For almost every craft, there’s a process you abide by to get the work done as well as possible. So I wondered: what exactly is that process for manga localizing? Well, since there are passionate people looking to bring the best manga they can, figuring out what they’re doing is pretty important.
So I reached out to numerous people in the industry to find out what type of tools they’re using to work on manga. From those who might be interested in getting into the business to even those in the industry already, hopefully there are a few things you’ll see here and might want to look into further.
Now, with that said, let’s get into the common tools manga letterers use to letter manga.
Adobe Creative Suite
Without question, lettering manga properly is going to require the use of Adobe programs. The following three are necessary to letter manga:
- Photoshop
- InDesign
- Illustrator
With Photoshop, you can create or replace sound effects, edit artwork, and clean pages of a manga. InDesign is used to layout a book, put non-sound effect text on the page, place a lot of the dialogue, and more. Illustrator is used for touch-up, file conversion, creating or recreating logos, and/or laying out a book.
While some parts can be done in other programs — for instance, Annaliese Christman (Black Clover, My Monster Secret, World Trigger) likes to create or recreate logos in Illustrator rather than use Photoshop — there are set standards. A good example is InDesign, which is used to layout the book. “I use InDesign CC for laying out pages and placing the bulk of the dialog,” mentioned Sara Linsley, who has lettered titles such as Yamada-Kun and The Seven Witches, LDK, and That Wolf-Boy is Mine! “InDesign has the advantage of being vector-based, which results in a polished look in print. It also supports the use of Javascript to automate repetitive tasks like scaling image files and adding page numbers.”
However, it helps to know a few things to take full advantage of these programs. Phil Christie (Dimension W, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, Taboo Tattoo) suggests taking a typesetting class to help with laying out a book. Creating a workspace in Photoshop and InDesign, as Corinna Cornett (Kampfer, Brave Dan, Harlequin manga) told me, will help you see only the menus you specifically use, “so you don’t have to go under the Tools menu every time you need a set of tools that aren’t open.”
All in all, with the help of online tutorials out there for these programs, if you’re committed to doing any sort of lettering, you’ll need to know these three programs well. Once you do, then you’re on the right track.
Computer
Going hand in hand with the programs mentioned above, there’s a good chance you’ll need a Mac. That seems to be an industry standard from the letterers I’ve reached out to. You’re also going to need one with a lot of memory — as manga files are bigger, you’ll need at least 8GB of RAM or up. You can probably use something other than a Macbook Pro, but two letterers mentioned that they use it to do their manga. It’s not a deal breaker if you want to use a different kind of Mac. It’ll all come down to what you find is best. “I know some people letter from their laptop,” said Lys Blakeslee (Durarara!!, Fruits Basket, Yona of The Dawn), “but I find it way too confining and need the visual space of a desktop screen.”
Graphics Tablet
For lettering, you can totally get by using a mouse or a trackpad for any necessary art retouching. However, for some, a tablet is necessary. “I’ve heard that some people are good enough to letter using a trackpad or a mouse,” said Annaliese, “but I’m definitely not one of those people.” She’s been using Wacom tablets, particularly the Intuos line since she started working in the industry. Lys, Corinna and Phil are also using a Wacom tablet as well. “You can start out with the basics,” added Phil, “and then if you do manage to get work then I would recommend spending a bit of what you earn on an upgrade, should you need to.”
But as mentioned, you may want to try using a mouse or trackpad first and determine how comfortable you are lettering with one of those. Sara Linsley and Abigail Blackman (A Bride’s Story, Girls’ Last Tour, Erased), for example, are able to use a mouse.
“Visual Aesthetics”
This is a term coined by translator and letterer Jennifer Ward, and I think fits with the rest of the advice that I received: you just have to have an eye for art. Needless to say, that will only come with lettering manga more. “You can know all the little Photoshop tricks but still come out making something ugly if you just have no taste,” she added. “Like, what is the right font choice? What makes a page look cluttered? How do you cover up spots that you just can’t clonebrush cleanly? Is it a good idea to widen that bubble, or would it mess up the balance of the art?” To get better at lettering, read the professional stuff — that can even be Western comics as well. And don’t bother just reading scans, “because,” as she added, “they’re often poorly done.”
Patience and detail are also important as well. The pages will have to be cleaned and the text shouldn’t be off. “Lettering is one of those jobs where if done right,” said Phil, “nobody notices it but it can be extremely time consuming. And if you’re not paying attention before you know it, text is off centre, it flows weird or the cleaning is sloppy and noticeable to the reader.” Ultimately if you get the visual aesthetics of manga, then it’ll only aid you in managing to succeed as a letterer.
Japanese
It’s important to emphasize this: it’s not completely necessary to know Japanese. As the letterer, lettering requires making sure the text, the signs, sound effects, and the manga read as naturally as possible. The translator and editor will have to know Japanese, but it’s not a deal breaker if you don’t know.
However…
Even if you don’t know Japanese, knowing the basics can at least help. “I’m in no way fluent in Japanese,” said Sara, “but having a basic reading ability has been a huge time-saver. Being able to read Japanese and memorizing InDesign keyboard shortcuts aren’t necessary, but they easily save me a couple hours of work on every single volume.” And in an industry that needs people to meet deadlines, having a way to do something faster is a big advantage.
Also helpful is having the original Japanese book if you can get a copy. “I prefer if possible to have the Japanese book right in front of me as I letter it in English,” said Lys, “so I can see how the text looks on the pages (and where the art is cropped at the edges of the pages) and match different text styles they use for character or mood.” It’s not a requirement to have the Japanese book to work on lettering though.
However, if you’re aiming to letter for a living, finding out if this something you should do is worth looking into. And who knows? It may be the difference in working well and long in the manga industry.
Useful Resources:
Blambot, Comicraft (Font resource), Font Squirrel (100% free commercial use of Fonts)