Panties in a bunch - Comic Book Coloring.. - Blog - CCAS

...where I vent about comic book coloring.

This is just something for contemplation. I was wondering why I've been rejecting the current crop of comics on a mass scale - even when the artist is someone I like. Then I started noticing a trend...the comics are all colored Pink/purple with green and mud/brown/ airbrushed to death...that's just the covers.

The interiors are for the most part just as bad. No distinctions. No brights. No contrasts. And a lot of Pink/Purple/Green - especially at DC. Lots of browns. I understand muting colors lessens the blow - a European thing - but they knew/know how to make distinctions and have a mute with a pop color on top.

I just can't handle the coloring. There might have been something to the old school method of coloring comics where they only 64 or so colors to work with (maybe less? Maybe a few more?)

Take a look at this current crop of covers. Look to see which stand out. They are few and far between. And when Archie comics are the ones that stand out, and not because they are done right, comic books of today have issues. (C'mon! Just use flat colors! And use them wisely - that is all.)

SO if you are a colorist or want to color a comic and you want to stand out in the marketplace DO EVERYTHING OPPOSITE TO WHAT YOU SEE BELOW. Make a clear readable logo. Avoid excessive noise on your cover. Make sure to have the main story point be obvious.

Anyway... below a bunch of covers all together so you can see what sticks out what doesn't. Analyze them, consider them and think how you can be effectively different.

There are some standouts - but that's the point - Good covers stand out. The sad thing though is the coloring in the interiors is generally worse. So. Hard. To. Read. I'm not the only person who has this issue - came across some other people on the web who say the same thing.

For some reason, people decided overly complicated glossy airbrushed noise is the way to go. But the colors! Yerk. Ok, let's use some color theory: Red and Green are opposites on the color wheel. The colorists seem to get that right - BUT, it's the tones they pick. Nobody seems to use a backdrop color as their "color base" - they just drop a background color on and then select random things on top. And mud. So. Much. Mud. When did that become a color?

A challenge - when coloring on the computer - don't. use. black.

Use Blue for receding tones. Use other colors to pretend to be darks. Use colors against colors. A fun thing to try is to see if you can make the impression of a color - without using that color...e.g. You have super bright orange background - and you want the character to look "blue-ish" well you can choose a color that isn't blue and because of the tone you pick against that bright orange...well it might look blue...but it isn't blue. When you go use the color picker...it's a yellow...or purple or something else.

By mixing in colors that are too much into the black, or black itself into your colors, it muddies things up and things turn into a spectacular wash of mud.

Good covers above, in my opinion:
Warlord of Mars
Tank Girl
Wonder Woman
Incorruptible

Hawkman and Firestorm almost make it.

Ah well - if you are a colorist, do consider making the world a brighter place.

You need to be a member of CCAS - Christian Comic Arts Society to add comments!

Join CCAS - Christian Comic Arts Society

Comments

Martin Murtonen January 3, 2012 at 4:41pm

Colors (and art) done right -and gasp, he makes brown look good too! http://kizer180.deviantart.com/gallery/

Just found this guy via Comics Alliance - and man is he ever good.
Martin Murtonen January 3, 2012 at 12:16am

There are some standouts - but that's the point - Good covers stand out. The sad thing though is the coloring in the interiors is generally worse. So. Hard. To. Read. I'm not the only person who has this issue - came across some other people on the web who say the same thing.

For some reason, people decided overly complicated glossy airbrushed noise is the way to go. But the colors! Yerk. Ok, let's use some color theory: Red and Green are opposites on the color wheel. The colorists seem to get that right - BUT, it's the tones they pick. Nobody seems to use a backdrop color as their "color base" - they just drop a background color on and then select random things on top. And mud. So. Much. Mud. When did that become a color?

A challenge - when coloring on the computer - don't. use. black.

Use Blue for receding tones. Use other colors to pretend to be darks. Use colors against colors. A fun thing to try is to see if you can make the impression of a color - without using that color...e.g. You have super bright orange background - and you want the character to look "blue-ish" well you can choose a color that isn't blue and because of the tone you pick against that bright orange...well it might look blue...but it isn't blue. When you go use the color picker...it's a yellow...or purple or something else.

By mixing in colors that are too much into the black, or black itself into your colors, it muddies things up and things turn into a spectacular wash of mud.

Good covers above, in my opinion:
Warlord of Mars
Tank Girl
Wonder Woman
Incorruptible

Hawkman and Firestorm almost make it.

Ah well - if you are a colorist, do consider making the world a brighter place.
Gerard Lee January 1, 2012 at 6:25am

Well, I don't know covers, but...(adopts a bad 'Kung Fu Theater' accent) "That is why Black and White manga art is superior to Western full color art pages!" (ducks and runs)

This reply was deleted.