it’s my 10th year drawing hq fanart! drew this back in december! ☃️❄️ thankyou for supporting me all these years 🥹 for tolerating my decade long hyperfixation that doesn’t look like it’s ending anytime soon…hehehe
And Imma tell you why in just a second! @anachrosims thank you for the kind words in your tag friend! I feel like about a week ago I got an anon ask about being a geek for cinemetography and, BOY AM I!!?? So I produce the ugliest giggle-snort when someone notices it, thank you. And as a storyteller that is 99% dialogue, its super important that text is legible and clear (took me a minute to find that happy place but I did). Glad you could read it easily!
This is super meaningful by itself, but I want to channel @elderwisp's call for us simblrs to share *HOW* we do a thing so, if you'll indulge me under the cut, I've got a little how-to on font size and placement for dialogue-heavy storytellers.
What I've learned over the years is that font/text size is relative to the size of your screenshots. If you check out earlier chapters, man, I don't how y'all were reading that. Now that my glasses prescription has grown stronger every year, I realize how important font size is if you really want people to enjoy your story.
Three things are important:
Size
Placement
Font type
Let's dig in.
Size
How big are your screenshots? What is your go-to size? For me, I use SWRE and found a good size for storytelling is w:1080 x h:1000. I really do encourage storytellers to get familiar with SWRE, there's certainly a learning curve but it gives you so much flexibility with your shots. The size I use works great, gives me crisp, detailed and clear shots and even allows me to make larger gifs! The reason we're starting with screenshot size is because your font size *HAS* to match. Too small relative to your pic size and you have a bunch of disgruntled simblrs who love your photos but can't read what's happening.
For the pic size I use, a 33 point font is the lucky spot for me. I'm a photoshop elements user so this is what it looks like on my end:
A few notes: Leading is how close the next sentence is to the top sentence when your're typing and hit enter to start a new line. Tracking condenses your font so I keep it at zero. Some templates (a shit ton of us use templates) will automatically change these settings so keep that in mind.
Placement
Now that we have an established screenshot size and text size, where are we placing it on the photo? I keep dialogue space in mind when I'm taking pics. If possible, angle your shots to get a blank area or, use an area on your pic that's darker. Here's an example, and don't worry, this hit the cutting room floor lol (IYKYK)
When possible, I try not to have the text cover any parts of my sim. They are the star! Why would we do that? So I angle in a way that makes room for text placement. In this shot I have 2 options: Right next to her head or over the grocery bag.
I chose the grocery bag because that plain background helps the text pop making it easier to read. Next to her head would have worked too, even with the window back there (I'll explain that in a second), but we went with the grocery bag anyway because I liked it there.
For what it's worth, I center my text because I find I can maximize space and fit more that way. If I have to trim down a sentence because its taking up too much space, for me, its easier to do that/see that when the text is centered.
Font Type
Finally, the type of font you use and how you use it will ultimately make everything above worth it. You don't need anything too fancy for dialogue. A nice, plain font is your friend. The purpose of dialogue is to be read, save the script and other cool fonts for edits or other stuff, not your dialogue. Fonts also come in various sizes based on type. Find one that isn't too small and not too big. In my case
This one is my jam. As you can see, the top fonts are the ones I use regularly and they all play a role, but find your standard text font and stick to it. I've changed font types quite a few times over the years, but this one has been my dialogue font for at least the past 3 or 4 maybe even 5 chapters now. It does what I need it to do! And its nice and legible.
Once you find your favorite font type (remember, nothing fancy here, keep the theatrics to the actual screenshots and the plot!), make that baby stand out with three simple steps:
1 - MAKE IT BOLD
Highlight your text, right click and hit that bold button (once you choose to make it bold, all subsequent font use will be bold until you close out the program, again, I use PS Elements).
2 - Add a Drop Shadow
Right click your text and click Edit Layer Style. You'll get a pop up with style settings:
I want the opacity maxed out. If you're using white font which, in my opinion, is the easiest to read, this really sets it out from the background and makes your font pop forward in your screenshot.
See? IT POPS!
3 - Add an outline
Go back to style settings (I do the drop shadow and the outline at the same time because you're already in there so why not?). Click stroke choose which size outline to use. PLAY AROUND WITH THIS! An outline that's too thick is terrible for legible text, one that's too skinny doesn't do what its intended to do which is make the text... legible! I've found that for a font size of 33 pt a size 3 outline is enough. Again, play with this. Anything over 4 is probably too thick for that font size. When I use larger font size to portray yelling, etc, then I go up a little bit on the outline. Opacity on full blast of course. I keep the color of the outline black. The goal here is for your readers to read it. Going wild on the outline color could take away from the clarity of the text - be warned.
__________________
AND THERE YOU HAVE IT!! A little mini-tutorial on dialogue for storytellers. I certainly hope this helps you and, if you don't use photoshop, I hope that you can find these settings in your program of choice.
