Manga, the Japanese comics that have taken the world by storm, are a unique blend of art and storytelling. While much attention is given to the artists and writers, there’s another crucial role that often goes unnoticed: the manga letterer. More than just placing words in bubbles, a letterer is a key player in bringing a manga to life for English-speaking audiences. This article delves into the complexities of manga lettering, revealing why it’s a craft that demands expertise, artistic sensibility, and a deep understanding of the source material.
What Does a Manga Letterer Actually Do?
At first glance, the job of a manga letterer might seem straightforward: take the translated text and fit it into the speech bubbles. However, the reality is far more intricate. Manga letterers, also sometimes called typesetters, are responsible for the entire visual presentation of the English text in a manga. This includes:
- Typesetting Dialogue: This involves choosing appropriate fonts, placing the translated text within speech bubbles, and ensuring the text is easily readable and doesn’t clash with the artwork. It also requires formatting the text to fit the often-awkward shapes of manga speech bubbles, which were originally designed for vertical Japanese text, not horizontal English. This can involve strategic hyphenation and word breaks.
- Sound Effects (SFX): Manga are renowned for their dynamic and expressive sound effects. Letterers recreate these effects in English, often using a combination of typography, illustration, and graphic design skills. This might include replacing Japanese SFX with English equivalents, or creating entirely new ones that match the tone and impact of the original.
- On-screen Text: Manga often includes text within the artwork itself, such as signs, labels, and notes. A letterer must handle these elements, ensuring the text is legible and consistent with the overall style of the manga. This may involve retouching the original artwork, redrawing elements, and carefully integrating the English text.
- Retouching and Redrawing: Often, the original Japanese text overlaps with the artwork. Letterers must use programs like Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint to remove this text and recreate any obscured art, seamlessly blending their work with the original art style. They might need to redraw parts of the panel to maintain visual consistency, even matching the original artist’s marker style.
- Maintaining Visual Harmony: A crucial aspect of lettering is ensuring that the text doesn’t distract from the artwork. Good lettering should be “invisible,” meaning it flows naturally with the visuals and allows the reader to become fully immersed in the story.
The Skills and Tools of the Trade
Manga lettering is a demanding craft that requires a combination of technical skills, artistic talent, and a keen eye for detail. Here are some key skills and tools that a manga letterer needs:
Technical Proficiency
- Software Mastery: Letterers primarily use software like Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator. InDesign is often used for laying out the pages and placing the bulk of the dialogue due to its vector-based nature, which results in a polished look in print. Photoshop is used for creating or replacing sound effects, retouching artwork, and cleaning pages. Illustrator is used for touch-ups, file conversion, and creating or recreating logos.
- Font Knowledge: Choosing the right fonts is critical for readability and conveying the tone of the manga. A letterer needs a good understanding of typography and the different moods that can be created using different fonts. They also need to be aware of font licensing and ensure that they use fonts that are approved by the publisher. There are also specialized fonts for manga lettering available from companies like Blambot that are specifically designed to suit the style of manga.
- Basic Japanese Knowledge: While it’s not always mandatory to know Japanese, a basic reading ability can be a significant time-saver, especially when dealing with on-screen text or sound effects. It allows the letterer to quickly understand the original text and make informed decisions about its English counterpart.
Artistic and Design Sensibilities
- Graphic Design Skills: Manga letterers must think like graphic designers, creating logos, titles, word balloons, and sound effects that seamlessly integrate into the overall aesthetic of the page.
- Illustration Skills: Especially for sound effects and on-screen text, a letterer needs to be able to create or adjust elements that match the original style, often involving some level of illustration skills.
- Attention to Detail: Lettering involves many subtle elements. A successful letterer has a keen eye for detail, ensuring that every aspect of the text is perfect, from spacing to font size to placement. This is important for the readability and overall experience of the manga.
- Understanding of Language: A letterer needs to understand the process of conveying meaning through text, and be able to make the words themselves look like the emotion or action they are trying to portray. For example, a “BOOM” might be large and bold, while a whisper might be soft and airy. They also have to be very good with grammar, as they are often the last line of defense against errors.
The Manga Lettering Process
The manga lettering process typically follows these steps:
- Receiving the Translated Script: The letterer receives the translated text, usually in a document format, along with high-resolution art files of the manga pages.
- Typesetting the Dialogue: The letterer uses software like InDesign to place the translated dialogue into the speech bubbles, carefully choosing fonts and formatting the text to fit.
- Creating and Placing SFX: Using Photoshop or similar programs, the letterer creates or replaces the manga’s sound effects with English equivalents, making sure they match the visual style and impact of the originals.
- Handling On-Screen Text: The letterer places and formats any text within the artwork, retouching and redrawing parts of the image as needed.
- Retouching and Cleanup: The letterer carefully retouches the art, removing any traces of the original Japanese text, and ensuring a clean and seamless look.
- Quality Checks: Throughout the process, multiple rounds of quality checks are conducted to prevent errors and ensure that the final product is polished.
Why is Lettering So Important?
Good lettering is crucial for the success of a manga for several reasons:
- Readability: Clear and well-placed text ensures that readers can easily follow the story, and that the text flows naturally with the artwork and doesn’t distract from it.
- Immersion: When lettering is done well, it fades into the background, allowing readers to fully immerse themselves in the story. Bad lettering, on the other hand, can be jarring and pull the reader out of the narrative.
- Preserving Intent: Good lettering also helps preserve the tone and intent of the original Japanese manga, by choosing fonts and styles that match the original, and making sure sound effects are appropriate.
- Professionalism: Lettering is a critical part of the production process, and professional lettering can elevate the quality of a manga, showing readers that attention was paid to even the smallest details.
The Challenges of Manga Lettering
While it can be a very rewarding job, manga lettering also presents its fair share of challenges:
- Time Constraints: Letterers often work under tight deadlines, requiring them to be efficient and meticulous.
- Working with Compressed Space: Manga speech bubbles can be very small, making it difficult to fit the longer English text without making it too small to read.
- Maintaining Consistency: Letterers must maintain consistency throughout an entire manga volume, ensuring that font choices, styles, and placements are unified.
- Preserving Cultural Nuances: Letterers need to be aware of the cultural context of the manga, and ensure that the English text is relatable and clear for readers unfamiliar with Japanese culture.
- Recognition and Fair Pay: As an often “invisible” part of the process, letterers can sometimes be undervalued. Many are freelancers and don’t have a lot of control over their pay, but many are working to raise awareness of the importance of this role.
How to Become a Manga Letterer
If you’re interested in becoming a manga letterer, here are some steps you can take:
- Master the Software: Become proficient in Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
- Study Typography: Learn about font choices, kerning, leading, and other aspects of typography.
- Practice Lettering: Start by lettering some pages yourself, paying attention to how different font styles and placements can affect the overall look and feel of a page.
- Build a Portfolio: Showcase your best lettering work in a portfolio, highlighting your skills in typesetting, sound effects, and retouching.
- Connect with Industry Professionals: Join online communities and forums dedicated to manga lettering, and network with other letterers and comic book professionals.
- Freelancing: Many manga letterers work as freelancers, so it’s important to establish a good work ethic, build strong relationships, and be able to find projects.
The Value of a Skilled Letterer
In conclusion, being a manga letterer is about more than just having a fun job. It’s a profession that demands a unique combination of technical expertise, artistic talent, and a deep understanding of language and storytelling. A skilled letterer is an essential part of the manga production process, ensuring that English-speaking readers can enjoy these stories as they were intended. They bridge the gap between cultures and ensure the stories are accessible and engaging for a global audience, and the lettering is key to immersing the readers in the story. As the popularity of manga continues to rise, so too will the importance of these often-unsung heroes of the comic book world.
