00:01.77

Delphina

Woo! All right.

00:03.26

Krispy

Can you see your wiggles?

00:03.67

Delphina

Hello.

00:04.38

Krispy

Oh.

00:05.59

Delphina

I can see your wiggles. Can you see my wiggles?

00:08.09

Krispy

No, my wiggles aren't here, but that's good. You can hear me and see my wiggles. Okay. I just want to make sure.

00:11.89

Delphina

Yeah. Okay.

00:12.65

Krispy

Okay.

00:13.95

Delphina

Cool. Hello and welcome to Screen Tones, where we talk anything and everything webcomics. Today we're going to be talking about sound effects. I'm Delphina. I use she, her pronouns and I make the webcomic Sombulus.

00:27.62

Krispy

And I'm Krispy. I use she/they pronouns, and I make the webcomics Ghost Junk Sickness and Lunar Blight.

00:34.43

Delphina

Okay. So sound effects are classic in comics for a reason. We have a flat, noiseless page, and sometimes we want to give it a noise or two. There are all kinds of approaches to integrating sound effects depending on the mood of the scene. So finding ways that work with your web comic making process is an exercise that can really make your story more immersive. So Krispy and I are here to talk about that. It's just a very interesting thing because people approach it in so many different ways. And I'm just going to throw it to you, Krispy. How do you use sound effects in your own work? And what have you seen around that you really like?

01:15.16

Krispy

So I, like many people, have grown up reading manga and the sound effects that they use are absolutely gorgeous and they're integrated in the page so beautifully and it really adds to the page. So that was something that always stuck in my brain when, you know, incorporating that stuff and to also kind of make sure that it existed in our comics too. Because I think everybody obviously is going to have a personal preference. And a lot of times when I talk about this,

01:50.86

Krispy

in spaces with other comic creators that there's kind of a divide um with people who are just like yeah like sound effects woooo! and then some people are like “oh i hate them i hate them when they're in comics” and i always like i always want to just unpack it. I'm like what is the hate like why do you feel this way so strongly towards them or why do you love them so much. So I'm going to be speaking on the love them thing because I I love sound effects I think that they add to that because of

02:23.83

Krispy

How the comic is, the mediums kind of require certain things to give you cues as to what's happening. And things that are happening don't necessarily need them. You can subverse it. it's It's cool. Sound effects can add to the work.

02:40.06

Krispy

So I use, obviously, Ghost Junk Sickness and Lunar Blight are both kind of more action focused. So, you know, automatically I'm like, heck yes, put in those sound effects – kind of characters or, you know, artistic little, little doobles that kind of enhance the scene. So sound effects in general are going to be like they can be a couple letters. They can be onomatopoeia. They can be a lot of things. And growing up on manga, like a lot of them come from like just having those characters on pages that, you know, are also describing the sound. But of course, as an English reader, seeing that you're like, oh my God, like it's just like a cool drawing that's enhancing the other drawing. So I think seeing that,

03:33.24

Krispy

And then seeing it with English when people are like, kablam! Or whatever. and I think that's where the divide comes from a lot.

03:41.02

Delphina

Yes.

03:41.75

Krispy

Yeah. And I see it on social media, too. When people talk about sound effects, they're just like, ugh. You could do it in manga, but as soon as it does it in English comics, like it looks so bad. And I'm like...

03:56.98

Krispy

But it doesn't always have to look bad. And I disagree with that statement too.

04:03.74

Delphina

No, there is a divide. There is a strong divide. And I do wonder if it's Eastern versus Western comics, because there is a lot of emphasis on calligraphy and brushwork and stuff in the Japanese language and in the Korean language.

04:21.47

Delphina

And so you're able to kind of get that artistry into the sound effects that you're using versus Western style. Sometimes they almost, they have these outlines, the gradient effects that make them look more sticker-like, like you just kind of stuck a little guy back there.

04:35.20

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

04:38.50

Delphina

And maybe that's more like Cape comics inspired. You know, the aesthetic, the classic 1950s, 1960s sort of comic book American style where it's all superhero and they had this very punchy look. And so um we're used to it. We're saturated in it when we're in a Western audience and we're looking at something kind of new and a different approach when we're looking at something that's more manga inspired.

05:11.42

Krispy

Yep, absolutely. That I think is exactly where the divide comes from when people see the aesthetics that don't resonate with them. And then they're automatically like, well, you know, when it comes to that, I'm reading, it say kablam or boom or whatever. And it's just, it's taking me out of the moment. It's just taking me out. But I'm here to tell you, my little friend, that it's how you incorporate it into your comic that makes it stick out. Because there is bad sound effects in manga that is just like, wow, hoo hoo.

05:55.26

Krispy

That's distracting. You know it just depends on how it is incorporated ah one of the really good examples that I like to kind of take from and it's something that did inspire ah my co-creator and I making the works that we do is how Scott Pilgrim put sound effects in the comics that they create because there's going to be like English words that they put in but like having that, you know, the manga style you know the roots from that and how it's incorporated I'm just like ‘it looks gorgeous it looks like it makes sense’. Because we have you know this kind of beautiful mesh with both like you know the English language and doing a lot of things that they do with how manga do the sound effects and you know one example is when you have like an action scene and you know, you, you have like action lines or something like that, like characters punching through.

06:51.26

Krispy

And, you know, a lot of times, you know, people will be like, okay, now I have to add a sound effect. It's going to be like a punch or whatever. and you know, it looks dumb. like guy It looks like I did just put a sticker on it and this guy is just using his fist to punch a guy. And it's just like, okay.

07:08.20

Krispy

But you know, for the Scott Pilgrim kind of example is that, you know, It goes with the action lines. It's matching the inks that are put down on the page. So it looks like it's cohesive with it. So the sound effect isn't necessarily jumping out at you. It's incorporated. And I think that's the biggest thing um when we're talking about...

07:35.64

Krispy

using sound effects in our work and like that's the thing that we do a lot in Ghost Junk Sickness and Lunar Blight, especially when it's like fight scenes because that's a lot of times where sound effects to me really belong because you want that extra like impact or echo on the page and it's like okay. And then, you know, to subvert it could also be very impactful, too. But when there's an action scene, you know, I kind of i want to copy what line art is on

08:10.90

Krispy

the page and stuff like that. So a little bit of a lore drop with me too, is that because the pages that we create are traditional, I was trying to figure out how to incorporate sound effects into the work without butchering the page and being like, I hate it.

08:17.53

Delphina

Yeah.

08:31.68

Krispy

um So what I used to do is I used to take transparency paper and and use dry erase markers and try to draw on top of that with the inks that are laid down and see, okay, where does it fit?

08:45.53

Krispy

And then I can transfer that onto the page so that it's non-obstructive and I have a place to kind of work. Now I've grown from there where, you know, we scan the pages in and we do the sound effects specifically digitally just so it doesn't obscure the lettering and whatnot. Because that's another thing to consider is leaving space for other things that are important in the comic panel. But sound effects, you know, they have their own spot. So being a little cautious about that um is is key.

09:21.82

Delphina

Yeah, the transparency thing sounds so interesting. I'd never thought to do that. But it definitely makes sense to have ah if you're not sure where to put it, or if you're working traditionally, and you're trying to to like rearrange things, then you can just slide it around and see what happens.

09:38.93

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

09:40.21

Delphina

um So that's a great tactic, I think. For me, and Sombulus, I am deeply inconsistent because there are some times when I'm just like, I plan it out. I have it all

09:56.12

Delphina

set up and so I know okay this is going to be a big magic explosion. This is going to be a big magic spell and I'm going to make space for that and I'm going to hand draw things out in my own handwriting and just kind of follow the flow of of just a nice kind of swoopy thing if you've read Songulus and you've seen like kind of the magic effects that happen there are these kind of yellow strands sort of things with runes on them. So a lot of my sound effects are very flowy. They try to emulate that arc and kind of use a Doppler effect, I guess, where you start the letters very small and then you kind of make them larger to show the increase in volume, right?

10:41.08

Delphina

So that's when I'm at my best when I'm not it's usually because I thought to add it later and I'm just using the same text that I use

10:54.31

Delphina

with my word bubbles. So it's a typed font. Um, maybe I slanted a little bit and I put it next to it and I try to leave room, but sometimes it needs an outliner or a drop shadow. And if I'm at the point where it needs an outline or drop shadow to be seen, that's usually an indicator that it's probably, i didn't make my composition properly and I didn't really leave the room for that. In a perfect world where I had infinite time, I might go back and I, I changed that up. But if I'm low on buffer or I'm not really feeling it, sometimes I will just kind of say, you know what, that's good enough.

11:41.57

Delphina

It's fine. Whatever gets the point across. There's a couple different ways to approach it, depending on how important you think it is to the scene.

11:53.82

Delphina

At some point with web comics, I do feel like you have to budget your energy and decide where you want to put it. So sometimes um sometimes sound effects aren't as high on the list as I want them to be.

12:07.21

Delphina

But yeah, I'm doing my best.

12:09.78

Krispy

You know, that's interesting though, because I always see the conversations. Well, not always see, I'm seeing them now, which is great. Where people are talking about composition in their panels and stuff like that. And they're like, okay, make sure to leave space for the dialogue.

12:26.52

Krispy

Make sure that when your thumbs are thumbing, you'll leave space for the dialogue and blah, blah, blah, blah. blah Like, that's nice. I love that. I think that's great because, you know, you don't want someone to run into being like, okay.

12:37.24

Krispy

Like I had like a whole poem and this poem no longer fits in this panel that I put in.

12:42.39

Delphina

ah yeah

12:43.67

Krispy

So shout out to the poem people who wanted that.

12:44.82

Delphina

Oh, gosh.

12:49.23

Krispy

And understanding cutting dialogue and thumbnailing. That should be an episode. But anyway, um so there is that. But to me, the sound effects simp, I think that that should also be considered if that is something that is part of your comic. If you have Usually an action comic, but it can exist for other comics. Sound effects are everywhere, every genre. But I'm just going to use action because that's just an easy one for everybody to kind of understand. But if we're having something that is like, okay, like, you know, I'm going to do an action comic. And I do have sound effects. I'm inspired by XYZ works that use them, incorporate them in their work.

13:30.14

Krispy

And then I’m going to go. um I don't think it's a good idea to leave them to the last kind of step with things. We're just like, okay, everything is rendered. Everything is this and that. And I have this. And then and then the sound effects are last. I think I take a little...

13:47.32

Krispy

Not that they can't be the last step, but the last thing you think of is what I'm more so saying. Because there's a lot of comics where sound effects look quote unquote slapped on.

13:54.70

Delphina

It

14:00.46

Krispy

Like I keep thinking of the sticker thing because I'm like, it's so rig ht. I do have a pack of Marvel sticker things that got as like a kid, like, you know, like it's got Captain America and the Hulk and whatever.

14:14.03

Krispy

And of course they have like the little kablam, kablimo. And I'm like, it looks exactly like that.

14:18.32

Delphina

is. It is.

14:23.51

Krispy

And it does not compliment the art. And it looks like a distraction. and I think that's the biggest pitfall. Um, to kind of go into.

14:34.28

Krispy

And I noticed that I'm creeping into the second question. I'm sorry.

14:37.24

Delphina

Yeah, no worries. I feel like that's a thing too. Like there there's that direction and there's also the direction where you're hyper afraid of that.

14:48.30

Delphina

So you make your sound effects very understated.

14:48.85

Krispy

Hmm.

14:53.26

Delphina

You maybe add a transparency. You make them very small. You use a very light line weight variation so so it's just like it's back there it's a little whisper in the wind and that's okay if you are actually trying to convey a whisper in the wind but if you are trying to do something else if you're like you know it's a loud train passing by or or something then you can make the decision to not include the sound effect if the train isn't the point.

15:28.18

Delphina

But…pick one or the other, I feel like if you're going to make the loud train the point, then go ahead and compose that panel in a way so that you can really see that the noise that the train is making.

15:44.60

Delphina

But if that's not the point, if you're just having a quiet, introspective moment where someone's stepping off the train and you're seeing the train and you're like, well trains make noise, so I guess I have to have a noise here. That's not necessary.

15:57.85

Delphina

You can omit that.

15:58.11

Krispy

Yeah.

16:00.21

Delphina

And I think that touches on a lot of what you were saying, Krispy, about subverting things. About you see something, you know, it should make a noise. If you look at it, you know, it should make a noise, but you're not including that noise because you want that quiet moment. That's a deliberate choice. So not including sound effects where you think they should be.

16:23.03

Delphina

can also be extremely effective, I think.

16:27.58

Krispy

I often think of, and I've probably said this a bunch of times on Screen Tones, my favorite manga is the Trigun series. And I love how they do that because it's it is a high action comic but of course there's a lot of like emotional moments where they have silence and the silence is so good and that's where it is so effective when you have a comic that is very jam-packed with pew pew pew and then when the characters just have a moment when a character passes. It's like, oh, the silence that they use. The lack of sound effects was so evident and so impactful because of those decisions. And of course, like all of our comics are not going to be like, oh, you have to do every scene like this beat by beat. But understanding how

17:16.19

Krispy

Someone's going to read this is important and how you're going to do t hat impact because of how comics are as a medium. Obviously, what no, I can't say that. I was going to say, obviously they don't have sound. There are comics that have sound and can incorporate them because, you know, comics on the web are awesome and they are unstoppable.

17:35.32

Delphina

Hell yeah.

17:34.08

Krispy

They can do anything. But, you know, you have these different kind of methods to enhance that reading experience.

17:44.03

Krispy

And I think that that's what sound effects can do for it. Like, not only are there going to be a kablam when you need a kablam, but they're going to leave different sort of sound effects.

17:55.87

Krispy

Even for horror, the horror genre is so great for using that. And some sound effects that are used in horror comics with how they are written out, too, freak me the heck out.

18:08.52

Krispy

It's just certain words that I'm like, I just don't want... a KrrGurgle beside this image.

18:21.01

Krispy

It's upsetting in a great way.

18:23.35

Delphina

Yeah. Oh, gosh. One thing that gets me too when I'm reading something that's very tense, maybe horror, maybe drama, or and I see like a heartbeat, like a thump, thump, thump, thump. And it's like, and you sometimes the artist will use it like in the background as like the background sort of fills the panel and the the font gets smaller or the font gets larger depending on how that heartbeat sort of thing is happening and that can be very impactful.

18:50.81

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

19:00.53

Delphina

Contrast that with you know the Doki Doki sort of romance manga they also use the heartbeat thing, right?

19:12.70

Delphina

Sometimes where it's like, I saw the cute boy, tha-thump. And so um same sound effect, same, same like heartbeat, but completely different based on the fonts you choose, the breathing room you give it, if it's kind of flowy, if it's kind of noisy in the background, there's just so much variation.

19:21.03

Krispy

Mm-hmm. Uh-huh.

19:36.48

Delphina

It's just so cool to see.

19:38.67

Krispy

huh Yep. It's interesting because like, I think of, you know, laying sound effects out, obviously by how the page is read to like, you know, you have your, your bubbles and you're like, okay, I'm gonna, you start left to right or right to left, depending.

19:55.45

Krispy

And, you know, where's the eye going to follow? And I think that it's great when you can incorporate sound effects that's catching the eye to follow a certain point in the page, too. Like, I'm like, oh, genius. I love it when that happens. And it's a piece of art as well to incorporate into your comic page. I don't think everybody's got it. I'm not going to be pressuring you to do some sound effects. But...

20:21.18

Krispy

I will enjoy it when I see a good sound effect. It makes me so happy when it's directly incorporated in the art too. Like when there's like an explosion and like the sound effects in like the the cloud of the explosion or anything like that. Or, um you know, some scary horror thing where it's not like...

20:41.59

Krispy

and like silly dripping in blood unless it's supposed to be um but yeah um but yeah having something like that kind of appear in some kind of blood splatter or anything like that like just incorporated so nicely that you're like i just like the considerations that are being put into the composition here with sound effects

21:05.11

Delphina

Yes, yes, for sure. And I feel like we're saying a lot like, “Oh, well, not like this, unless you want it to be”, because there's just so many ways, like for every rule you put down about like, well, you can't do that.

21:15.70

Krispy

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

21:22.41

Delphina

There is somebody who is doing that and they're doing it very well. You're just like, yeah. You know what? I don't know that anything's off the table, but everything has impact. Everything, every choice that you make has a consequence in comics. So when you're like, you have a scene maybe where you're expecting sound effects and there aren't any, and like you're adding some sort of distance,

21:50.84

Delphina

something between the character and what's happening on the page that can be a good thing that could be a bad thing that could be very disengaging depending on where you're using it so i guess like yeah that that's always the question about what what you're gonna be doing with it and what you're trying to convey with it um there's so many different ways to do it. i don't know

22:31.35

Krispy

That's the thing that I think is so hard to talk about sound effects, especially when you talk about it in like a group of like other creators being like, I hate sound effects. And how does this, how do make it look better? Blah, blah, blah, blah. And getting frustrated or anything like that. There is no specific one way to do it. But I know that this is kind of frustrating advice because you probably hear it a lot but it is so important to look at comics that you enjoy and just try to see how they are incorporating things that you want to try out and even copying them. You're allowed to do that. You are allowed to do that. And see how it's it's transl ating into your work. Obviously, one-to-one is not going to help, but like style really dictates

23:24.06

Krispy

what will work with your comic. Now I know that I'm probably gonna be roasted and toasted because like a lot of my comic is in black and white. The majority of it is in black and white because I love it. But the first 30 pages of Ghost Junk Sickness, and we have done this nod to manga that would print like the first three or four pages of each new volume in color. So we did that too. But I'm saying that because I have done colored sound effects as well. And to match them with the scene and the style of the art is just really important. And I think like a piece of advice for that when people are like, okay, how do I get it to match is you don't have to sit there

24:11.70

Krispy

on a font website forever and try to match something that is your comics vibes. Because what I have learned from doing sound effects and whatnot is that your sound effects are going to vary with what you need. Like a punch might not be the same text that you want for Doki Doki.

24:32.76

Krispy

You know, having flutters.

24:33.34

Delphina

Right.

24:34.28

Krispy

And maybe you don't want that big, thick font that you downloaded to be like DOKI DOKI

24:45.01

Delphina

I like you.

24:49.48

Krispy

that's what it's coming across as you know when you read comics like what does reading sound effects sound like to you um do you read them out do you go like “BAM” or are you like oh okay like this is a heavy punch because that is included like tell me this Delphie how do you read sound effects i want to know yeah

25:14.94

Delphina

I don't think I use words. I'm more like, poor or, you know, just making noises at myself. the du the du the dump Sort of. And that can be hard. That's part of the challenge for me too, because I'm not thinking in like, English letters, like, how do I convey what I'm saying. And I run into this all the time with Sombulus because it's magic. I don't know what magic sounds like. There isn't magic in my life, except on a metaphorical level. So I can't really tell what this should sound like. So I have this like shhhaaaaa,

25:54.36

Delphina

that I use a lot and that's how I say it in my head I write it S H A A A just going off the page um but there's also like radio interference that's kind of this KFRKJFKD and so that's going to be like K G H G H G H something like that

25:54.73

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

26:13.66

Delphina

um So finding the onomatopoeia is tricky sometimes. I've also seen places, especially in strip format or comics that are more comedy and less realism, where they just describe the mundane thing like...

26:33.98

Delphina

Instead of having some sort of onomatopoeia. So if somebody is like going to sleep, they don't write ZZZZ to indicate snoring or whatever. They they write sleeping.

26:50.18

Delphina

and it's like um i don't think that works for all contexts but i think if you're already going for something a little more comedic and a little more tongue-in-cheek and especially if your art style style is simplified enough where like maybe it's not entirely obvious that they're falling asleep i think that's a different problem maybe.

27:11.85

Krispy

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

27:13.08

Delphina

but it can be effective in these, these situations where, where you have this little guy with a blank stare and, and, and you're trying to convey the silence because he has two brain cells and he has no idea what's going on. And you just write no idea what's going on. It's like, is that a sound effect? No, but did it work in the context? Sure.

27:38.04

Krispy

I think that's a really great point about elevating a scene or detracting from it too. And being clear with what you've drawn and what you want to convey. Like I know comics are just frustrating with that because, you know, so many things can happen. um But I think that is...

27:57.81

Krispy

When it's serious, when it is a joke, it is so hilarious when it's like, yeah, this guy's sleeping or yeah, this guy's picking up a pen or whatever. And they indicate that. It's just, yeah, that could be absolutely great. But I think that when I don't know what the heck is going on in a page where like a thing is, I don't know, a boulder is rolling, but it looks like just, I don't even know. Like it just looks like lines and it just says rolling or or something and there's no indication that a boulder came from any other place like I think you're gonna run into stuff when you're like okay I i don't want to draw a boulder rolling but I'm gonna write rolling because you know f that boulder. I don't want to draw it

28:39.06

Delphina

yeah i think that's where you run it like i think that's where motion lines can help you sometimes and i know manga is super big on those just having those things western comics too. But being able to show that but to your point at some point you do need the clarity. You do need clear silhouettes you need

28:58.17

Krispy

Mm-hmm. Uh-huh.

29:02.33

Delphina

some sort of things and sound effect isn't going to be a band-aid for that. Not forever like is every once in a while but you can't say well if i can't draw this boulder i'll just say boulder and i'll put a little arrow next to it it'll be fine we'll we'll call it a day it's like you're not going to be able to get away with that forever i don't think

29:27.57

Krispy

It's so funny. I'm definitely calling out my younger self because I have examples. I have examples of this. I will find them. I will find these examples of me not wanting to draw a thing.

29:39.62

Krispy

And it used to be like you would put a label on it being like, I don't want to draw a frog.

29:40.09

Delphina

Yes.

29:45.86

Krispy

So it's like a a square that says frog. And it has like this little curly line leading to this horribly dry thing.

29:50.36

Delphina

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

29:52.57

Krispy

I used to do that. And I'm like, hmm. I mean, it's funny, but like not in a scene where I like I need to be serious and I'm like, this is a gun. It's like. ah yeah

30:02.84

Delphina

Yeah, yeah. I think we've all done that. And it's hard because you don't automatically know how to draw draw far frogs or trains or horses or anything like that. so So you're just like, okay, well, I need to get on with my story and I don't want to like pause right here and now. Because I'm in the groove and I'm drawing all these things and I'll just do something silly.

30:27.22

Delphina

um But yeah, it's not going to work forever. That's all I'm saying. So So putting the work in is going to... It's all connected, man. I don't know. started talking about sound effects, But yeah, i I do feel like there are so many things that I've learned and especially to your point, when I look at other works that I admire and when I see things that are really, really cool, there are some people doing some really cool stuff out there.

30:57.79

Delphina

And I love looking at, um I'm going to call out Clam because Phantomarine's sound effects are really cool.

31:06.75

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

31:07.32

Delphina

um I love um when they kind of like butt up against the border of the page. So it kind of looks like they could expand forever if only the page were bigger. but like they're they're just kind of up there and and and maybe repeating in the background or something. I think that can be a very effective div and one of my favorite things to look at. um i i really love how when you use like sound effects as backgrounds behind the characters and and and stuff like that

31:42.30

Delphina

Yeah, there's just, there's so many cool things, like annoying things too, like when someone is talking and then a sound effect interrupts their speech.

31:52.75

Delphina

So you have the speech bubble, but then like there's this pointy thing jutting into it or or covering up like the tail end of what they were going to say.

31:55.10

Krispy

Yes.

32:05.37

Delphina

That's pretty cool too. Gosh, I could go on forever. Do you have any other favorites, Krispy?

32:12.54

Krispy

I still really like it when it's incorporated in the art. And I think that's a really great ah like shout out to how Clam does it in Phantomarine too. And I think one of the things that I want to point out with a big realistic finger is that I like that it's incorporated so heavily into the art.

32:31.29

Krispy

And that I think that's always my biggest thing where it just looks so natural.

32:31.68

Delphina

Mm-hmm.

32:36.22

Krispy

And the composition and the art, everything is taken into consideration and it just enhances it. I mean, you're not going to read it. You're not going to be like, okay, time to flip to the page.

32:46.58

Krispy

And I'm going to like, okay, the sound effect is, I'm sorry. RAAA! like

32:55.74

Krispy

I don't read it like that. I'm not being like, okay, I have to read the raw first and then I'll read that dialogue. Like, it's not like that. But it's

33:06.07

Delphina

Mm-hmm.

33:08.15

Krispy

interacting with how you're reading it being like oh my god there's an indication that they're screaming this is scary oh my gosh they're screaming in the background and then of course i'm gonna read the dialogue and and look at the faces and stuff like that like it's the indication. It's the implication so when people come in being like “oh my god like what i need like a sound effect help like oh my god” it's really good to go back to just the noises that you want to make and the implication that you want to make too.

33:35.31

Krispy

Because sometimes you do want to be like a…[growling]

33:35.83

Delphina

Yes.

33:38.63

Krispy

And other times you want to be like... bubump Like you want to spell it out because it's like, okay, this is the association with this kind of sound or whatever. Like I want you to hear a horrible noise with this picture for a horror picture.

33:52.04

Krispy

like and Or you could just do something unsettling where it's just like, I'm going to use the word... kolulipa and it's just this very intense picture of tingle and it's like

34:08.50

Krispy

and it's exactly subversive so you have these two like whoo like that's such a happy sounding word and then it's just intense

34:08.50

Delphina

Not the direction I thought it this is going to go.

34:22.58

Delphina

Yeah.

34:22.62

Krispy

patched face in this darkness. So that's what I really love. I love when people get really subversive with it. And I love when they incorporate it in ways that I'm like, this is just enhancing my experience.

34:35.57

Krispy

And I'm enjoying that a lot.

34:38.30

Delphina

It's about tone. It's about mood. It's about kind of like making that sort of feeling behind the art where where you're feeling like more tense or more like, what the f— is this?

34:52.49

Delphina

what Why is Tingle?

34:52.82

Krispy

yeah

34:54.55

Delphina

Why is Tingle doing this?

34:56.63

Krispy

ah

34:57.34

Delphina

So um i feel like I also think back to Katamari Damacy, which has a very cute art style, but then you have this kind of guy who is just...

35:08.68

Delphina

looming over everybody and it's like this guy's intense man he would have some very strong sound effects if this was not a video game and I guess like they they actually have audio and video games but

35:13.99

Krispy

Yeah.

35:22.90

Delphina

You kind of mentioned it earlier, but we can do sound things.

35:24.54

Krispy

yeah

35:29.29

Delphina

I know people do video segments or something. You can't always depend on people having on their sound, especially since a lot of people are reading on their phones or whatever.

35:39.53

Delphina

So it's it's not always possible to incorporate that, but um that can all always set a cool tone as well if you have that kind of readership who We'll go into, you know, yeah, I'll watch that video. Yeah, I'll put that that song on or whatever and just enhance the mood. I love that.

36:00.44

Krispy

It does. And I think as someone who is an absolute fan of sound effects, one of the things that kind of bums me out is when people are so adverse to them. But me as a reader, it detracts from the work, not because I'm like, I'm expecting to have some sound effects here, but because the way the art is in the way that the dialogue is and the way that the scene is playing out. I'm just like, man…

36:26.07

Krispy

I don't know of the mood here. I don't know what the stage is. I don't know what kind of like what I'm supposed to be hearing because I hear when I read stuff, like, you know, you, you have your own way that a character sounds or anything like that.

36:29.78

Delphina

Yes.

36:41.46

Krispy

And like what is going on the page is kind of like enhancing how you're doing that and appreciating the page. So when I'm seeing big intense fighting happening and there's like no sound effects, like I' m just imagining slaps.

36:54.81

Krispy

Like I'm hearing slaps. I'm hearing a bunch of slapping noises or some, maybe, maybe I'm not. I'm just, it's like silence, but in the wrong way. And like, it could be so cool.

37:04.98

Krispy

This is me just, you know, pumping in the sound effects propaganda.

37:09.00

Delphina

Mm-hmm.

37:09.94

Krispy

But it could be so cool if your comic is so loud and then you're like, okay, now there's going to be a fight scene and there's no sound effects. Like after having such loudness and then silence, I'm like, oh, ah I would just stick in my brain forever.

37:24.37

Krispy

I'd be like, do you remember when they removed all the sound effects for the one fighting scene? And it was just like silence. Like I can imagine nothing. It was so insane. Yeah. Yeah.

37:33.59

Delphina

Right. yeah i mean, it's the same principle as when you have a comic that's mostly, mostly has words on it because people are having dialogue. And then you have the one page where nobody says anything and things are still happening, but nobody says anything.

37:44.34

Krispy

Yes. Yep. Mm-hmm.

37:48.07

Delphina

And you're just like, something is deeply like, I am feeling a certain way about this.

37:48.47

Krispy

who

37:54.93

Delphina

It's either like a montage or a quiet moment where the characters are too sad to speak or something like that. But it's the same principle, right? If you use them around in other places, when you take them away,

38:11.19

Delphina

like that's going to say something. That's going to say something so cool.

38:13.97

Krispy

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

38:15.77

Delphina

And I don't think you have to have sound effects in your comic to be able to evoke that emotion, but they're a good tool for it. And they're very easy to implement if you put in the practice and you do your research and look around at other things.

38:32.22

Delphina

I know we talked about manga inspired things. if If the kind of more sticker or superhero like treatments aren't your thing I do want to say though if we are making like left to right reading comics i've noticed a lot in manga sometimes the characters will go down because that is a natural reading order in japanese so so

38:57.10

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

39:00.02

Delphina

sometimes that doesn't entirely transfer over to a western audience if you're using the english language because we don't always read down um there's ways to make it work for sure. That's a thing that I see sometimes where maybe we're trying to copy that style. Maybe we're trying to get that mood across because we really like seeing it in the manga that we're reading.

39:29.62

Delphina

But there is a little bit of adaption to make sure that it's reading in the correct order for a Western audience.

39:37.82

Krispy

Yep. And ah like you said, like it's a tool. It is definitely something to potentially enhance your reading experience. And you can use the sound effects to lead the eye somewhere interesting in the page too. It doesn't have to be just a character speaking and you're like, oh, this is the...

39:55.73

Krispy

next panel i'm going over there like your sound effect could be doing something creepy in the corner and you're like what's going on there so it's just about using them in such interesting ways um that could subvert or you know just like enhance a reading experience and that goes for kind of any genre because you know comics because they're usually just that medium with the drawing and whatnot and not usually accompanied by sound but can. You know, we have these different techniques to evoke that stuff and sound effects don't have to be just bingo bongo. They could be really weird things that make us think harder on the page.

40:45.70

Delphina

It's true. So I'm just going to throw out because we've talked about kind of what scenes they enhance and like how maybe not using them is is pretty cool too. But for those people who are ah thinking about it, they're like, okay, you've convinced me, Krispy. I'm going to try to use sound effects as a tool, but I'm really having trouble doing so in a natural way that doesn't look

41:14.17

Delphina

like a treatment that I dislike. What is your advice to that person?

41:19.51

Krispy

Hello. Welcome to sound effects.

41:25.81

Delphina

We're so glad you're here.

41:27.70

Krispy

So my advice is hand draw. Hand draw your sound effects because there is no easier way to incorporate that into your art than to hand draw them. But wait, Krispy, I don't like doing typography. It's too hard. Don't worry.

41:49.11

Krispy

I got you because... what You know what we like in this house? We like tracing because I like it when it's easy. So what you're going to do right now, Brenda, is that you're going to open up a canvas on whatever, or, you know, you're going to take a paper because, you know, traditional artists, that we exist. And you're going to have some font that you really enjoy you can just have a day and go on some font sites (Blambot and all them) and you're gonna search them out you can just have normal fonts too you can get some times new roman no one's gonna stop you

42:28.12

Delphina

I'm gonna stop you.

Krispy

and make them big. Oh well delphi's gonna stop you if you use times new roman

42:31.38

Delphina

But if you're fast, I can't catch you.

42:33.05

Krispy

Keep that in mind. So you're going to make them big and you're going to trace these motherheckers. You're going to trace them. You're going to do some outlines and make them say like, you know you need to type up a word. Kablam, kablimo, gurgle, flunder. And type them out and just trace them. See how they are in your style. And you can just start tracing them, trace them again, trace them again. and you can see your handwriting kind of come out of these letters. And you could do that for everything. You can, you know, be like, okay, it's sound effect time. I'm going to, you know, Times New Roman, kablamm. I'm gonna slap it there and um you maybe you could distort it a little bit. Maybe you could make a little curve, you know, with the tools that you have, like a liquify tool or Photoshop fancy curve thing. And, you know, you could do that. You could set it like that and then just trace it over with the pen that you like. The pen that you've used to ink the page or the paint that you're using or anything like that. And then you can kind of start to see yourself come out. You can see that your style is there. You can see like, oh, okay. Like that's how I write. You don't have to be like, oh my God, my actual writing is super crappy. And I do that. You don't have to do that, Brenda. You don't have to suffer with the writing, the handwriting that you don't enjoy. You can trace stuff that still has you in it. Your DNA is there and it looks great. I have done that for comics when I'm just like, okay, like I need to map this out and I'm going to have this text i'm gonna put this font there and it's gonna go BLEAH and then you know i start to trace it and i'm like okay cool like i could see how it's mapped out and i could just futz around with it you're not gonna get it perfect on the first go you're gonna be like “this looks so like stiff and poop” but start to get loose with it. And you'll find as you continue to do that

44:24.70

Krispy

practice makes perfect. You're going to see how you create sound effects come out. It's going to be cool. It's going to be like, okay, this is what I prefer to do with sound effects and imitate what I, I the the effect that I'm kind of going for. And also just help with that typography getting a little better. There's no problem with tracing, man. It looks great. Like I think, just embrace it. I think the other thing that i really enjoy is I've talked about a little bit in the episode earlier, but when we have like sound effects, the action lines kind of go with what's going on, go with the flow and imitate those same brushstrokes that you're having for those action lines or where you want

45:13.66

Krispy

you know, the eye to end up or how to compliment someone sneezing. It's going to shoot this way. It's going to go up that way. you know, the doki-dokis are going to, you know, do other things. Like you can have fun shapes with this and then keep in mind to hand draw them to incorporate it more into your art. Because, I mean, you can use times in Roman and you can slap that on your art, but people are going to be like, wow,

45:36.86

Krispy

I mean, that's Times New Roman and it's slapped on your art. So, you know, I'm not going to stop you. But I do think that hand drawing is a really good, easy step to kind of get into it and practice a lot on it. Do a whole page of it. Like I said, open that canvas and just go crazy.

45:55.61

Delphina

Yeah. The thing I like about that advice too is because typography is an art in and of itself, letter spacing and how descenders work and ascenders work, like that's all kind of mathematically calculated when people are making fonts.

46:12.21

Delphina

And so there are certain things where I'm trying to write things out by hand. I'm trying to do it. And like, why are the letters so far apart here? And then I squish them together here.

46:23.90

Delphina

And like, gosh, I didn't keep things very consistent at all.

46:24.20

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

46:27.26

Delphina

And when you trace, that's going to be much more consistent. So you can kind of, if you're having that sort of problem, I feel like that's just a very good solution for that.

46:40.03

Delphina

Krispy mentioned Blambot i also like Font Squirrel a lot um and you can just go on there find some cool things that evoke different emotions and play with them and I feel like that's just a great solution. I think for me too when i'm trying to plan out where the sound effects are going to go like I've written out the the actual dialogue and i know where that's going to go. I

know where the character is going to go i'm keeping those on different layers so i can slide them around as needed, crop out parts of my character or shrink the character or whatever and then i go in and I draw little boxes where i want like some letters to go and I plan out like okay

47:30.46

Delphina

I know I need a five letter sound effect here. So I'm going to draw five boxes. I'm going to arc them up in the direction that I want. And then I'll draw that in later. And then you can go in with your traced stuff or or just hand letter it in. And I feel like that's a good way of planning for it in the thumbnail stage without having to get into the nitty gritty of like, okay, I've got to find the fonts. I've got to find the treatment because we're still thumbnailing at that point. So those are things that seem to work okay for me. And yeah, I would just...

48:13.53

Delphina

I would just encourage you to not shy away from them. And if you need a second pair of eyes or something, show a friend the version with sound effects and the version without sound effects, like show them the entire page and say, “do I need this? Is this adding anything? How does this make you feel? And does that change if I add the sound effect?” And I think sometimes getting that outside perspective can be a really good thing.

48:45.30

Krispy

Absolutely. 100% think that's great to show your peers your work. And to always plug the Screen Tones Discord community, jump the heck in there because it is functioning like workshop community.

48:59.09

Krispy

People love to talk about the process and whatnot, and they love to help out. We have an art shop talk and a writing shop talk. So if you're like, okay, what the heck does a squishing sound of a beanie baby sound like?

49:12.99

Krispy

Come on in. We're going to workshop together and figure that out.

49:15.64

Delphina

I feel like we've had that exact conversation in the Discord or something too, right?

49:19.06

Krispy

I think so.

49:20.44

Krispy

I think so.

49:22.39

Delphina

Seconding that recommendation, the Discord community is great. Everybody is very respectful and we're all comic creators there. So everyone's going to have a little different perspective and you might find something that works for you.

49:38.90

Krispy

The last little piece that I will say is that there is a website called comicbookfx.com and it has a lot of cataloged sound effects from comics and examples that you can click on and see a lot of them are western but. but. it's great to know when you're trying to figure out what the sound of a beady baby being squished sounds like maybe you know seeing examples and kind of, you know, make something run in the brain um to help out. So that one's a good little piece of a nice little resource for your sound effects journey.

51:00.66

Delphina

Ithink um those are all great tips. I feel like reaching out and practicing are going to be your very best friends here and I'm excited to see what you do with this very cool, very cool tool of sound effects so with that we'll call this a chicken salad Caesar wrap.

51:27.74

Delphina

Thank you so much for listening. I have been your host, Delphina, and you can check out my work at Sombulus. What is my URL? Jesus Christ.

51:40.54

Delphina

Thank you so much for listening. I've been Delphina, and you can find my work, Sombulus, at Sombulus.com.

51:48.89

Krispy

And I'm Krispy. You can find my work at ghostjunksickness.com and lunarblight.com.

52:01.50

Delphina

We also do sound effects on here. So we're just going to spend the rest of the episode making sound effects for you. Thank you very much.

52:10.42

Krispy

who

52:11.99

Delphina

All right this is a rule ah

52:13.58

Krispy

Kerk-a-lar-lar-lar.

52:16.43

Krispy

Meow.

52:16.66

Delphina

right. Okay. Beautiful. Yes.

52:20.02

Krispy

Yes, you can sample this for free.