Colorist

Last updated September 08, 2024

Page from Unknown World #1 (1952)

In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates. Since the late 20th century it is most often done using digital media, with printing separations produced electronically.

History

Originally, comics were colored by cutting out films of various densities in the appropriate shapes to be used in producing color-separated printing plates. The typical colorist worked from photocopies of the inked pages, which they colored with special dyes. Dr. Martin's Dyes was a brand notable in this field within the comic strip industry.^[1] CMYK codes were written on the page to indicate the final printed colors, and these hand-colored pages were used as guides by the engraver.^[2] Tatjana Wood was the main colorist for DC Comics' covers from 1973 through the mid-1980s.^[3]

More recently, colorists have worked in transparent media such as watercolors or airbrush, which is then photographed, allowing more subtle and painterly effects.

Digital color

Colorist Steve Oliff and his company Olyoptics were one of the first to use computers to do color separations. Although other companies at the time were experimenting with computers, Oliff and his crew were the first to blend the color guide artist with the separator.^[4] In 1987, the Japanese manga Akira was in preparation to be translated and published by Marvel Comics's Epic Comics line. Oliff was chosen as the colorist, and he convinced Marvel that it was time to try computer color.^[5] After the publication of Akira in 1988, computer coloring became increasingly prevalent in the comics industry.^[4]

By the early 1990s, even though the larger comics publishers were using computers, there were variations within the field. DC Comics allowed only a 64-color palette, while Marvel had expanded it to 125 colors. Dark Horse Comics allowed even more variations.^[1] The dominant programs in use during that time were Color Prep and Tint Prep, both originally implemented by Olyoptics. This software was invented and written by "Pixel Craft", the first company to create software that used a personal computer that could output files for a digital image setter to make negatives for color printing. Pixel craft was a small company in Long Island, New York, created by Kenneth Giordano and Khouri Giordano. The father and son team went on to accomplish many first in the computerization of color print.^[1] In 1993, Image Comics' use of computer color and more advanced color separation technology propelled DC and Marvel to further upgrade their coloring techniques. Finally, in the mid-1990s, Digital Chameleon's facility with Adobe Photoshop helped make that program the industry standard.^[1]

The improvements in the technology used for coloring have had a great impact on the way comics are drawn. Before the use of computers, artists would often use the pen or brush to put in detailed shading effects; now the artist is more likely to leave the drawing open and leave it to the colorist to insert shading through variation in color tones or through adding a layer of translucent black. Most contemporary colorists work in digital media using tools.^[6]

Notable colorists

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magenta</span> Color

Magenta is a purplish-red color. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located precisely midway between blue and red. It is one of the four colors of ink used in color printing by an inkjet printer, along with yellow, cyan, and black to make all the other colors. The tone of magenta used in printing, printer's magenta, is redder than the magenta of the RGB (additive) model, the former being closer to rose.

Color grading is a post-production process common to filmmaking and video editing of altering the appearance of an image for presentation in different environments on different devices. Various attributes of an image such as contrast, color, saturation, detail, black level, and white balance may be enhanced whether for motion pictures, videos, or still images. Color grading and color correction are often used synonymously as terms for this process and can include the generation of artistic color effects through creative blending and compositing of different layer masks of the source image. Color grading is generally now performed in a digital process either in a controlled environment such as a color suite, and is usually done in a dim or dark environment.

Color photography is photography that uses media capable of capturing and reproducing colors. By contrast, black-and-white or gray-monochrome photography records only a single channel of luminance (brightness) and uses media capable only of showing shades of gray.

The inker is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production.

Mark Buckingham is a British comic book artist. He is best known for his work on Marvelman and Fables.

Color printing or colour printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color.

Marie Severin was an American comics artist and colorist best known for her work for Marvel Comics and the 1950s' EC Comics. She is an inductee of the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame and the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.

Tatjana Wood is an American artist and comic book colorist.

Adrienne Roy was a comic book color artist who worked mostly for DC Comics. She was largely responsible for coloring the Batman line throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

Carl Gafford is a colorist who has worked for several decades in the comics industry. His career has spanned several publishers, including Marvel Comics, DC Comics and Topps Comics.

Steve Oliff is an American comic book artist who has worked as a colorist in the comics industry since 1978.

Matt Hollingsworth is an American comic book colorist. As of 2023, he was continuing to color comics for Marvel including such notable titles as Guardian of the Galaxy, Punisher and Doctor Strange. He lives in Croatia.

Digital Chameleon was a comic book coloring and inking studio based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. They have countless credits for a variety of publishers, and are attributed with being the first studio to make the use of the computer software program Adobe Photoshop widespread in the comics' industry. In addition to their work in the comics field, Digital Chameleon also colored animation, CD covers, posters, magazines, and advertisements.

Brian Haberlin is an American comic book artist, writer, editor and producer. He is best known as the co-creator of the Witchblade franchise and for his digital art style.

Laura DePuy is a colorist who has produced work for several of the major comics companies, including DC Comics, Marvel Comics and CrossGen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academy of Comic Book Arts</span> Professional organization

The Academy of Comic Book Arts (ACBA) was an American professional organization of the 1970s that was designed to be the comic book industry analog of such groups as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Composed of comic-book professionals and initially formed as an honorary society focused on discussing the comic-book craft and hosting an annual awards banquet, the ACBA evolved into an advocacy organization focused on creators' rights.

Electric Crayon was a digital coloring company founded by Steve Buccellato, Marc Siry and Douglas Rosen in 1992. Based in Santa Monica, California, Electric Crayon mainly served the US comic book industry, providing digital color separations for many popular Marvel, DC, and Image titles, including Generation X, Astro City, and the one-shot Batman/Punisher crossover.

The EC Archives are an ongoing series of American hardcover collections of full-color comic book reprints of EC Comics, published by Russ Cochran and Gemstone Publishing from 2006 to 2008, and then continued by Cochran and Grant Geissman's GC imprint (2011–2012), and finally taken over by Dark Horse in 2013.

Barbara Ciardo is an Italian illustrator and comic book colorist mainly active in Italian, American and French markets.

The Eisner Award for Best Coloring is an award for "creative achievement" in American comic books. It is awarded to a colorist.

References

1 2 3 4 Hollingsworth, Matt. "Color Guides," MattHollingsworth.net. Archived 2008-10-08 at the Wayback Machine Accessed Apr. 6, 2009.
↑ "Bullpen Bulletins", Marvel Two-in-One #52 (Marvel Comics, June 1979).
↑ Levitz, Paul (2010). 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking. Taschen America. p. 524. ISBN 978-3-8365-1981-6. Virtually all DC covers from 1973 through the end of the Bronze Age were colored by Tatjana Wood.
1 2 Khoury, George (2007). Image Comics: The Road to Independence. TwoMorrows Publishing. ISBN 978-1-893905-71-9.
↑ Gravett, Paul. Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics (Laurence King Publishing, 2004).
↑ Sierra, Jerry A. "Digital Chameleon Colors The Vertigo Universe - Part Two," Archived 2008-11-14 at the Wayback Machine Publish (July 1994). Accessed Apr. 6, 2009.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[color_guides-1] 1 2 3 4 Hollingsworth, Matt. "Color Guides," MattHollingsworth.net. Archived 2008-10-08 at the Wayback Machine Accessed Apr. 6, 2009.

[2] "Bullpen Bulletins", Marvel Two-in-One #52 (Marvel Comics, June 1979).

[3] Levitz, Paul (2010). 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking. Taschen America. p. 524. ISBN 978-3-8365-1981-6. Virtually all DC covers from 1973 through the end of the Bronze Age were colored by Tatjana Wood.

[Khoury-4] 1 2 Khoury, George (2007). Image Comics: The Road to Independence. TwoMorrows Publishing. ISBN 978-1-893905-71-9.

[5] Gravett, Paul. Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics (Laurence King Publishing, 2004).

[6] Sierra, Jerry A. "Digital Chameleon Colors The Vertigo Universe - Part Two," Archived 2008-11-14 at the Wayback Machine Publish (July 1994). Accessed Apr. 6, 2009.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]