Does anybody besides me HATE modern comic coloring?

[enyawd72]

I really don't like the way comics are colored today. IMO, there's way too much emphasis on muted colors, special effects, and trying to make them look "real". I provided a perfect example below. The old four color cover just POPS! It's so vibrant. The new one is just blah to me. It's so overdone it even distracts from and covers up the original line work. Notice Dr. Strange's spell casting hand? You can barely even see it because the FX coloring covers it up. I really wish they'd go back to the old method. The books seemed to have so much more life to them.

[The Toyroom]

Great example and I agree 100%!

[emeraldknight47]

Like anything and everything else in today's advanced technological world, computerized comics coloring is a double-edged sword. If thee digital inkers and colorists could use a bit of, shall we say, moderation, in their craft, they could produce stuff that looked LIKE old-school coloring, yet still have a 21st century edginess to it. Instead, they have a tendency to get carried away with way too much in the Photoshop filters palette. And it's not just a problem confined to the comics world; as a prepress technician (and graphic designer) for a local print house, we get clients files in ALL the time that have been glowed and blurred and texturized to death! In the world of digital coloring and VFX, a little goes a very long way...

[thunderbolt]

The recolor really loses a lot of the pop of the original, why fix what ain't broke.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

Agreed! (but I like everything old school).

[Brazoo]

While I CAN agree with your frustration, as with anything, I think it's the fault of the artists, not the tools. Not all non-computer colouring was great. Old school colouring process left a lot of room for errors, for example. Older printing techniques left a lot to be desired too. Bad colour registration - blotchy colour and linework...

What computer colouring allows for is less skilled technicians to do the work. They don't have to really understand colour values or think about CMYK combinations the same way as the technicians who had to paint and assign colour values manually. Modern colourists don't have to understand the technical aspects of print production - like colour registration.

There are cost measures at play here too. With the amount of comics being created - and the way comic colouring is farmed out for production, there are lots of less disciplined artists in the field.

[Brazoo]

One thing that never sits right with me - is the weird combination of inked outlines and effects that are meant to look photorealist.

In real life things don't have flat black outlines - so it always clashes - to my eyes. It's like the outlines are happening on one field - and the colours are happening on another. Sometimes the colours are in front of the black lines, and sometimes behind - so it destroys any harmony between the colours and the outlines. The attempt to add shading to the black lines just pronounces it more to me - exactly like in the Dr. Strange example you gave.

There are some good modern colourists - I think - who work WITH the art. Artists who understand that a flat field of colour can have a lot of graphic impact - instead of just adding gradients to everything in an attempt at realism.

Off hand I don't know if this was coloured with a computer, but I think this is a cool example of very modern comic colouring. It's not trying to be realistic - it's adding impact to the graphic quality of the illustrations. The subtle wash texture in the sky adds a plane of depth that both seems like we're looking at the sky AND acknowledges that we're looking at a drawing on a piece of paper:



So, to me not everything new is bad - but I do know what you're talking about and feel your pain!

[Werewolf]

I really hate the use of photoshop blur effects. Bothers my eyes and just makes it look constantly out of focus.

[torgospizza]

In my opinion, the biggest drawback is that it lets the pencillers and inkers get away with shoddy work. New-fangled coloring strikes me that it's often used to gild turds, so to speak. Just my two cents. Having said that, when used with a great artist, it can take it to another level.

[Figuremod73]

I really dislike the use of modern computer coloring on classic artwork. Its not intended to be colored in that way and i believe takes away from the beauty of the piece. The comic profession use to have some incredible people working behind the scenes that really knew what they were doing both in coloring and lettering. (Some have been able to make the transition).
Another thing I would like to complain about is the paper. I know theres some who wouldnt want to go back to the old paper stock of the seventies and eighties but im old school in that way as well. I believe its part of whats increased the cost over the last decade. They could probably knock a dollar off if they changed the paper alone!

[suspense39]

I with you on that!

I just love the old style. The dots of color for shading, the newsprint, they really had some kind of rare quality and presence. Like fine Japanese prints! The new books just don't do it for me even though some of the art and storytelling is innovative and interesting in itself

[Mego Magyar]

I'll be the third post in a row to vioce that I like the old newsprint comics better then anything modern. Heck, I think things started going downhill back when Jim Lee started - I never was a fan of the line clutered, over drawn look.

[kingdom warrior]

Hate it with a passion......I like popping colors not plastic. I also like newsprint nothing says comic book like the SMELL of an old comic.....new stuff will never have that.....

[enyawd72]

Hate it with a passion......I like popping colors not plastic. I also like newsprint nothing says comic book like the SMELL of an old comic.....new stuff will never have that.....

AMEN TO THAT!

[johnnystorm]

I HATE the blur-speed line effects they like to use...Infantino invented ways to make the Flash move, not relying on graphic effects to fake the work!