Process...

Well, two weeks in a row without a new book to preview. I've been keeping plenty busy, but it's on books that are still a few weeks out. So, to keep things fresh around here, I thought I'd post an entry about my process since I was asked recently about how I color my pages.

Before I start, let me just say that there are many ways to set up your page in Photoshop, and countless ways to achieve the same look. So, it's really about trial and error, and finding the method that works best for you. I know some colorists that color in RGB, and others that color in CMYK (I color in the latter). Some have many layers, some have as few as possible. I'd also like to note that there are multiple terms for many of the techniques used in coloring, so don't be surprised if I use a term that's different from one that you've heard.

I color using Photoshop CS (yes, I know I'm horribly behind, but it does the trick for me) and a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet on a 27" iMac with a second monitor (I don't like the colors on the iMac screen, so I do most of my actual work on the other monitor, and keep reference, other pages in the same scene, scripts, Netflix streaming, and my e-mail up on the iMac monitor). And if you're trying to recreate this setup at home, all of that equipment sits on a desk from Ikea that I've had for 6 or 7 years. ;)

I'll be using a page from a back up story in Invincible Iron Man #32 written by Matt Fraction and drawn by Jamie McKelvie. The page in this blog post is a pretty good representation of the majority of my work. Sometimes I get art that has to be treated differently due to the style or medium it was drawn in, but this clean, open line art represents a good %80 of what I have to color and how I color it. And even when my coloring style changes most of these steps stay the same.

My job starts when I receive black and white pages from the publisher along with a script...

I send that file to someone to "flat" the page for me (a flatter... yeah, real creative naming, I know). Basically, they give me flat colors that can be selected with a single click, therefore making my job easier. While the flatter is flatting the pages, I read the script to look for anything that might help me decide on the colors I choose. Like the mood of the scene, or the time of day in which the scene takes place. The colors I get back from the flatter are almost always the wrong colors, and need to be changed so that characters have the proper color hair, or costumes, or skin. When I'm starting a new scene I change the flats so that everyone/everything is it's correct color (Spiderman is red and blue, or a stop sign is red), and everything is depicted in local colors (the actual color of an object or surface, unaffected by shadow coloring, light quality or other factors). Then I will tint the scene to get a desired effect (for example, use a blue to wash the page for a night scene). The next image is a page that has been flatted, and then the colors have been corrected and set up to fit into the two scenes...

I usually open all of the pages that I want to color in a day (usually around 5 pages) and take them to this stage. It takes 15 to 30 minutes for me to get to this point on a page, depending on how long it takes me to decide on a palette. Also, I leave a layer with these flat colors so I can easily select that area once it gets painted or textured, which makes it hard to select.

The next step is to add highlights, shadows, and textures to the backgrounds (BG) and figures to covey lighting, depth, and form. I almost always take a pass at the BG's first, and then move on to the figures, and then tweak the BG's again if needed. Here's the page after I've done these things...

 After this is done, the page is pretty much colored. This is the stage of the process where I add extra effects, or knock out the line art (taking black line art and making it a different color, like when something is behind glass, or not solid). In this next image you can see I knock out the line art of the group of people in panel 2. In the script it says they are on the other side of a glass wall...

On top of knockouts, I sometimes add another layer for things like smoke, or fog, or in this case enhancing the look of the glass in panel 2 and push those guys further into the BG (this is where I'd put anything that will go over the line art as well)...

Another layer that I add toward the end is one that has any types of glows for energies, or on this page, Pepper's chest-thingy in panel 1. This layer is usually set to a blending mode other than "Normal". Often it's set on "Hard Light"...

At this point the page is done being colored. I now need to "back up" my blacks with a solid color. I select the line art, and then contract 2 pixels, and then I fill with a back up color on only the cyan, magenta and yellow channels. The reason for this, is so that your blacks print as one solid color. And the reason you contract 2 pixels is just in case the black plate is shifted during the printing process. If you don't back up your blacks, the different colors made up of cyan, magenta and yellow that are underneath your black line art (google 4 color printing, if you're interested) will cause the blacks to be lighter or darker, making a terrible looking image. Anyhow, I'm sure there are better explanations elsewhere, so instead of me rambling on, have a look at what a backed up page looks like with the line art turned off (NOTE: I've just turned off the blacks so you can see what's underneath, but the page is turned in to the publisher WITH the line art in place)...

Now, with the line art turned back on, you can see the final page that I turn in to the editor...

And there you have it, a finished page! This page probably took 1-1 and 1/2 hours from start to finish. Rinse and repeat 4-6 times a day and that pretty much sums up a normal work day for me.

MW