Comic typefaces are deep!
Do you know about a typeface for comics? ? ?
The fonts for the annual flat-rate font service "LETS" provided by Fontworks include fonts that are best suited for use in comics (manga). This font was developed and released jointly with a printing company that publishes a weekly magazine for a certain boy. It was born when there were few variations corresponding to the typesetting typefaces of digital fonts at the time when the manga production environment was changed from the conventional analog work method to digitization.
In this column, I would like to introduce the "comic typeface" that everyone who reads manga has seen.
At the end of this column, you will find useful information that you can try out all the LETS fonts for free, including the comic fonts that make you think "manga is this!"!
What is a comic typeface?
What is "comic typeface"?
"Antique" is a typeface that is often used for manga speech bubbles. It is a typeface that combines Gothic kanji and Ming-style kana. AnticCezanne which combines the kanji of "Cezanne" with the antique kana characters that were newly created to match it, is the perfect base typeface for comics (manga).
"ComicMystery" is a typeface for comics that is perfect for Mystery scenes and inner dialogue (stage directions). It is based on the existing Fontworks typeface "Mystery". It gives a serious yet powerful impression.
"ComicReggae" is a comic font that is perfect for Mystery scenes and inner dialogue (stage directions). It is an existing Fontworks font "Reggae" with its density adjusted to give a strong impression. This font is often used for angry scenes, and is also suitable for subtitles.
While the main element of manga is the pictures, equally important elements include written expression such as dialogue, monologues, and narration.
Manga features a variety of characters (men, women, children, adults, elderly people, protagonists, villains, etc.), each of whom speaks with their own "voice."
Since it's on paper, you can't actually hear the voices, but I'm sure that as you read, you are replacing the tones of voice in your head with the personality and gender of each character.
With that in mind, the reader will feel more immersed if you express all of these using different tones of voice rather than using just one type of font.
Such typefaces used in various scenes within manga are called "comic typefaces."
For basic serifs, fonts that prioritize readability are often used.
An antique typeface that combines Ming and Gothic fonts. One of our typefaces is "AnticCezanne."
Manga has many scenes, from happy scenes to slightly scary scenes to Mystery scenes, and fonts are an essential element in creating that atmosphere. It really makes you think, "Even the font is part of manga!"
I have given you some examples of the main typefaces commonly used in comics, but among these, "ComicMystery" and "ComicReggae" are typefaces that were developed specifically for comics!
Comic typeface, secret story of birth
Collaboration with Kyodo Printing
Kyodo Printing is a company that has a wide range of businesses including printing / publishing, business media, and living / industrial materials. The printing and publishing department provides various services centered on printing media, from planning and production to logistics, and is promoting sales through promotion activities that utilize various devices and IT-related solution businesses. ..
It is such a joint printing company, but he was working hard to digitize the manga production environment.
I've been producing analog manga for a long time, but <Everyone can easily make it> <Improving the work efficiency in making plates from magazines to comics> I felt the need, so from typesetting to plate making I tried to digitize part of the flow.
One of the bottleneck in the transition from paper typesetting of manga to DTP was the problem that there is no digital font that can express the power of manga. Since the designs and weights I have used so far are different, the situation was such that even if I used a similar font, the image on the magazine was scattered and weightless.
Therefore, Kyodo Printing and Fontworks decided to jointly develop a "digital typeface suitable for comics."
You may be wondering, "Which of these fonts were developed exclusively for comics?"
For more information about that, Based on a weekly magazine for boyscolumn Is posted.
There are lots of interesting contents such as how the fonts used in manga were digitized, the problems that occurred at that time, and how they are used in famous manga. Please read it!
