I want to make word balloons in Photoshop but I'm not very fond of the perfectly eliptical type. I think I read of a way to make them more "comic book like", but I can't seem to figure it out. Can anyone help?
The balloon on the outside is an imperfect ellipse (like I want). The one on the inside is "perfect", easily created with the "Elliptical Marquee Tool" in Photoshop. Is there any simple way to create the imperfect ellipse in Photoshop?
Can't think of a way you can do that in Photoshop. Lettering is generally done in Illustrator or Freehand, where you've got the option of "deforming" the ellipse shapes to make them look less perfect by dragging the curve handles.
I do all my lettering in Quark 6. In addition to the tool that makes ellipses and circles, there are tools to create Bezier curves (those are the curves with those little blue "handles" on them). They're tricky at first, but with practice they make the balloons quite easy and efficient, and they'll wrap around the text nice and snug. Use a 2-point thickness.
Also, in Quark 6, you can use "Edit: Shape" in the Item memu, or, if you hold one of the nodes down with the mouse for a second and then move it, you can get rid of those unsightly, space-wasting bulges at either side.
Maybe I can post a page of my lettering samples here at some point. I'm at work, and all my stuff is at home. I'll try to remember.
You can make Bezier curves in Photoshop just as easily. The other option, one I use, is "paint" your ellipse in Quickmask using a very large brush setting, then, when you switch back, fill your created marquee on your wordballoon Layer.
John,
I tried using the Quickmask method last night. Am I suppose to create/paint the ellipse by hand (without a tool other than a paintbrush)? If so, I don't see how using Quickmask would make the balloon have a smooth outline. Any help would be appreciated.
Well, I generally use a fairly large brush for the overall shape, and then touch up the outer edge with a smaller brush so that I do get a smoother edge -- what resolution (ppi) is your image? for instance, if I want a balloon roughly 1.5" wide by 1" tall, and my image resolution is, oh, say, 72 ppi (for web work -- you want something closer to 200-300 ppi if it's intended for print), I might use a brush that's an ellipse roughly the shape I want at about 70 pxls, draw the approximate shape I want, and then clean it up with a brush at about 19 pxls.
It takes practice to get them smooth, but once you get used to it, I found I can do it pretty quickly -- as quick as if I were drawing Bezier curves.
For more control, I do recommend the Bezier curves method, but for quick-and-dirty, and for really unusual shapes, the Quickmask method's handy.
