Snakebite is the colorist/compositer/digital painter on Image Comics’ The Red Star, a title we’ve talked about once or twice on this site already. It’s his job to bring the computer models and Chris Gossett’s pencils together to create seamless images. (Check out some before-and-after shots from Snakebite’s portfolio.) Snakebite also teaches at The Animation Academy in California, working with artists looking to break into animation. He has strong views on art and its intersection with commerce, and isn’t afraid to share them in his own inimitable style with anyone who asks.
DT: What motivated you to get into coloring? What motivates you to keep doing it?
S: Linda Medley and Lynn Varley were my first two inspirations to color back in the late eighties. I feel the most comfortable when I’m coloring and when you’re a colorist you get to work on many different artists . . . it works well with my A.D.D.
DT: What are the skills you needed to learn to do the job well? How did you go about learning them?
S: Contrast and composition, in my opinion, are the two most important things when coloring. Knowing color theory is important as well, but everyone sees color differently. Like everything mileage is key.
DT: When you first start on a page, what are the first things that go through your mind? What are the initial creative choices you make to set the direction for the finished product?
S: Where’s the focal point and emotional message? These are the two most important questions I ask myself.
DT: What do you think comics readers should look for when they look at a page, in terms of coloring, in order to fully appreciate the work?
S: If they get the emotion and story telling, then I’ve done my job.
DT: What do you think differentiates ‘good’ from ‘bad’ coloring?
S: If it makes you physically sick . . . it’s bad, he he. Subjectivity fucks up any real chance to answer that question.
DT: What of your own works are you particularly happy with? What is it about those pieces that you like?
S: I like my latest work and since that hasn’t happened yet, I couldn’t tell you why, he he he. I’m constantly experimenting and my A.D.D. never lets me like my work for too long. I’m just happy and blessed that I have been able to live off my art for the last 9 years and that I’ve put myself in a position where I can grow as a human and artist.
DT: Can you take us through the process a little bit? What’s it take to get a page or an issue of The Red Star done?
S: I’m the last guy to touch everything minus dialogue, Mr. Starkings and crew [from Comicraft] handles such deeds. Although Goss has always included me in the rest of the process from layout to design, I receive the pencils and the 3D assets to composite in a shot, under the guidelines of Goss’ thumbnail layouts. Pages do not come to me like a typical comic page. Almost every element is its own asset (illustration scan or 3D model).
Once I acquire the 3D models and the pencil illustrations are scanned into my hard drive, Goss comes over to my home studio (MEAT PRODUCT, providing essential creative juices that are lacking in today’s boring corporate diets) for a “COMP” session, or “The Dance” as I like to call it.
It goes like this, each page has many different layers (in Photoshop). Each layer is an asset, a lot of the time (although we’re getting better) not to scale to one another. We move everything around, transform it to fit the layout of the original thumbnail. Although when actually collaborating with another you find other paths and the finished product sometimes finds a new conclusion . . . which is one of the many rewarding aspects of this particular project. It’s not about a dictatorship . . . it’s about creating and growing as artists and individuals.
When the “Dance” is completed the preparation work is far from done. I still have to clean up the pencils. When working with a medium like graphite you’ll always have clean up. A lot of the time smudges assist in the integration between the D’s. I then have to flat the illustration — ‘flatting’ is a process used by us point and click bitches to paint using Photoshop. It is ideal for editorial changes. The last few issues I have had the pleasure of a Flatter, Aaron “Strawberry” Horvath who is a student and instructor at The Animation Academy. This job is bone head work and his skills far surpass the task but it’s nice not to have to do it anymore, he he . . . and it’s nice to give out work to a brutha or sista.
From there the fun begins, I FINALLY GET TO PAINT!!! At this point there’s no one way, I approach it from many positions and try new angels all the time . . . I like to think of it as The Kama Sutra of Digital Painting . . .hmmmm, maybe I’ll write a book one day . . . Anyhoo, so I approach the page with fundamental questions always in mind. My teachers say “If you can find the right question, the right answer always follows.” . . . Or was that a dream? . . . Yoda? . . . In any case, it works. Of course education, experience and mileage really help one find the questions . . .
I approach the 2D and 3D the same way, as far as painting . . . just slap the color right on top, no fear. I’m not held back at all by Goss, he encourages me to go further, push it more . . . until the deadline gets closer, he he. People who have ego problems just couldn’t work with us. No sensitive artist types around this book, except for the crying and hugging — but that’s a different story, he he. It’s gotten to the point where I do all the texture mapping on the 3D as well. We have great 3D crews, John Moberly and more recently KGB (these bruthas are under cover), and they lay down some kick ass rendering and sometimes they push the textures but ultimately this book is printed turning it 2D, so there’s no point in bruthas doing extra work for nada. It takes less time, for our schedule, for me to do it in Photoshop then for us to wait for the rendering process . . . although it puts more on my plate . . . I have a healthy mental appetite so it works out. I like how Goss puts it, “You can’t argue with the end results.” He’s right, I haven’t been this satisfied with a project since I can remember and the extra work we put in, although my eyes could argue with me, is soon forgotten by our bodies and what’s left over lasts forever.
And that’s what art is about, The Red Star and The Animation Academy constantly challenge the roles of the artist in our world to be more than just T&A commercial whores (although a lot of those bruthas work real hard to draw spaceships and girls with great bodies and broken backs). We want to be apart of the movement of artists taking back the industry that affects so many people. The visual medium is a strong one when it comes to education and communication and we should feel responsible for what we put in the collective minds of our world. Don’t get me wrong, I like the occasional porno, it’s the balance, but come on there’s only so much porno a person needs (subjective I know). But let’s define success differently so that it means uplifting people and making them more aware so that they can ask the right questions and find the answers that work for them. This is what makes my artistic journey complete at the moment. I say “at the moment” not because I want to move on just because life has this way about it, so I enjoy what it gives me . . . at the moment . . .
DT: What do you need from your collaborators in order to do your job to the best of your ability? How well do you feel comics companies and creators have given colorists the support and respect they deserve?
S: The Red Star has been the only true collaboration that has been printed in the comic industry that I’ve had the pleasure of working on. I work with a lot of great artists at The Animation Academy and just in general, but this book has been my only gig to see print that is a true collaboration. I don’t get a script but Goss walks me through every page . . . with sound effects, he he. I pick up a lot of my color inspiration from the passion he shows in walking me through the story .
As far as the industry is concerned . . . as a whole (’cause I’ve met individuals who aren’t this way) it can eat a dick as far as its respect for colorists. For the most part it has been dependent on colorists. A lot of artists use colorists as a crutch. We can make or break a book. We are the last ones to touch it and for anyone that says “you can’t polish a turd” I would like to invite them to the “Shiney Shit” exhibits in our industry’s archive. Colorist are always saving the collective asses of the people that come before, i.e. editors, artists, inkers.
Ever hear of the “we’ll fix it in post” attitude? Well, in comics colorists are considered “post”.
I’m not saying colorists are key, but we’re damn close to it.
Colorists are artists and should be treated like one. Anywhere you see a penciller credit or inker, you should see a colorist. We should get paid the same amount as everyone else . . . in some cases more. If you go anywhere to get any service on a “rush” basis you pay more. Well . . . colorists are always getting rushed and our paychecks always seem to come late and light. With technology the way its going, colorists are pulling off color stunts at a caliber that pencilers just aren’t capable of doing. What makes comics these days cutting edge is us point and click bitches, without a doubt. Without colorists Image would not have been as big of a hit as it was in the early nineties. Without colorists everything would be black and white . . . I’m not bitter, I’m just aggressive and tell it like it is. I see a shift of the attitude. More artists are making themselves more savvy and therefore more compassionate to our position in the creating process . . . now if we could only get the editors to see the light of day.
DT: When you say that colorists often have to fix the errors of those that have gone before them, can you be more specific about what kind of errors colorists might have to correct?
S: Deadline is always screwed by the time it reaches us. Now I’m not a cry baby, deadlines are screwed all the time when dealing with artists on any level. The mere fact you associate yourself with a artist screws up your deadline right off the bat, he he he.
I won’t get into past artists’ attitudes I’ve experienced, but usually problems arise from lack of exposure to other aspects of production. Since colorists are digital we live in the myth that we can click away any problem with our Finish-dis-Shit button.
I like to point fingers on a individual basis, he he, so I’ll just say that color is just as if not more essential when conveying an emotion and/or story and should be looked at with that kind of respect.
DT: Following up on ‘colorists are artists too’ — do you think the creators’ rights movement in comics has overlooked colorists? What can be done about that?
S: Hells yeah. I tried to rally the troops on many an occassion but most of the time the troops don’t want to rally so I’m goin with Gandhi when i say I’m just gonna be the change I want in this industry. If theres something I don’t like goin on I’m just gonna step up to the plate and do my best not to be apart of what i don’t like and focus on the otherside of the spectrum….Keep creating!!!
DT: What type of stuff are you doing at the Animation Academy?
S: As of November 26, 2001, The Animation Academy in Burbank has been certified and its program approved by the Bureau For Private Postsecondary Education of the State of California. This is very exciting for us, we are now capable of offering transferable units for students who want to continue their training at other schools to gain degrees (although we have students from other prestigious schools coming to us, as well as from other countries). The state certification allows us to give out Certificates when the student completes our program. Next, on the list for the school, is to be able to offer associate degrees. Considering that the owner, Charles Zembillas, started in the back of a restaurant a few years ago this is quite a accomplishment..
The Animation Academy has two student-art-directed-by-instructors productions under our belt. The first was an original animated concept by Charles Zembillas, he did everything up to key frames and had his students do the in-betweening over the course of a few years. Recently he just had a handful of students finish the coloring on it and it competes across the board. Six minutes of solid animation.
The second production was a Flash short and we negotiated the deal ourselves with the investors. This is one of the points we try to convey in our classes, artists can make deals. Now with this production we were just manual labor. The designs, storyboards and script were completed previously and by a different artist. The school and the students did the production but we did pay the students close to industry standard (which most studios don’t even pay these days). How many schools can offer education, experience and good pay? Not many, it’s old school Frank Lloyd type of thinking but it’s a classic brain frame that I’m glad to be a part of reviving . . . We are all working on that being a regular thing.
The Animation Academy practices the fundamentals of art but we also practice the fundamentals of artists’ legal rights with classes like “Business Law for Artists” with Randall J. Kelley, Esq., an attorney with 20 years’ experience with copyrights and contract negotiations for major art publishers and studios. Randall is a personal friend of mine and I truly believe he offers precious insight for anyone that pursues art as a career. Although our main focus is on solid drawing, with instructors from just about every major animation studio in Burbank – Jose Lopez, Thomas Perkins, Gregg Davidson, Kristen Sych, John Nevarez, Richard Chavez, Alan Simmons and Stephen Silver – we still stress the importance of good business sense and sensibilities . . . after all this is a business . . . I can’t think of another school that offers Business Law class as part of their full time certified programs
We also have an offspring site called animationnation.com. It’s a message board with some of the most talented, knowledgeable people in the art industries, who are all willing to share their knowledge. I love them all, even the ones I can’t stand, he he. It’s a fun online place to learn and find out what the real deal is in the art industry….and not just animation, we have members from all walks of life and all over the world…our thousandth member just registered tonight and we have thousands more who just read
On a personal tip, I feel at home when I’m at The Animation Academy. There’s a brotherhood there, the knowledge passed through there lifts people up to the level they want to be at. Sure I’ve seen people filtered through the school to never return…but that’s the way of things. I can’t find the right words of appreciation to communicate where I’m coming from . . . I guess it’s all about walking a mile in a brutha’s shoes.
DT: What other projects are you working on?
The Red Star and The Animation Academy take a lot of my focus, but my A.D.D. keeps me desiring collaboration with others constantly. One thing I would say to the peeps just starting out is to keep yourself versatile but not stretched too thin. Finish what you start, the obvious cliche for a reason. Learn every aspect. Comics used to be the cheapest way to test a multi media property on a market, now it’s the internet. Sure the internet doesn’t make you any money, well neither does comics. They’re both two different ways to do the same thing, market yourself for potential future investors.
If you’re a creator, you ultimately have the power and if you’re willing to make the journey across the desert to reach your destination, your destination will be worth the long trip . . . or short, depending on life, he he.
But I can’t stress the power of the internet enough. With Dot-Com-Failures it could seem bleak, but those fuck heads approached the whole thing wrong and with too much money . . . kinda like what we saw happen in the mid-nineties in comics . . . BOOM!!! “Why my lip all busted up, and where’s my money?”. It’s all about solid content.