Comic book coloring before photoshop and computers

[Werewolf]

Anybody else miss the old four color Ben-Day dots coloring process in comics? It really gave comic book art a vivid distinct style and look. Everything is so heavily photoshopped now. Comic art doesn't really look like comic art anymore, to me. It's lost it's style and identity.

[bizzaro megomauler]

I was thinking the same thing today. It's a shame really, comics are not too kid friendly anymore either....

[palitoy]

Like anything, if used with some restraint it looks better than old school colouring but when it isn't, I have trouble reading the book.

comics are not too kid friendly anymore either....

As a parent, I honestly see that whole scene improving. A couple of years ago, I'd wander into a shop and my kids would go home empty handed but now? They've got ample selection in both of the stores I frequent.

[boynightwing]

I don't miss the old coloring at all. Actually I find it hard to follow older comics now. I got this Transformers collected edition for Christmas. It was the first 10 or so Marvel issues. I'm having a hard time reading it.

[kingdom warrior]

I like the old coloring because of the simple palettes of color and you could somewhat see the artwork. When they over render now is when i have a problem.....I thought Ultimates Vol 3 was a perfect example of overuse of color....I couldn't see the artwork it was overdone......

[Surfsup]

I personally think the colouring these days is an improvement and actually compliments the art, especially when done by the likes of Dave Stewart and Frank D'Armata.

It was interesting comparing the difference in colouring in the first volume Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams a few years back. One half was re-colored, giving the artwork a new fresh and vibrant look. The other half was left with the original colouring, which looked flat in comparison.

[Earth 2 Chris]

It was interesting comparing the difference in colouring in the first volume Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams a few years back. One half was re-colored, giving the artwork a new fresh and vibrant look. The other half was left with the original colouring, which looked flat in comparison.

Most of that coloring wasn't from the original comics, but the "Best of the Brave and the Bold" mini-series that reprinted Adams B&B issues. They even left in things like the 80s Aquaman logo instead of the proper 70s version. That was during the garish mid-90s "new format" coloring expriements. Yuck.

Chris

[Brazoo]

Neal Adams told a great story about colouring at DC and how he changed the way their comics looked in Following Cerebus #9. Very cool stuff, especially if you know the basics of how print colours work and know a little about printing.

Luckily someone has posted the interview in a blog:
Comics Comics: Dave Sim/Neal Adams on Color

He even has an image of an old DC colour chart!

[Brazoo]

I have no problem with computer colouring - to me it's a tool like anything else - though I do see a huge percentage of bad colouring done because of the fact that hacks can easily colour and add horrible looking colour effects with computers. I see a lot of digital gradients used without concern for where the light source is, or how things actually look and of course I do think that stuff looks terrible.

The irony is that visible ben-day dots would have to be digitally replicated, like with digital halftones, because the original equipment used to produce them is obsolete now.

One of the reasons I keep gradients to a minimum in my own work is because I have a personal theory about outlines. Often digital colouring is meant to make everything look more photorealistic, but drawing everything with an outline automatically makes things look un-photorealistic, so there's the weird conflict happening in the images that lacks style to me. Also, usually outlines are flat solid black, so adding lots of shades and highlights to the insides of the outlines makes the images less integrated, to me.

[Random Axe]

I personally love the new coloring techniques, and I come from the old-school method.

Way back when I was coloring for Sky Comics and Arena Magazine, I was using Doctor Martens dyes, marker, pencil and guache. I dabbled with airbrushing too. We went with a Valiant style. It worked okay when the printer did their job correctly. Our first book was horribly printed and washed out a lot of the vibrance I worked hard to incorporate. Being an indie publisher sucks sometimes.

Scott

[HardyGirl]

I personally like newsprint and the classic drawn look of the comics. To me the stuff that's out now is more in the realm of "graphic novels" b/c the CGI stuff just doesn't have that comic book feel. Old school style just makes me wanna pull out the bubble gum and get cozy w/ a comic!

[TrueDave]

I am EXTREMELY technophobic . But one thing I DO really like is coloring in comics today. I would like to see some old masters like Wrightsons Swamp Thing recolored.

The second thing I like is Gameboy Advance SP. Waited my whole life for that to be invented.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

I grew up with black and white books, and European compilations, so I was kinda spoiled. Compared to the full photo repros the Eurobooks had old school mainstream colouring was really muddy. (And often askew.)

I'm not a fan of American comics using computer colour, since there's no texture to anything: everything looks like it's made out of plastic. Ironic, since full colour printing can be done fairly cheap nowadays thanks to digital printers. But I HAVE seen Japanese and European cartoonists (AND some underground N. Americans) use the computer stuff to good effect.

Don C.

[LonnieFisher]

I love it old school. I hate the slick glossy paper. I like dot matrix coloring on newsprint. Ahhhhhhhhh, those were the days.

[samurainoir]

George Perez discusses his process regarding coloring taking into account the quarter century that has passed from the time Teen Titans Games was started to completion now with computer coloring.

There isn't as much as a difference between the 20-year old pages of "Teen Titans: Games" or the stuff I'm doing now. I guess I was going for a slightly different style, but it is actually, in some cases, less detailed on some of the earlier pages than I'm doing now. And I'm simplifying a little bit to adjust to it. Originally, the book was to be painted over the line work. This was before computer coloring, so everything was going to be done on the boards, adding detail in with color. And now the people at HI-FI will have to replicate that. I'm curious to see how people react to it. There is still a ton of detail in it on a lot of pages, but there are cases where I would draw the shapes of buildings but not draw all the windows on it for a change, because I figured if we did color lines on the building, it would give it a slightly more realistic look. I was going for the way that Moebius did his artwork where a lot of his extra texturing was done as stipple and not that much black. My only concern is that I will now have to watch over the coloring of the book a little more carefully, because there is some detail that I would like to put in that now will be the responsibility of the color artist. So it will be a challenge for the people at HI-FI, but they survived "Legion of Three Worlds," so they'll survive this - I hope.