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Drew Spence Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 February 2014 Location: United States Posts: 225
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Posted: 15 September 2017 at 6:45pm | IP Logged | 1
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Some take the speech Balloon to literally be a captured burst of air/text and connect it directly to the mouth of the speaker.
Others point at the mouth and/or the bubble comes FROM the mouth.
In modern books, I've seen the bubbles used as an ARROW to only indicate WHO is speaking.
Sometimes it points at the head, sometimes it points at the mouth.
Anyone have a preference?
I like to point at the head if you can't see the mouth clearly. Or you get the voice from the neck area if the character is facing away.
Any ideas about this? I know it's weird, I know.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132239
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Posted: 15 September 2017 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | 2
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I like the pointer/tail to be aimed at the speaker but, in most cases, not actually touching him/her. (On a related not, I am NOT a fan of those little flowers some letteres insist on adding to the end of the tail when the speaker is on the other side of a wall or door.)
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Greg Kirkman Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 May 2006 Location: United States Posts: 15775
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Posted: 15 September 2017 at 8:09pm | IP Logged | 3
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(On a related not, I am NOT a fan of those little flowers some letteres insist on adding to the end of the tail when the speaker is on the other side of a wall or door.) ++++++++++++
Thinking back on it, there have been a lot of interesting tricks which have been used to denote different types of speech, from muffled voices to whispers to synthetic voices.
...which reminds me of that oft-cited moment when the Wasp described the Vision's cold, synthetic voice, and her speech balloon changed into the same style as the Vision's! That's the sort of gag you can only do in comics.
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Robbie Parry Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 12186
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Posted: 16 September 2017 at 4:35am | IP Logged | 4
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Haven't really thought about it, Drew. I suppose both can have their place.
There may be things about word balloons I dislike (nothing comes to mind, though), but I think there's room for creativity and flexibility.
On the subject of word balloons, there was a comic called WWF BATTLEMANIA in the early 90s. The character of the Undertaker had a unique word balloon: black background, white words. Suited him.
Edited by Robbie Parry on 16 September 2017 at 4:36am
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J W Campbell Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 June 2012 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 353
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Posted: 16 September 2017 at 5:29am | IP Logged | 5
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John Byrne wrote:
I am NOT a fan of those little flowers some letteres insist on adding to the end of the tail when the speaker is on the other side of a wall or door. |
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I'm pretty neutral on those (I don't think they're a recent invention, although Google has failed to provide me with any examples) but I've been instructed to add them by editorial on several occasions where I didn't really think they were needed.
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Drew Spence Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 February 2014 Location: United States Posts: 225
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Posted: 16 September 2017 at 5:47am | IP Logged | 6
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So I wonder what the better method of speech through a solid surface is. Should the bubble tail just go into the door or wall? Or maybe a bubble with with no tail at all....
I alternate the black text on white bubble or white on black depending on the backdrop of the scene. If it's dark then I like black bubbles and white text.
I also make the bubbles 5-10% transparent so that the bubbles don't pop so brightly off the page. If it wasn't for so many questions and concerns about it, I wouldn't use bubbles at all.
----- I do like the asterix or open symbol that means someone's died mid-sentence. Conan did that a lot.
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Wallace Sellars Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 May 2004 Location: United States Posts: 17669
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Posted: 16 September 2017 at 10:06am | IP Logged | 7
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Bubbles?
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132239
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Posted: 16 September 2017 at 11:03am | IP Logged | 8
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Unfortunately, Wallace, "bubbles" has become an acceptable term, it would seem. It makes no sense, of course, since bubbles, unlike balloons, do not have "strings" trailing from them. But this seems a case where repeated misuse (especially by civilians) has brought the term into common use. Same as happened with "very unique" and "free gift".
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Trevor Smith Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 3520
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Posted: 16 September 2017 at 11:11am | IP Logged | 9
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At the risk of sounding nit-picky and a bit obsessive, I don't understand using both "balloon" and "bubble" interchangeably. This is a case where I would expect that someone would have a preference for one or the other.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132239
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Posted: 16 September 2017 at 11:13am | IP Logged | 10
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At the risk of sounding nit-picky and a bit obsessive, I don't understand using both "balloon" and "bubble" interchangeably. This is a case where I would expect that someone would have a preference for one or the other.•• Traditionally, professionals called them "balloons" and civilians called them "bubbles". Then things got sloppy.
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Shane Matlock Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 August 2012 Location: United States Posts: 1760
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Posted: 16 September 2017 at 11:27am | IP Logged | 11
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I've never heard the speaking ones called "bubbles," but I have heard people call the old thought balloons that hardly anyone uses anymore (which is a good thing in my opinion) "thought bubbles."
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Brian O'Neill Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 November 2013 Location: United States Posts: 1964
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Posted: 16 September 2017 at 11:27am | IP Logged | 12
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Speech "balloon."Thought "bubble".
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