SpeechBubblesIncomics,charactersspeakthroughtextthatappearsinspeechbubbles,orspeechballoons.Eachbubblehasatail,orpointer.Thetailpointstothecharacterthatisspeaking.

TheDifferentPartsofaSpeechBubble

Bubblesconsistofthreeelements:

● Thebubbleitself,whichsurroundsthetext.● Thetext.● Thetail,whichpointstowhoisspeaking.

PlacingYourBubblesProperly

Bubblesareplacedonapageinapreciseorder.Wealwaysstartbyreadingthebubblethatishighestintheframe,thenthenextonedown,andsoon.Whentwoormoreframesarenexttoeachother,wereadthemfromlefttoright.

[LearntoStructureaFrame]

[LearntoStructureaPage]

Tails

Thetipofthetailpointstothecharacterwhoisspeaking.Inthefirstexamplebelow,thetailispointingtotheboy,meaningthatheistheonespeaking.Whenabubblehasmorethanonetail,itmeansthattwoormorepeoplearesayingthesamethingatthesametime.

Thetailshouldalwaysbepointingattheperson’sfaceormouth.Ifthetailispointingatthecharacter’sstomach,readersmightthinkthecharacterisaventriloquist.

TextSize

Speechbubblesshouldbelargeenoughforthetextinsidethemtobelegible.Ideally,allofthetextsinyourstoryshouldbethesamesize,font(typeface,ortypeofletter),face(boldorlight)andcase(i.e.capitallettersorlowercase).

Textthatissmallerthantherestwillgivetheimpressionthatthecharacterisspeakingquietly;larger,thattheyarespeakingloudly.

Puttingallthetextinaspeechbubbleincapitalletters,ormakingitbold,willreinforcethateffect.Ifyouhavelarge,boldcapitalletters,itmeansthecharacterisshoutingatthetopoftheirlungs.

Anotherwaytoshowthatacharacteriswhisperingistouseaspeechbubbledrawnwithadottedline.

Youcanindicatebubbles’relativeimportancebyoverlappingthem.Thetextofthelowerbubbleisconsideredlessimportantthantheoneontop.

DifferentTypesofBubbles

Bubblesdrawnwithdottedlinesmeanthatthecharacterisspeakingquietly.Otherkindsofbubbleshaveotheruses.

Ifthetailismadeupofsmallerbubbles,thatmeansthatthecharacteristhinkingratherthanspeaking.

Rectangularspeechbubblesusuallymeanthatthesoundisdifferentfromtherest.Theyaretraditionallyusedformechanical-soundingvoices:avoicecomingoutofatelephone,oracomputerorroboticvoice.

StackedBubbles

Toillustrateadialogue,youcanstackmorethanonebubbletogetherwithasingletailtoshowthattheyarebeingspokenbythesamecharacter.

WithBDnF,youcanmakestackedbubbles.Youcanstackasmanybubblesasyouwant,aslongasthereisenoughroomintheframe.Don’tforgettofollowreadingorderandtoalignthemneatly.

Captions

Sometextgoesinsideframeswithintheframe,calledcaptions.

Thekindofcaptionthatexplainswhereand/orwhentheactionistakingplaceisusuallyplacedatornearthetopoftheframe.Itisoftenusedtoindicateachangeoftimeorplace.

Othercaptionsaremorenarrative.Theyareusedtocommentonthehero’sactions.