Sound Effects By Hand Tutorial

[Bruce Lee]

I'm not a fan of computer font sound effects. I'm not going to debate about font sound effects vs traditional sound effects here (and I ask you to politely refrain from trying to start such a debate here), as that will be counter-productive to this tutorial. I will state that I like the energy of well-drawn sound effects (also referred to as SFX), and I personally think good hand-drawn SFX are more complimentary to most comic artworks. Unlike a computer font which has limits, SFX drawn by hand can be as artistic as need be, as big or small as necessary, and as unusual and interesting as can be imagined. While it is very true that it takes practice and skill to do good SFX by hand, any comic book creator should be up to the challenge. A monkey probably can't draw great SFX, but it doesn't take a DiVinci to do it. I think the end results of traditional SFX speak for themselves. For those interested in giving it a try, I have crafted together this tutorial.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO GET STARTED:
This tutorial is a step-by-step that takes you through several stages of creating a sound effect (SFX) by hand. Having the right tools for the job is necessary, so here's what you will need:

- Scrap paper for roughing things out.

- A pencil

- Some inking tools. Tech Pens, Pitt Pens, Nib, a good marker, brush, or brushpen will work. You will need a variety of inking equipment as you will need different tools along the process. You will need to be able to produce both a thick and a thinner line at times, so it's good to have different sized pens, etc.

- A lightbox for transferring roughs to the board. If you don't have a lightbox, you can use the carbon transfer method from my MAKING A CARBON TRANSFER tutorial. That works fine:
http://www.penciljack.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90255

- Decent paper that doesn't bleed for the final SFX. Bristol board is good, but any quality paper can work.

- A ruler or decent straight edge.

- A french curve.

- Ellipse and circle templates. You don't have to have these, but they help a lot.


PHASE ONE: Roughing Things Out

Step One: The first thing you need to do is grab your pencil and loosely rough out the letters of your sound effect on some scrap paper. I've chosen to do the traditional "KA-BOOM!" SFX for this tutorial, so before I even put pencil to paper, I take a moment to think about it a little. "KA-BOOM!" equals a massive explosion or loud and bone shattering, so the letters need to emphasize these aspects. There's a certain amount of chaos to any explosion or impact, so I want to convey that in the initial layout by jumbling the letters a little, mixing up the size of the letters, and overlapping them some. At this point, I'm only worried about loosely scribbling in the rough idea of the letters in general. Something like this will work fine:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboom1.jpg

Notice that I've chosen to make one of the "O" shapes much larger than any other letter in this sound effect. I've also staggered the heights of the individual letters to sell the idea of some kind of impact. This is the sort of chaotic energy and layout arrangement a "KA-BOOM!" SFX will need.

Step two: In the next step, I'm going to flesh out the letters a bit more by going over the pencil lines with a sharpie marker. I'm not even going to worry about using a new sharpie. And old one on it's last leg will work fine. I'm not going to be overly concerned about getting everything perfect here at all. I'm more concerned about adding a little more thickness to the letters in general, and beginning to add some energy to the design of the letters. I have to make a few critical decisions even at this early stage of things, like deciding how the "BOO" section of the SFX is going to work. For the sake of clarity, I've decided that the largest "O" should be behind the letters "B" and the second, smaller "O". More decisions will have to be made about the relationships of these three letters later, but here's how step two looks when completed:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboom2.jpg

See? I didn't even worry about filling in the letters completely. No need to make them more solid just yet. That can come later.


Step Three: The next thing I'm going to do is find a central point in the SFX. I've decided that I'm going to do something extra to this particular sound effect. I'm going to add one of those jagged bursting/explosion effects around the letters. Nine times out of ten, I wouldn't use the bursting/explosion effect behind a sound effect, but there are times when it can be appropriate. For the sake of explaining how to do that additional effect, I'm going to add it to my "KA-BOOM!" Those of you who want to skip the bursting effect can skip over it and move forward a few steps to PHASE THREE of this tutorial, ignoring segments having to do with the bursting effect. You can simply follow the SFX lettering part of things there.

To set up the bursting effect, I need to place an "X" at the center point or impact point of "KA-BOOM!". The largest "O" is the perfect place to place the "X". You can just draw an "X" in pencil. I used Photoshop here so that you can zone in on it quickly:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboomex1.jpg

[Bruce Lee]

PHASE TWO: How To Plan Out A Bursting/Explosion Effect

Step One: So now we get started on the bursting/explosion effect around the letters. The idea here is to radiate lines outward from the "X" in the center of "KA-BOOM!" to use as guidelines for those triangular shaped tendrils that make up the bursting effect. You naturally draw the radiating lines using a pencil and a ruler, but for the sake of clarity and simplicity, I've provided the radiating lines via Photoshop. You should have some idea in your head as to what your bursting effect should look like shape wise before you start this step:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboomex2.jpg


Step Two: The next thing you want to do is rough in your bursting effect, using the radiating lines as guidelines. You do NOT have to follow the radiating lines absolutely here. You're going to have time to tidy everything up later on when you get to PHASE THREE of this tutorial. For now, just worry about roughing in the initial shape of the burst. You don't need it to be perfect. Not yet anyway.

You should keep in mind that a good burst effect needs to also have some chaos to it. Don't make all the points of your blast even width or height. Shake things up a bit. A good rule of thumb is to do a short triangular tendril next to a longer one, staggering things on occasion to mix things up. Variety is key here. If all the points are perfect and even, your burst effect will look very dull and mechanical, and will have little impact.

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboomex3.jpg

Step Three: Once you've loosely penciled out the bursting effect, you can now tighten it up a little with a brushpen, sharpie, or pen, etc. Remember, this is still the rough phase of things, so you not going for perfection, but you are tightening things up and making some executive decisions. Here's what I came up with:
http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboomex4.jpg

More or less, the early "rough" part of things is now complete. PHASE THREE begins the wrap up....

[Bruce Lee]

PHASE THREE: Working Up the Final and Inking The SFX

Step One: So now that the rough layout work is completed, you are now ready to begin copying your layout onto the final board. I recommend a lightbox for this, but it's okay to use the graphite "carbon paper" transfer method if you don't have a lightbox. That will work just fine.

I now copy the rough onto the board, penciling things in lightly still, but making last minute decisions, alterations and corrections. Again, I'm not yet worried about perfection. I'm worried about refining things enough before starting the inking process which will follow this step. I've decided that the largest "O" should interlock inside of the smaller "O", and I straightened up some things. I've gone back and given the characters in the "BOOM!" part of the SFX a little more curving action too. I've also tweaked my bursting effect some too (for those playing at home), refining things a little more:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboombreak1.jpg


Step Two: Here come the fun stuff. Using a brushpen, I begin filling in the interior of the letters using a dragging/feathering technique, starting at the top of the letter "K" and pulling down. I've come to the decision that the letters in my SFX would be cooler and would have more life to them if they had a splintered or cracked look, rather than being your typical ordinary, everyday block letters. So I'm going to leave some cracks and splintered areas in each letter, as that will help convey the magnitude of the impact. I'll show you a WIP of the inks now so that you can get an idea of my approach:

By the way, I would probably choose to use my trusty Raphael Kolinsky #3 inking brush and Speedball India Ink if this was being done for publication. A Pitt Brush Pen works well enough though, to be sure.

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboombreak2.jpg

Here's more of the SFX as it is being inked. Notice all the little white spaces I'm trying to leave in each letter. I'm apt to go back and add some white to the letter "K" later so that it matches the rest of the lettering styles. I can already see that I'm going to have to do that...

Remember, I'm looking for a spontaneous line. If I screw things up or produce wobbly lines, I won't sweat too much. That's what white out is for.

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboombreak3.jpg

[Bruce Lee]

So I've filled in the lettering. Looks a little rough and loose, but that's actually what I'm looking for. It fits the bill just right, I'd say. I'm going to do a little tidying up later on, but at this point, everything is actually going to plan:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboombreak4.jpg


PHASE FOUR: Approaching The Finish Line

Step One: So now I'm going to clean up some of the lettering using a Pitt, Pen, an ellipse template, my trusty french curve, and using some white out to add more negative cracks inside the letter "K", etc. Using a Pitt "Fine" point pen and a ruler, I now ink in the bursting effect:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboombreak5.jpg

To be honest, it'd be better to use a brush and make the lines of the bursting effect taper more, but these pen lines will work fine for this demo. Notice how the dead line weight of the pen likes are very mechanical though and are lacking spontaneity. Works fine for a demo, but I think it'd be better to use a brush for sure.

This next part is optional. Using a "Small" pointed Pitt pen, my french curve and an ellipse template, I add in an outline around the "KA-BOOM" SFX. You don't have to if you don't want to. I find that it adds some extra style to SFX sometimes, but it will take a little away from the energy--not a lot, but some. The choice is up to you. If you do outline the SFX, I recommend outlining with a thin line to offer up some contrast between the outlining and the interior guts of the lettering:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboombreak6.jpg

[Bruce Lee]

PHASE FIVE: Variations On A Theme

The great thing about doing things by hand is that there's always another way to go about things. Without the bursting effect, the finished "KA-BOOM!" sound effect would look like this:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboomvariant1.jpg

But what if you wanted to have a line art SFX instead of a solid black one? Well, that's an easy one. Do the same steps in this tutorial above, but instead of putting things on the board, work it all out on scrap paper. Then you can lightbox or transfer the outline of the SFX onto the board and ink it using your inking tools. Here's some variations you might also consider:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboomvariant2.jpg

's all good!

You might even consider breaking things up a little bit:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kaboomvariation3.jpg

[Bruce Lee]

I actually did a very similar sound effect for a panel of CAVEWOMAN: KLYDE & MERIEM a few years ago. I used the same methods as shown in this tutorial, and did it in the pencils. The SFX was "Ka-CRAK!", and I based this tutorial on that:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kacrak.jpg
Here's the full page:
http://www.lostonwallace.com/page23.jpg
Here's another page from KLYDE & MERIEM. The "Squawk!"SFXs were done using this method too:
http://www.lostonwallace.com/page8.jpg

as was this "RRROOOAAARRRR" SFX behind Klyde's head in this splash page. Notice how I planned out the SFX there to work with the art, wrapping the letters around Klyde for extra depth and dramatic effect. While you might be able to match a SFX technique like that by warping of a font SFX, it's likely a lot easier to do an effect like this one using the traditional "by hand" method:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/kimklyde1.jpg







That's it for now, but I may have a few more things to add later, including a few different types of SFX, so I'm reserving some space for that. Have fun drawing your SFX. :)


Loston

[Bruce Lee]

Here are a couple of sound effects I created over the weekend for Harmonix (minus some of the bg elements).

"CRASH!" was done in the block lettered style similar to the style I used on the Klyde splash page at the client's request. I had more fun coming up with the "ZOOM!" and "ZAP!" sfx. I might have enjoyed it more to have done that a little differently than block letters, but I thought the jumbling of the individual letters added a little impact chaos to the mix.

I resisted the urge to turn "ZAP!" into a lightning bolt type font as that seemed all too easy. How many times have you seen a "ZAP!" done as an electric or lightning bolt? I've seen that too often, and I thought that might be a bit dull, so I instead strived for a more spontaneous approach to the letters themselves to convey some energy, and opted to make the edge of the letters pointy and sharp to project a sharp sting or bite element to emphasize a jolt of electricity. I also make an effort to get a little jagged lightning bolt shape to the overall layout of the word. It's subtle, but it's there. Something different, anyway.

The "ZOOM!" isn't anything new, but I wanted to give the motion lines thing a try. I tilted the letters a little in an effort to try to convey some speed, but if I had to do that one over again, I might have gone for a more dramatic tilt angle.

I might do a step-by-step of each of these later in the week:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/sfx.jpg


Loston

[jeremy dale]

Woo hoo! 'Bout time-- it's a lost art, I tells ya.

- jeremy

[Turtle Boat]

Thank you! This was very helpful. In fact, I'm about to try it now.

[NickRocks]

wow this is awesome.

[Bruce Lee]

Thanks for the support, guys. I should have some more SFX examples to put up soon. If you have questions about the process or anything else that relates to this SFX tutorial, feel free to ask away.

Loston

[Bruce Lee]

Here are a couple of sound effects I created over the weekend for Harmonix (minus some of the bg elements).

"CRASH!" was done in the block lettered style similar to the style I used on the Klyde splash page at the client's request. I had more fun coming up with the "ZOOM!" and "ZAP!" sfx. I might have enjoyed it more to have done that a little differently than block letters, but I thought the jumbling of the individual letters added a little impact chaos to the mix.

I resisted the urge to turn "ZAP!" into a lightning bolt type font as that seemed all too easy. How many times have you seen a "ZAP!" done as an electric or lightning bolt? I've seen that too often, and I thought that might be a bit dull, so I instead strived for a more spontaneous approach to the letters themselves to convey some energy, and opted to make the edge of the letters pointy and sharp to project a sharp sting or bite element to emphasize a jolt of electricity. I also make an effort to get a little jagged lightning bolt shape to the overall layout of the word. It's subtle, but it's there. Something different, anyway.

The "ZOOM!" isn't anything new, but I wanted to give the motion lines thing a try. I tilted the letters a little in an effort to try to convey some speed, but if I had to do that one over again, I might have gone for a more dramatic tilt angle.

I might do a step-by-step of each of these later in the week:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/sfx.jpg


Loston

[Bruce Lee]

And here's a great Kirby/Sinnott FANTASTIC FOUR page that has several great hand-drawn sound effects:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/Fantastic55.jpg

[Bathill8]

Great stuff on the lost art of sound effects Loston..... I see some pencil marks on that Kirby and Sinnott page...do you own the original? I love seeing the classic stuff with pencil lines all over the art!

[Ugga Bugga]

I endorse this thread

[harmonix]

Loston, you know how I feel about these.

PERFECT!

[TheMayor]

I also endorse this thread.

[Bruce Lee]

Great stuff on the lost art of sound effects Loston..... I see some pencil marks on that Kirby and Sinnott page...do you own the original? I love seeing the classic stuff with pencil lines all over the art!

I don't own the original--how I wish I did though! I actually am a friend of the guy who once owned the original. He has since traded the page for an awesome Kirby THOR cover. At my request he was kind enough to make me a nice print copy of the artwork at full size. This page is from issue #55, which was done in 1965. Back then the image area for pages was at 12.5" X 18.25". There were notes in the margins in pencil where Kirby was laying out the story plot details to. Although he never was credited for plotting the story, Kirby did plot most of the FF stuff, with Kirby providing some plot ideas and writing out the dialogue. Unfortunately the print copy has cropped most off most of the plotting notes Kirby wrote, but the notes for panels one and two made it thru intact. For those curious as to what the notes were;

Above panel one, Kirby wrote:

Surfer says you cannot damage what isn't matter as you know it.

Above panel two, Kirby wrote:

Thing is mad as hell. He says now you'll see the kind of power that might do the job.

As you can see, the sound effects on this page were pretty brilliant. Kirby would loosely lay them out on the page, often with simple lettering. If you notice in the right hand margin of the last panel, Kirby also left notes about what style of sfx might look good in the panels (Notice the jagged outline of an "R" there). Back in the day the letterer was usually the guy in charge of finishing off the sfx--making them into something that worked with the artwork. On these, Kirby decided the placement, and the letterer, Sam Rosen, most likely finished things off. "Swingin' Sammy" Rosen was one of the best letterers in comics. He and Artie Simek (equally great) were the two main letterers who worked on the FANTASTIC FOUR in its initial Lee/Kirby run. If you really want to learn how to do great sound effects, I recommend looking thru some '60s FFs. Issue #55 is chocked full of great sfx! The battle between Thing and the Surfer alone has 21 awesome examples of great sfx usage, and there are other sfx throughout the issue besides those. All done by hand, all awesome and contributing to the visual storytelling in grand fashion.

Loston

[Bruce Lee]

Loston, you know how I feel about these.

PERFECT!

I'm glad I could help you out, harmonix. It was a pleasure. :)

Loston

[NickRocks]

Todd Klein does great sound effects by hand, too.

[Bruce Lee]

Todd Klein does great sound effects by hand, too.

Yep. Klein's one of the best letterers in comics:
http://kleinletters.com/

[Bathill8]

I don't own the original--how I wish I did though! I actually am a friend of the guy who once owned the original. He has since traded the page for an awesome Kirby THOR cover. At my request he was kind enough to make me a nice print copy of the artwork at full size. This page is from issue #55, which was done in 1965. Back then the image area for pages was at 12.5" X 18.25". There were notes in the margins in pencil where Kirby was laying out the story plot details to. Although he never was credited for plotting the story, Kirby did plot most of the FF stuff, with Kirby providing some plot ideas and writing out the dialogue. Unfortunately the print copy has cropped most off most of the plotting notes Kirby wrote, but the notes for panels one and two made it thru intact. For those curious as to what the notes were;

Above panel one, Kirby wrote:

Surfer says you cannot damage what isn't matter as you know it.

Above panel two, Kirby wrote:

Thing is mad as hell. He says now you'll see the kind of power that might do the job.

As you can see, the sound effects on this page were pretty brilliant. Kirby would loosely lay them out on the page, often with simple lettering. If you notice in the right hand margin of the last panel, Kirby also left notes about what style of sfx might look good in the panels (Notice the jagged outline of an "R" there). Back in the day the letterer was usually the guy in charge of finishing off the sfx--making them into something that worked with the artwork. On these, Kirby decided the placement, and the letterer, Sam Rosen, most likely finished things off. "Swingin' Sammy" Rosen was one of the best letterers in comics. He and Artie Simek (equally great) were the two main letterers who worked on the FANTASTIC FOUR in its initial Lee/Kirby run. If you really want to learn how to do great sound effects, I recommend looking thru some '60s FFs. Issue #55 is chocked full of great sfx! The battle between Thing and the Surfer alone has 21 awesome examples of great sfx usage, and there are other sfx throughout the issue besides those. All done by hand, all awesome and contributing to the visual storytelling in grand fashion.

Loston

Amazing, Loston! That is filled with stuff I likes ta hear! I hate the notes got cut off, but glad you informed us with what they read! Your storytelling about the masters is always impressive...thanks for sharing.

If I ran across a Kirby original like that, I'd have to bean my friend in the head and take off with it, tho! :D

[Bruce Lee]

Amazing, Loston! That is filled with stuff I likes ta hear! I hate the notes got cut off, but glad you informed us with what they read! Your storytelling about the masters is always impressive...thanks for sharing.

If I ran across a Kirby original like that, I'd have to bean my friend in the head and take off with it, tho! :D

That page had special meaning to me because that story from FF # 55 was printed in 1975 THE ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS book, which I use to check out of the public library quite often as a kid. I would try to draw that second panel of the Thing, doing it over and over again. That panel taught me how to handle drawing the character, and I always loved that story. Years later I can draw Ben Grimm because of that very page, and now I have a print of it hanging in my hallway. Heh. I have two copies of issue #55 in my personal comic collection, as well as my own copies of THE ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS. Who'd have thunk it? Weird how things work out sometimes.

Loston

[suddenbeard]

Ho-man... this is exactly what I've been looking for and I didn't even know. :eek:

[Bruce Lee]

Ho-man... this is exactly what I've been looking for and I didn't even know. :eek:


I'm glad I helped you discover what you didn't know you were looking for. Do I get a finders fee? Heh.;)

Loston