Letterers are some of the many unsung heroes that help shape the comics we love. Word and thought balloons, sound effects (SFX), and narrative boxes appear throughout the pages of each book, but readers tend to take those storytelling devices for granted, without realizing just how much of our reading experience those seemingly simple letters…
By the Letters: Blambot’s Nate Piekos
An incredible amount of work and attention to detail goes into lettering a comic that the average reader is likely not aware of, despite the fact that it is the lettering of a comic that can help guide the reading experience from panel to panel. Nate Piekos has been working in comics lettering, typography, and…
Thank You, Text: Letterer Ariana Maher Never Stops Learning
When Ariana Maher first started testing the waters of professional comic lettering, the excitement of seeing her work published was undermined by a few people who felt that exposure ought to have been enough to satisfy her. Now that she has more experience in the field, she knows better when it comes to establishing terms…
Into the Letter-Verse: Blambot’s Nate Piekos Talks Lettering in Comic Book Movies
In our previous interview, Nate Piekos shared his processes and passions within the world of comic book lettering. He also expressed his disappointment in a recent superhero movie that clearly had not consulted a professional comic book letterer to ensure the authenticity of their film’s comic book aesthetic. The film Piekos was referring to is,…
BANG! POW! What Was That? Find Out at The Comic Book Sound Effect Database
Looking to shine a light on the creativity of letterers, as well as hone his PHP coding skills, Rick Metzroth has carved out a unique corner of the internet with The Comic Book Sound Effect Database. A site dedicated purely to the fine art of comic book SFX, Metzroth has meticulously been adding panels of quirky…
Lettering Inspirations and Approach with Caitlin Yarsky
Caitlin Yarsky isn’t a comic book letterer by profession, but it was her lettering as much as her spectacular illustrations in Coyotes from Image Comics that caught my eye. In fact, her unique lettering style is what prompted my recent hyper focus on the art of comic book lettering in this “By the Letters” series. Typically,…
Letterers: Jill Gerber on the Unsung Heroes of Comics in the Classroom
When it comes to using comics in the classroom, letterers are truly the unsung heroes of the medium, according to educator Jill Gerber. In our earlier Comics Academe interview focusing on how the use of comics has evolved as a literary teaching tool, Gerber, an award-winning educator and consultant, explains that lettering is one of…
A Gathering of Letterers
If you’ve been following By the Letters since the series inception early this year, you know that I’ve been spotlighting the fine art of comic book lettering and have featured a few interviews with letterers, including Ariana Maher. We’re a big fan of roundtables at WWAC, so I asked Maher if she’d help me get…
By the Letters: Taylor Esposito Has Big Plans for 2020
Taylor Esposito ended 2019 with more than 1,300 issues to his credit as a letterer, and has hopes to do lots more for the new year. Drawing on his years of experience as a graphic designer, moving on to the Marvel Bullpen, and then achieving his dream by becoming a staff letterer at DC Comics,…
Balloons vs. Bubbles: The Semi-definitive Word on Comic Lettering Capsules
Earlier in the year, comics critic and creator Claire Napier reached out into the Twitter-verse to request an answer to an important comics question:
By the Letters: Nate Piekos’ Word on The Essential Guide to Comic Book Lettering
With over a decade in the comics industry, Blambot’s award-winning typographer, letterer, and graphic designer Nate Piekos has created more than 300 fonts. We see many of these fonts every day, though we may not realize it as we surf the internet, play video games, shop for products, skip through ads, and, of course, read…