iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Yeah so far I haven’t run into any sideways tiles either so maybe they just prefer to keep them all vertical when it comes to having them in the dialogue. But yeah it’s better to play it safe just in case it ever does show up like that

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Also check out Mahjong Pros’ books! mahjongpros.com/collections/...

So yeah, working on Mahjong manga has it’s own unique challenge but I think I’m starting to get used to it lol

So why not make the tiles horizontal? I don’t actually know a lot about mahjong and so I too had this question. From my understanding is that a horizontal tile can mean something else so ideally we want to stay away from changing the orientation unless the japanese text depicts it that way

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This process isn’t perfect and it requires a lot of fiddling around to make it work. Most of this ends up being a case by case basis. Depending on the font, the font size, the tile location, etc. Each time I run into a dialogue with tiles, I start from scratch.

Now compare it to the example where only the spacing above and below the tile has been changed. It ends up looking a lot more cohesive with the text in the other bubble.

Here’s an example where the leading is the same for the whole bubble. When you compare it to the text in the other bubble in this panel, it looks a bit weird since it doesn’t match.

Under ideal circumstances we want leading for the whole bubble to be the exact same but I personally find that it’s better to just increase it for a line or 2 as it looks more cohesive with the other text on the page.

From there I increase the leading for this specific line of text as well as the line text below it. This helps create spacing between the tile and the text above and below it.

So how do I fix this problem? First I like to make it so that the tile is in the center of the line of text using guides and the “baseline shift” in the character panel

But as you can see that creates a new problem, the tile is now overlapping the text above it.

What I first do is figure out what the auto leading is set as for the other rows. In this case it’s at (8.4pt) so for the row of text with the tile I turn off the auto leading and instead set it manually at 8.4pt

So let’s make it bigger then. I have the setting for leading (space between lines) set to auto and as a result when I increase the size of the tiles the leading for that row of text increases. That’s not the only problem tho as the tile is also pretty close to the text below it

So the first issue that you run into is the size. If we keep the tile the same font size as the rest of the text it ends up being quite small. This can affect the readability of the tile depending on how small it is. So in general I like to size them up.

Sky @rutandesigns.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I thought I’d do a little thread on dealing with mahjong tiles in the dialogue. For this example, I’ll be using a panel from Crybaby Mermaid. The text should be in italics but for the purpose of this thread I’m changing it to regular. #mangalettering #manga

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Yen Press will be using my lettering for vol 1 (& presumably vol 2) of “The Villainesses are Unwavering”! I’m happy to see one of the digital titles I lettered for KWE get a print release 🤩

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Sky @rutandesigns.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Note: I did not letter these pages, I just thought it was cool they were added and wanted to share

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Sky @rutandesigns.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I also wanted to mention that Mahjong Pros includes a list of Mahjong terms at the back of their books (at least for Crybaby Mermaid & Vermilion Stella) Which hopefully helps those who want to read these books but aren’t familiar with mahjong, understand what’s happening.

Crybaby Mermaid is both the 2nd title I worked on for Mahjong Pros and also the 2nd mahjong memoir I’ve lettered 😂 (And I’m currently working on lettering a 3rd memoir as we speak haha)

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And lastly here’s just some pages that I particularly liked!

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Here’s some examples of pages where I had to do some retouch work and recreate signage, book covers, paperwork, etc.

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This book in particular features interviews at the end of every chapter and they also contain tiles….lots and lots of tiles. Trying to align everything on these pages was fun 😆

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One of the interesting things about working on mahjong manga is that the dialogue will feature tiles. And it can be a big challenge trying to get those tiles to fit without overlapping the text above or below it or making the line spacing too far apart.

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Sky @rutandesigns.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I realized I never posted a thread of my lettering from any of my Mahjong Pros titles so here’s one for Crybaby Mermaid #mahjong #mangalettering

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Some hand-drawn sfx I did in the past week! 🤩

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Sky @rutandesigns.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I think the vol 1’s will be releasing end of this year or early next year I will warn that Akayoroshi is quite graphic with blood and gore. Black Witch Mirror is also a bit on the bloody side as well but I’d say it’s not as graphic.

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Sky @rutandesigns.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I feel like I should post some of the new titles I’m lettering so here they are: Mahjong Pros - Getter Robo High - Akayoroshi: Hanafuda Shadow Games Titan Manga - Black Witch Mirror - Ifrit of the Sand Sea I’m especially excited for these as I’m doing/have done hand-drawn sfx for all 4! 🤩

Sky @rutandesigns.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Excluding Record Journey, the other 3 titles I’ve done hand-drawn sfx for only really have black sfx. However, my current project has tons of outlined and screen-toned sfx and it’s been a fun challenge!

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Reposted by Sky

BookWalker @bookwalker.com · 15/09/2026

NEW PUBLISHER ALERT 🚨 Mahjong Pros @mahjongpros.bsky.social started with tournament-grade mahjong sets. Limited editions, IP collabs all the serious stuff. Now they're publishing manga. And not just any manga. Stories where mahjong is the whole point! Find it all on BookWalker: buff.ly/kLls8s9

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Overall I’m very happy with how this volume turned out and I hope everyone who reads enjoys it!

And a few pages & panels I liked

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All sfx (and few dialogue instances) were all hand-drawn I’m quite proud of how they all turned out!

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Similar to volume 1, one of the most challenging pages in the book was the table of contents. 😆 This volume has a few more chapter than the previous volume lol

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United Workers of Seven Seas @uw7s.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Record Journey vol 2 releases today! I’m still amazed that I was able to letter this series 🥹 #manga

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Reposted by Sky

Hi folks! It's been a while. Just wanted to state that we are currently bargaining again with Seven Seas and to watch this space for updates.

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Link to amazon jp page for this book which has some page previews www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%96%B0%E3...

amazon.co.jp

Amazon.co.jp

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And then real manga cover examples

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3 case studies at the beginning of the book

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New Comics Designs You Need to Know 2 新しいコミックスのデザイン。2 Published by: 株式会社日貿出版社 (Nichibou Publishing?) Published in 2021 www.suruga-ya.com/en/product/B... This is basically the exact same as the previous book but with different examples

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The rest of the book consists of examples of real manga covers. Which includes a lot of jp titles that we have licensed in english!

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This books is set up similar to the Light Novel book in my previous posts. Just like that one, this book starts off with some case studies for fictional titles.

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New Comics Designs You Need to Know 新しいコミックスのデザイン Published by: 株式会社日貿出版社 (Nichibou Publishing?) Published in 2020 www.suruga-ya.com/en/product/B... This book focuses on manga covers

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The rest of the book shows examples of real light novel covers and provides some information on them. There’s also a free font collection at the very back of the book.