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Author
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Topic: Colorists See the Light (March 2002)
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Dave Thomer
Guardian of Peace and Justice in the Galaxy
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posted 03-14-2002 02:34 AM
   
The March 2002 Comics update is now online. |
Kevin Ott
True Believer
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posted 03-14-2002 02:35 AM
quote:
I can't tell you how often I've heard the phrase, "I don't really pay attention to the coloring." Ack! That's like saying, "I don't pay attention to the spices in the chili. I'm just there for the beans." How can you NOT pay attention to the color!
You’ll never catch me arguing that color in comics doesn’t matter, or that I never notice color, or that a colorist’s task and the colorist’s creation shouldn’t be held to the same standard of respect and expectation as that of the artist, the writer, the editor and anyone else who had a hand in creating a given comic. I love a lavishly and meticulously colored book in much the same way as I love the work of an artist who can create worlds of depth and substance with no more than black, white and gray (one of the colorists in Dave’s piece mentioned Dave Sim, whose B&W I’ve always stood in awe of). I like the work I’ve seen recently from Liquid Color, though right now I can’t recall any of the specific titles (I’m sure that makes a statement, but I’m not sure what). I also enjoyed the work Hi Fi has done with New X-Men, especially when coupled with Frank Quitely’s art. And I love the contrast between different panels in Snakebite’s coloring in Red Star. I should also note my appreciation for the absence of color in works like Torso and the aforementioned Cerebus. While I can understand the exasperation colorists must feel at their lack of recognition, and the annoyance that DePuy mentions in the above quote, I wonder whether coloring is such a subtle art that it’s predisposed toward being “ignored.” I use the magic quotes, of course, because it’s impossible to ignore color; whether it’s conscious or not, you’re noticing it, and you’ll come away from reading the comic with an opinion based partly on the colors you saw, and how those colors were used. Those of us who are serious about deconstructing our comics will always be hyperaware of color, just as those of us who are serious about deconstructing our cinema will always be hyperaware of editing. Scott McCloud called comics “the invisible art;” perhaps the invisible art within comics is color. If a reader puts down a comic and loves it, and recommends it to his friends, but can’t say why – something just told him to love it – it’s a good bet the colorist is answerable for that love.
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Pattie Gillett
True Believer
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posted 03-14-2002 02:44 AM
First of all, one minor quibble, it’s a shame that you couldn’t include a sample of Laura DePuy’s work on Ruse. Since that’s one of my favorite books, I’d welcome any opportunity to let others see the art and the color. I guess you’ll all just have to head over to CrossGen’s online comics section to check them out. As for the role of colorists in the comics process, I’m sure much of Snakebite’s (and all the other colorists') frustration with the lack of recognition that colorists get given what they add to a given book has a bit to do with the way that disparity translates into how much they are paid. In an industry where most creators can only barely scrape by doing a large amount of work (in an insanely short amount of time, colorists certainly seem low on the food chain.) It’s clear, however, form the sense of humor they all seem to have about it, that they truly love what they are doing. (I would have liked to ask, in jest of course, how they describe to their families what they do for a living. “But, mom, I really do COLOR for a living!”) From the interviews, it is clear that coloring is indeed as much (or even more) of an intricate art form as any other aspect of the comics process. You have to have a great deal of respect for anyone who can turn out that level of work in the amount of time that colorists generally have. Even though I’ve been reading comics for years, I learned a great deal from this article. I have to admit, I’d been content to chalk up the improvements in the look of comics to better paper quality alone. It was very interesting to see how much the coloring process has evolved in such a relatively short period of time and how that improvement has affected the way the comics I collect look.
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Dave Thomer
Guardian of Peace and Justice in the Galaxy
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posted 03-14-2002 02:50 AM
I think I may have gone too link-happy with the intro to Laura's interview. There's a link to cover of Ruse 2 there, which you can also check out here. One thing I wanted to make sure we did was give each artist a chance to show off some of his or her work.That said, I definitely echo Pattie's encouragement to go check out Ruse at Comics on the Web. It's good stuff. |
Pattie Gillett
True Believer
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posted 03-14-2002 09:15 AM
Very nice. The colors are great but let's not overlook the fact that Butch Guice is da man! |
Dave Thomer
Guardian of Peace and Justice in the Galaxy
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posted 03-21-2002 12:45 AM
quote:
While I can understand the exasperation colorists must feel at their lack of recognition, and the annoyance that DePuy mentions in the above quote, I wonder whether coloring is such a subtle art that it’s predisposed toward being “ignored.” I use the magic quotes, of course, because it’s impossible to ignore color; whether it’s conscious or not, you’re noticing it, and you’ll come away from reading the comic with an opinion based partly on the colors you saw, and how those colors were used.
I'm not sure about this. If I were going to call any element of comics art too subtle to be actively noticed, I'd say it's the inker. (When I started collecting comics I had no idea what the inker did.) I think that the credit issue is really huge here -- you see more 'everyday' fans talk about the colors in Planetary or a CrossGen book because the colorist's name is on the cover. So I think the average fan can notice what color adds, and appreciate it if they're pointed in the right direction. But most comics tell us that the only artist is the penciller, or the penciller and inker, so that's the paradigm we adopt and the way we think about comics. (You did it yourself, Kev, in your response, and I did it in a ton of my reviews here for the site.) It's one of those things where I think credit will bring awareness which will bring understanding, certainly not in everyone, but in a much larger group of readers. | |
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