PHYLACTERIES - how to create nice-looking thought balloons

[nesmond]

I was wondering if anyone out there uses Xara for creating comics, and if so, could they tell me how to create nice-looking thought balloons and broadcast balloons. Thank you.

[zaphodeist]

Phylacteries ??

[gwpriester]

Welcome to TalkGraphics.

Draw an ellipse. Draw a three sided shape with the Shape Editor Tool.

Select both shapes and Arrange > Combine Shapes > Add Shapes.

Edit the triangular shape with the Shape Editor Tool.

[steve.ledger]

But that's a speech balloon Gazza

[gwpriester]

Oh, very well, Bruce.

For the lightning shape, create a zig zag line, increase the width, add a stroke shape in the Line Gallery, Arrange > Convert Line to Shape.

Select the stroked zig zag line, and the ellipse and Arrange > Combine Shapes > Add Shapes or simply press Ctrl 1.

[MarkMyWords]

Something like this? It's a brush, and the tail is a blend along a line, perhaps they need a bit of work, but you get the gist.

[zaphodeist]

Make a number of overlapping ellipses and arrange>>combine shapes>>add shapes. Do the same for a few small ellipses and add.

[Soquili]

And another method is to use the Splodge Brush at about 64pixels for the outline of an ellipse.

Convert to Editable shapes and then Ungroup.

Use the Shape Editor Tool to select the inner nodes of the outline and delete them to make a closed shape. Add a few smaller ellipses and some text.

Sounds complicated but it is easy and can be done quickly. With all things there are many ways to achieve an end result when using Xtreme.

[MarcT]

phylactère= french word for comic "speech balloons"

I imagine there must be dozens of hand writing comic style fonts.

Marc

[zaphodeist]

Thank you Marc - I was trying to work out a connection