Gaspar Saladino - Lettering Style

Lettering Style

Saladino's default dialoguing style is curvy and naturally enmeshed with the artwork. His trademark is his big, bold exclamation marks, which he adopts for "effect. . . . They got attention and sales at the newsstand." Saladino always letters by hand, even in the era of computers, which he never uses. Likewise, his word balloons are done freehand, never with a template.

Whereas previous DC designer Ira Schnapp's house advertisements were known for their large blocks of stately text, Saladino's house ads employed the principle of "five words or less," with the words heavily stylized and frequent use of the exclamation point.

Gaspar used a sandblock to grind down and sharpen his pen nibs. The "Gaspar Stone," as it was known around comics circles, was an inch wide by three inches long, and consisted of several layers of sand-strip. "After the top piece wore out, you’d just peel it off and use the piece underneath."

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