers

– Consecutive balloons from the same speaker should abut, if possible, with a bridge connector between them

– If a longer bridge connector is required, make it as straight and direct as possible

Storytelling Lecture, Strange Tales Part 6

By Jim Shooter

On May 13, 2011

In 04 Storytelling Lecture

Storytelling Lecture Series, Part 17 (Edited from the transcript of a 1994 seminar)

JayJay here. The blog service has been down and I have a few things that Jim wants me to post so I will be putting up several extra articles later today and tomorrow. Check back!

Page Eight.

Panel one.

Action, a full figure.

Storytelling Lecture, Strange Tales Part 5

By Jim Shooter

On May 11, 2011

In 04 Storytelling Lecture

Storytelling Lecture Series, Part 16 (Edited from the transcript of a 1994 seminar)Page four.

Okay, panel one we have action—full figures if you don’t count Cap’s toe.

Look at the reactions of the background characters, and the Torch, for that matter. So much is expressed so simply and so powerfully. The words underscore the attitude Captain America expresses in the picture, and the Torch’s reactions, physically and verbally, tells us that what we’re seeing is a big deal.

Storytelling Lecture, Strange Tales Part 4

By Jim Shooter

On May 10, 2011

In 04 Storytelling Lecture

Storytelling Lecture Series, Part 15 (Edited from the transcript of a 1994 seminar)Page three.

Here’s the establish-the-big-new-location-shot, the Los Angeles Coliseum shot. Now that’s an establishing shot.

If you look carefully, you can see Johnny in the lower right hand corner. That’s Kirby ”telescoping” again, establishing our featured character’s position within the location. This really needed two shots, but remember, Kirby had fewer than 100 panels to tell this story, and he compromised here—probably hoping that Stan would mention Johnny’s presence in the caption. He didn’t. And the colorist colored Johnny’s shirt wrong. Oops.

Storytelling Lecture, Strange Tales Part 3

By Jim Shooter

On May 9, 2011

In 04 Storytelling Lecture

Storytelling Lecture Series, Part 14 (Edited from the transcript of a 1994 seminar)Page two.

Take a look at the second panel.

The boys have landed in a heap. In order to make that clearly, Kirby treats it like action, that is, he uses the usual action depth and shows us full figures, or nearly so.

Storytelling Lecture, Strange Tales Part 2

By Jim Shooter

On May 6, 2011

In 04 Storytelling Lecture

Storytelling Lecture Series, Part 13 (Edited from the transcript of a 1994 seminar)

All right, we’re in the backyard of this suburban home. Three young men are arriving. Look at her, the Invisible Girl. You get a pretty good look at her. You’ll see her feet later, trust me. You get a pretty good look at her, enough so that you might actually recognize her if you saw her again. Look at the acting going on here. It’s clear that these guys are arriving and they are excited. What is she saying? Even if you can’t read the balloon, you know she’s saying, “Stay back boys,” just from her body language. Cool.

Storytelling Lecture, Strange Tales Part 1

By Jim Shooter

On May 5, 2011

In 04 Storytelling Lecture

Storytelling Lecture Series, Part 12 (Edited from the transcript of a 1994 seminar)I’m going to quickly go through a comic book for you. This comic book, an issue of Strange Tales later reprinted in Captain America.

Why this one? This one is an old comic by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and it was probably done at a time when the page rates for artists were around ten bucks a page, fifteen bucks a page, so it was probably done very quickly. I guarantee you, Jack didn’t spend a great deal of time pondering each panel. You couldn’t do that if you wanted to earn a living. He didn’t give it a lot of thought. He did it from instinct more or less. Nonetheless, it’s a great illustration of fundamentals.

X-O MANOWAR #1 Plot

By Jim Shooter

On May 4, 2011

In 06 VALIANT

JayJay here. I’m posting another one of Jim’s plots today. It’s a pretty interesting behind-the-scenes peek to read and compare. This is also available in a reprint volume. Some abbreviations: BG = background, FG = foreground, POV = Point of view

X-O MANOWAR #1 Plot

PAGE ONE

Full page. Eric is fighting his way down a passageway inside a huge starship. There is a trail of alien bodies behind him. He is currently smashing the head of an alien foe with a metal bar, presumably removed from some machine. Several other aliens are attacking Eric. Some have weapons, but at such close quarters it’s difficult to use them effectively.

Eric is tall, blond and well-built, with long, shaggy blond hair and beard. He is discreetly naked.

PREDATOR vs. MAGNUS ROBOT FIGHTER Plot

By Jim Shooter

On May 3, 2011

In 06 VALIANT

JayJay here. While Jim and I are working on the rest of the lecture, I thought I would post a sample of a plot. Jim wrote this some years ago for the Predator Vs. Magnus crossover comic.We will be putting up some of Jim’s scripts, and the Turok 1 script is already available for you to download, but we thought you might like to see an example of a plot.

PREDATOR vs. MAGNUS ROBOT FIGHTER PlotPAGE ONE

Full page. We’re in a small North Am military outpost or encampment on an alien world. The world is a hot, seething environment—maybe an alien jungle. The outpost, meant to protect some mining or resource-gathering operation, has been trashed. There are several dead North Am soldiers around, and many destroyed robs. One last soldier, tattered, wounded and scared is trying to defend himself… but he’s being stalked by a Predator in his invisible mode.

Note: North Am soldiers, like all North Americans, are usually wusses. These Deep Space patrols, however, are the hardiest and bravest souls. Possibly we should give the humans some kind of breathing-assistance gear, to add to the feeling of “alien environment.” Make it comfortable-looking. This is the forty-first century.

Another Question, Another Answer

By Jim Shooter

On May 1, 2011

In 10 Questions / Answers

JayJay here. I was emailed these questions for Jim and relayed them to him. As I do.

Question:

Reading the blog it sure seems that office politix and egos are as bad as anywhere else. In Kirby’s case it seems to be driven by Roz, as whenever he is in anyone’s presence Jack seems to be gracious and all ‘o we’ll work it out somehow’ even if he laid claim to Spidey he did almost give it up when pointed out they used Ditko’s design and storyline, Comments? Speaking of Steve, I’ve only skimmed the first of the three portfolio books about him making seem quite the eccentric, Jim hasn’t said much about Steve and I’m wondering what his impressions were of him. Overall Jim has been characterizing himself as a force to achieve two goals, to make comic books and all related activities reach their full potential and for the equitable treatment of creators so I wonder what his thoughts are on the Todd McFarlane/Venom hullabaloo from the early 90’s, he was their rising star back then from his work on Hulk and Spidey then you could hear the brakes screech and now the only time they refer to him if at all is by renaming him ‘pondscum’. What are Jim’s thoughts and is Marvel truly that petty behind closed doors? might it only get worse under Disney?

Lastly has Jim had a chance to read “Kavalier and Clay”? The comic book stuff seems loosely based on Lee and Kirby tho references are made to Timely comics of the 40’s. What does Jim say about its portrayal of the industry?

Thx lazerbranz