Level Up Your Lettering: Create a Custom Font and Master Text in Comics
Lettering can make or break a comic. Yet, one of the most common mistakes we see from beginning cartoonists is poor font choice and text placement. In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn the fundamentals of typography in comics, best practices for integrating text seamlessly into your pages, and—most exciting of all—walk away with your very own custom font (something that would cost $1,000+ if professionally made).
We’ll cover:
The fundamentals of comic lettering and why it matters
Step-by-step guidance to design and generate your own font with FontSelf on an iPad
How to integrate text into your comics pages and speech bubbles
Best practices for readability, flow, and impact
New! Anyone can try out their font in a comic and submit it to us one week after the session. We'll record ourselves reviewing the fonts — so you get real, specific feedback on how your font reads and performs in practice, not just in theory.
By the end of the workshop, you’ll have a font you can use in your comic and the confidence to handle lettering like a pro.
A recording of the workshop will be sent after the event to all who sign up so if you can't make the live workshop, you can follow along after the fact.
Requirements:
Must have an iPad + a stylus (i.e. an Apple Pencil)*
FontSelf app ($19.99, must be installed before the workshop)
Zoom and high-speed internet connection
Testimonials:
"Great workshop! Susannah and Katharine made making a font so approachable. By the end of the workshop, I had a workable start to my own custom font and the knowledge for how to apply it right away into my comics. Highly recommend!" –Jenny Tan
"I got so much out of this workshop! It was a wonderful mix of information, examples, and hands-on practice. Strongly recommended to anyone interested in creating their own font for their comics!" –Anonymous
"Susannah and K. came well-prepared and the Workshop was exactly what it promised to be. There was no wasted time and I came away from it with exactly what I was hoping to get out of it! Professional, functional and fun!" –Jen M.
"This workshop took the frustration out of learning a new app. Susannah and K. made sure everyone was keeping up and all our questions were answered." –Amy Kolb Noyes
Hosts:
Susannah Hainley is a comics creator, educator, and design consultant who takes an interdisciplinary approach to visual storytelling. With a background in graphic design, she has built a diverse career working with a range of clients from small nonprofits to major brands like Google, Hearst, and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and her comics have gained recognition in major publications such as The Washington Post and The New York Times. Susannah taught digital design for six years at General Assembly, where she earned the title of "Distinguished Faculty," representing the top 1% of instructors worldwide, and now teaches at California College of the Arts in their MFA/BFA in Comics and Extension programs.
K. Woodman-Maynard is a graphic novelist and comics coach who helps clients sharpen their sequential storytelling and craft. Her best-selling and award-winning graphic novel adaptation of Tuck Everlasting received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal, and The Wall Street Journal called her The Great Gatsby adaptation “hugely rewarding.” A former animator and designer for clients like Capital One and Nickelodeon, she now coaches comics creators, mentors through Sequential Artists Workshop, and shares creativity and process insights through her Substack, Creating Comics.