SeeEmWhyKay

Wonder Woman #5

2012-01-16T11:29:00.000-05:00

Wonder Woman #5 comes out this Wednesday (Jan 16th), and it's the first of a two issue arc drawn by Tony Akins. Here's the opening scene of the book...

From my desk(top)

2012-01-06T12:52:00.000-05:00

This exactly the type of thing I would do if I had Iceman's powers...

Wait, there are 2 more!

2012-01-04T11:13:00.001-05:00

I should have looked closer at the other books coming out today before putting up that Graveyard of Empires post earlier. There are two other books with my colors in them out today, whoops!

A Men of War #5 preview here...

And The Fearless #6 preview here...

Graveyard of Empires #3

2012-01-04T11:03:00.000-05:00

Here's 3 pages from Graveyard of Empires #3 that flash back to the 80's with some Russian Hind helicopters and CIA supervised mountain bases. I'm not sure how they'll credit the colors in this book, but Paul Azaceta (the artist of the book) and I have worked together very closely on the colors, so it should be noted that he has a lot to do with how these colors came out.

These flashbacks, and a few pages toward the end of the issue, are some of my favorite pages from the issue.

Also, there is a huge lettered preview up over at Multiversity, so go check that out.

The book comes out today (Jan 4th), enjoy...

Time... manage it!

2012-01-03T11:14:00.000-05:00

2011 is over, and it was a rather busy year for me. I have this thing where I tend to remember things a little differently than they actually happened, like being busy when I really wasn't for example. ;) However, I'm 100% positive that I was busy this past year because I keep a pretty detailed work calendar.

It started off as a way to plot out all of my projects as they stacked up, so that I could be sure I had enough time to color my books. I just couldn't keep every detail straight in my head, so I needed to have it written down. After a few months of doing this, I realized that I could keep track of how many pages I color on a monthly basis. This kind of stat keeping has always appealed to me as long as I can remember, so for me it's more fun than it is a chore.

In 2011, I set a personal record for pages done in a year with 1207 pages colored. After posting that number to twitter, I had the thought that aspiring colorists might wonder how someone can color "x" number of pages in a given time, and that it might be informative to show my calendar from this past year. Also, based on the hits my previous "behind the scenes" post about Wonder Woman #4 received, it seems like people like a peek behind the curtain.

Another reason I wanted to post this, is to stress the importance of time management for a freelancer. You have an editor that's giving you a deadline, but hitting that deadline takes a lot of self discipline, which can be hard when you're sitting at home and a video game is calling out to be played, or the internet is begging to be surfed. As you can see below, there aren't many days in which I don't color something, but the info that is missing from my calendar is the hours worked in a day. Some of those days I do nothing but work, and other days I can manage all of my work and leisure activities/household chores, etc. A page can take anywhere from 1-3 hours to color depending on my motivation, the complexity of the page, and various other factors. Another thing to keep in mind when looking at the calendar, is that I don't flat any of my own pages, which saves me quite a bit of time.

Other functions that my calendar serves (which are not pictured here) are the dates I invoice a project, and the dates/amounts I'm paid for projects. It's important to keep track of all this stuff when you're a freelancer. If a company forgets to put your invoice in and you don't get a check, you need to know when it's time to bug them about it. Or if you blow a deadline because you just forgot it was there, well you're going to look like an idiot.

So, here's my calendar for 2011...

Thought process (Wonder Woman #4)

2011-12-29T21:00:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share some of my thought process behind a scene from Wonder Woman #4 since it came out last week and I haven't posted about the issue yet. Hopefully what I share in this post will be helpful or insightful, and not seem utterly obvious and in no need of an explanation. :)

I want to talk about a scene in Wonder Woman #4 that was set in a night club/bar and that presented two challenges that could be addressed with color. The first is that we have our group of characters split up, and in different parts of the club, and I knew that I could use color help the reader understand which part of the bar each character occupied. There are also quite a few panels with a lot of people drawn in them, and if I were to do my job poorly the art could flatten out and become hard to read. I had to make sure that I did a good job of separating planes (foreground, middleground, background) to properly show the depth of space in the club. In this case coloring different areas of the club with different color schemes solved both problems. These different colored "pools" of light include the blue-green seating area, the yellow bar area, the red stage area, and the crowd being a transition between red (stage) and blue-green (seating area) ending up a pink-ish/purple.

One reason to choose this approach is that it's a bit of a literal interpretation of a club's lighting, as there are usually quite a few different lights/light sources in bars/clubs in real life. The second reason was, this helps the reader quickly identify where each character is located within the club, and how those spaces relate to each other in terms of how the club is laid out.

In the second panel of the first page presented below, you can see where the seating area and the bar are in relation to the stage and the crowd even though you won't fully see those two areas until the next page. Once those two areas are shown on panel 1 of the second page, the red stage is in the background and the reader quickly gets where everyone in the scene is located, and how the bar is laid out. Another added benefit is that I often have a nice contrast between characters and background since you can usually see another section of the club in the backgrounds of most panels.

To help illustrate all of that nonsense I typed above I took each of the different areas in the club and reduced it to a single color...

In case anyone was wondering, my work files never looked like the pages above. I made these versions specifically to show this concept of creating pools of different colored light to define various areas of the club.

And to see how these ideas were used to create the final pages, here's the finished colored pages with some other notes about my thought process...

-Wonder Woman is lit by red-ish light but I needed her (and the crowd) to separate visually from the guys on stage. So I took the red from the stage, and the blue-green from the rest of the club and met in the middle (sort of) with pinks and purples...

-You can see the red background (coming from the stage) in panel 4 acting as a nice contrast to Hermes, as well as the yellow background (coming from the bar) in panel 7...

-This page is probably the most straight forward since it takes place entirely in the "crowd" section of the bar, with a few cooler backgrounds...

-The warm yellow bar light brings the characters to the foreground against the blue-green seating area. Also, I choose red for the background in panel 1 because I tried the blue-green, but the panel became lost against panel 2. So I decided that the camera could just as easily be looking the other direction, with the stage in the background, and then the panel would stand off of panel 2...

-Cliff noted that the music should feel angry, so I picked red for the stage area. It seemed like a good idea to carry over that red to the background of the last panel where Wonder Woman is angrily stabbing Strife's hand with the broken glass...

-Another pretty straight forward page with just the yellow bar area in the foreground and the blue-green seating area in the background...

Men of War and The Fearless

2011-12-22T09:36:00.000-05:00

Here's two books colored by me that came out recently...

Men of War #4 (preview here)

The Fearless #5 (preview here, although it's listed as issue #4, it's actually #5) Below is a page from later in the book. Probably my favorite page to color in that issue. I really like how the lighting turned out. :)

The Fearless #4

2011-12-01T15:44:00.001-05:00

CBR has a preview of The Fearless #4 up. Here's pages 7 and 9, where I had a good time coloring this shark...

On a related note (fear and sharks), I'm terrified of sharks. TERRIFIED!

MW

Red Skull #5

2011-11-30T13:19:00.001-05:00

The last issue of Red Skull Incarnate is out today (11/30).

Wonder Woman #3 and The Fearless #3

2011-11-18T10:39:00.001-05:00

A pair of 3's this week. This past Wednesday two books that I colored hit the shelves.

The Fearless #3...

And Wonder Woman #3...

Catch up...

2011-11-11T11:11:00.001-05:00

Gotta love the rush before the holidays. A lot of work getting done, but not much else as you can see from the lack of posts. So, before I dissapear for another two weeks, here's some colors!

I did this cover for a book called The Rinse. The cover is drawn by Paul Azaceta...

I did two versions for Boom! to choose from, and here's the one they didn't choose (forgot to make the lines on the table white in this one, whoops!)...

Men of War #3 came out last week and Here's a few pages from that book...

And there's a preview of Fearless #3 up over at CBR that has some of Mark Bagely's art, and here are some pages with Paul Pelletier's art (they split the art duties on the book)...

Now, back to work!

MW

Snarked covers...

2011-10-29T15:11:00.001-04:00

I'm coloring the covers for Snarked, a Roger Langridge book over at Boom! Studios kids line, Kaboom!. Here's the multiple covers for issue 1 and the cover for issue 2...

This image was split into two covers for issue 1...

This is cover C, and it was drawn by Chris Samnee! It's modeled after a Thor: The Mighty Avenger cover...

This is the cover for issue #2...

Fearless #2

2011-10-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

Out next week (Nov 2nd) is Fearless #2. There's a bunch of people involved with writing and drawing this book. I named them all in the post for Fearless #1. There's a preview up over at CBR or at Newsarama, if that's more to your liking.

Here's some pages that are not in that preview...

Red Skull #4

2011-10-28T09:58:00.000-04:00

Red Skull #4 came out this past Wednesday (Oct 26th), but I've been a bit busy and it totally passed me by. Anyhow, here's some pages from the book...

Fearless #1

2011-10-19T10:02:00.000-04:00

Here's some pages from Fearless #1, which is out today (Oct 19th). You can check out another scene in the preview over at CBR. The art duties are split between two pencilers, Paul Pelletier and Mark Bagley, and two inkers, Danny Miki and Andy Lanning. The pages below are drawn by Paul and the scene in the CBR preview is drawn by Mark. I'm not sure which inker is inking which penciler, sorry guys!

Wonder Woman #2 and NYCC

2011-10-18T23:07:00.004-04:00

Here's some pages from Wonder Woman #2, which is out tomorrow (October 19th). You can find these, plus one more in the preview over on CBR.

Also, I was at NYCC this past weekend. I didn't have a table, and instead just walked around. However, the show is getting so crowded that I didn't spend too much time on the show floor. In fact, we skipped the show on Saturday entirely. Unfortunately that meant that I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to see. So, sorry if I missed you! On top of that, I was so busy leading up to the con I didn't really tell anyone that I was going to be there. I ended up getting a lot of, "I didn't know you were going to be here!" all weekend.

MW

Men of War #2

2011-10-06T10:18:00.001-04:00

Hey, here's some pages from Men of War #2 which came out yesterday. It's part of DC's new 52. You can pick it up in comic shops OR grab it digitally the same day the print issue comes out. So go check it out!

Peek a Week 9.30.11

2011-09-30T10:41:00.000-04:00

Hey look, it's Crossbones...

Wolverine #16

2011-09-28T09:57:00.001-04:00

Wolverine#16 is out this today (9/28) and here are some pages from the book...

The Fearless

2011-09-22T10:43:00.000-04:00

Hey hey!

One of my next projects is the follow up to Fear Itself, called Fear Itself: The Fearless. It's got a whole bunch of people working on it (couple of writers, couple of pencilers, couple of inkers), so check out this preview over at Newsarama to catch all the credits.

I particularly like that Crossbones goes to a black tie masquerade and just puts on a fancier skull mask...

Peek a Week 9.17.11

2011-09-16T20:40:00.000-04:00

Here's one of my favorite panels from work this week. It's from a new project that should have some previews soon. Enjoy!

Peek a Week 9.9.11

2011-09-09T11:07:00.000-04:00

Yep, ice pants.

New 52

2011-09-08T11:01:00.000-04:00

Hey! So I was busy finishing a book yesterday, and forgot to post about my first book out For DC's New 52. It's called Men of War and it's written by Ivan Brandon and drawn by Tom Derenick. The book focuses on Sgt. Rock who, in this story, is the grandson of the original Sgt. Rock.

Red Skull #3

2011-09-02T22:22:00.000-04:00

Another book out next week that got a preview today, Red Skull! Here's a preview with words, but I'm only going to post one page. One gut stabbing page...

Wolverine #15

2011-09-02T11:08:00.001-04:00

Wolverine #15 is the first of a 2 issue arch drawn by Groan Sudzuka. Below you can check out a page, and then continue the sequence in the preview that CBR has up!

I had an awesome time coloring Goran's art (both issues are done), and can't wait to work with him again. Also, a fact not widely known (even to Goran until I told him), is that I colored a good chunk of his Y the Last Man art when I worked for Zylonol Studios. I liked working on it then, and I like working on it now. :)

Peek a Week 9.1.11

2011-09-01T17:51:00.003-04:00

Terrible title? Maybe. I want to show a small snippet of what I'm working on every week, so I'm going to start a new reoccurring post. I'm sure you're all aware of how well people stick to internet schedules... as in, not at all. And that's probably going to be true for this as well. But at the very least, I figure this idea can generate some content on weeks where I don't have a book out, or in preview.

Anyhow, here's my first one...

And before any of you say anything, the choice to leave snow is ALL white (as in, nearly no rendering) was a stylistic choice and not one made out of laziness. Style, YOU HEAR ME! :)

MW

Secret Avengers #16

2011-08-26T11:40:00.000-04:00

I colored this issue of Secret Avengers some months ago, and it's finally coming out next week (8/31). Here's a preview over at CBR, and below are some pages without the words...

Wonder Woman...

2011-08-25T18:32:00.001-04:00

Hey everybody (Hey Dr. Nick!)

There's a Wonder Woman piece on CBR with some Cliff and Brian Q&A. Also, there's a page from issue 2 in the article. I'm in the middle of coloring issue 2 now, and the art is freaking fantastic. Go check out the article here, and the new page is also below...

Graveyard of Empires 2

2011-08-23T13:15:00.000-04:00

Here's some pages from the next Graveyard of Empires, out this Wednesday (8/24)...

Wolverine #14

2011-08-19T09:39:00.000-04:00

One more before I hit the road (or skies in this case) for Baltimore. Wolverine #14 comes out next week and there is a preview up here.

Baltimore and X Men Season 1

2011-08-18T20:46:00.000-04:00

Hey hey!

I'll be in Baltimore this weekend for the con. I won't have a table, and I'll just be wandering around. So if you see a bald colorist say hello! And who knows, it might actually be me. ;)

Also, I have a new project with my buddy Jamie McKelvie, X Men Season 1! Newsarama has an interview with the writer Dennis Hopeless and Jamie along with some images. Go check it out!

Moon Knight #5

2011-08-12T22:06:00.000-04:00

A few Moon Knight #5 pages are in the new Marvel A-I-C: Axel In Charge Q&A over on CBR. Go check it out...

Yessssssssss!

2011-07-21T23:24:00.002-04:00

Super excited to be coloring Cliff Chiang.

I must have made some sort of deal with the devil in my sleep. I hope I didn't promise anything important...

Moon Knight #4

2011-07-18T13:10:00.000-04:00

There are some pages from Moon Knight #4 in the latest Talk to the Hat column over at CBR.

Wolverine #13

2011-07-11T21:34:00.000-04:00

Newsarama has an early look at Wolverine #13 (click here). Below are 2 of the 4 pages they have previewed...

Moon Knight #3

2011-07-06T17:23:00.000-04:00

Moon Knight #3 is out today, and here is a preview.

Wolverine #12

2011-07-05T09:11:00.000-04:00

Marvel has posted three early preview pages for Wolverine #12, you can check that out here. And here's 2 of those pages featuring Gray Hulk and brown suited Wolverine in a flashback...

Color Me Talented...

2011-07-01T16:11:00.000-04:00

Back at Heroes Con I was on the Color Me Talented panel about with Laura Martin, Brian Reber, Rachelle Rosenburgh and Charlie Kirchoff. That panel was moderated by Dollar Bin's Adam Daughhetee. The talk was recorded and you can listen to it here... http://www.thedollarbin.net/shows/heroescon-2011-color-me-talented.html

MW

Red Skull #1

2011-07-01T09:28:00.001-04:00

I'm coloring the 5 issue Red Skull miniseries for Marvel written by Greg Pak and drawn by Mirko Colak. This book tells how a young orphan turns into a pretty heinous villain, while at the same time the Nazi party is taking power in Germany.

Anyhow, here's a preview with words, and below are some pages without the balloons...

Wolverine #11, and a bit more about process...

2011-06-30T22:54:00.002-04:00

I need to do some catching up around here, and I thought it would be nice to post more about my process. So, instead of just posting "This book is out" for Wolverine #11, I figured I would point out the reasons behind some of my color choices.

Don't worry, your minds are in no danger of being blown.

The current story arc for Wolverine has our favorite mutant tracking down the group who sent his soul to hell, The Red Right Hand. Each issue is divided into two time periods: the present and a series of flash backs. In the present Wolverine fights his way through 5 thugs (fighting one at a time/one per issue) that serve as The Red Right Hand's body guards.

While Wolverine is fighting in the present, each flashback section of the book focuses on a different member of The Red Right Hand and an event in their lives where Wolverine caused them pain and suffering.

After reading the script the first color decision I made was that it needed to be very obvious when the story was in the present and when it shifted to flashbacks. I decided that I would make all the flashbacks the same limited palette, and make all the present day a contrasting palette. Within the flashbacks the story shifts from place to place, and even from time period to time period while exploring the character's life. Typically I would pick a different palette for each of these scene changes so that the reader would know that the story has shifted scenes. But I decided that it was more important to keep all of the flashbacks colored with the same palette so that they are instantly recognizable as flashbacks.

So, here's two pages from issue #10. In the first page we're seeing Wolverine in the present (holding a severed foot, eww). These palettes are mostly cool colors.

The very next page is a flashback scene, which has a warm palette. There's no question we've shifted scenes from page to page.

The next two pages are from issue #11 and as you can see I've continued the same palettes from issue #10. Even though the flashback is focusing on a different character I wanted all the flashbacks in this arc to be connected since each one is a memory about Wolverine. That's my way of saying that each of these peoples view of Wolverine is "tinted" the same way. Again, the first page is in the present, with the last panel switching to a flashback, and then a whole page of flashback.

These certainly aren't revolutionary ideas concerning comics coloring. In fact, they're pretty simple concepts. But this illustrates one of the many decisions that a colorist can make to help enhance the storytelling in a comic.

MW

Graveyard of Empires #1...

2011-06-14T01:13:00.000-04:00

Hey hey! I'm coloring a book called Graveyard of Empires, written by Mark Sable and drawn by Paul Azaceta. Check out the preview for issue one over on CBR.

Heroes Con 2011 recap...

2011-06-10T22:36:00.001-04:00

Guh! Sorry for the delay on this post. I've been trying to keep on top of work since I returned from Heroes, and I totally mixed up some deadlines. Whoops! Luckily it was for a book that's a few issues ahead, so no real crisis.

Anyhow, Heroes '11 was another great show. It FLEW by for me this year. I felt like I hardly saw anyone, or anything. Last year I took my computer and worked, which kept me from seeing much of the show. So this year I told myself that I would get up from my table and walk around more. Well, I ended up doing a good number of marker commissions and I didn't get up to walk around until last 30 minutes on Sunday. So, once again, I was glued to my table. However, I was sitting next to Kelly Sue DeConnick, so at least the company was good! Here's my snazzy looking table...

This was my first year doing marker commissions, and it was pretty fun! So fun, in fact, that I took a larger commission home to work on. I'm thinking of taking some commissions by mail throughout the year, but specifics for that will come a bit later. Here's my first marker commission (ever), a Chris Samnee zombie Captain America sketch...

I also got to color a bit of this jam piece for the auction (also a first)...

I colored some other sketches, including another Chris Samnee and a Bobby Timony drawing, but I don't have any pics of them. :(

Another first for me was being on a panel. I sat on the Color Me Talented panel along with Laura Martin, Brian Reber, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Charlie Kirchoff (just out of frame in this pic, sorry Charlie!). Here's me creeping out some audience members...

Thanks to the folks at Heroes for another fun year, and thanks to everyone that came by the table and said hello.

See you in 2012!

MW

Snarked covers...

2011-05-28T23:13:00.000-04:00

I'm coloring the covers for Roger Langridge's Snarked for Boom! I've seen the cover for issue #0 posted around the web (and it's been a really crappy jpeg :/), so I thought I'd post a decent looking version here.

Enjoy...

Heroes Con 2011...

2011-05-27T10:24:00.003-04:00

One week away from Heroes Con! As always, I'm looking forward to the show, and even more so this year because this will be the first time I've been on a panel. Pretty neat! I'll be on the panel Color Me Talented on Saturday at 12 PM in room 203A along with colorists Laura Martin, Rachelle Rosenberg, Charlie Kirchoff, and Brian Reber. Be sure to go check out the entire schedule.

I'll be sitting at a table again this year, and you can find me at AA-111. Last year I had to bring my computer and work during the show, but this year I'm hoping to avoid that. Instead, I'll bring some markers and I'd be open for color commissions. I haven't set my prices yet, but they will probably start around $30 for a head sketch, or simple figure, and go up from there.

Here are some practice pieces I've been doing this past week so I won't screw up on your original sketch!

Moon Knight #2

2011-05-20T17:59:00.000-04:00

Saw some Moon Knight #2 pages in the Talk to the Hat column over on CBR, so I'll post them here as well...

Back on Wolverine...

2011-05-17T09:50:00.000-04:00

After 5 issues with a different art team Renato Guedes is back drawing Wolverine starting with issue #10, and I'll be back on as colorist. Here's an advanced preview, and below are some other pages from the issue...

X Men once again...

2011-05-16T11:46:00.000-04:00

I somehow slipped by the Marvel Talent Security Force (MTSF), and got my colors on some more X Men Legacy pages. I was lucky to escape Marvel Fortress with my life. Whew.

This issue (X Men Legacy #249) is drawn by Rafa Sandoval. The same artist I worked with on 12 issues of the Ultimate Comics Doomsday trilogy last year. It was great to be back with Rafa, AND there is a flashback to WWII and Nazis. A favorite artist, and a favorite historical subject, a double win for me!

Here's what some of those colored pages look like...

X Men Legacy #248

2011-05-03T09:34:00.000-04:00

Yep, Marvel has lost their marbles and let me color 2 issues of X Men Legacy (248 and 249)! ;) Issue 248 will have art by Jorge Molina and Craig Yeung, and 249 will be drawn by Rafa Sandoval (not sure who inked his pages). Both issues will be out in May.

Anyhow, here's a bunch of pages from 248 that I've seen in various places on the web...

Where will you be on Free Comic Book Day? Here's where I'll be...

2011-04-27T10:49:00.000-04:00

May 7th is Free Comic Book Day. Did you know that? If you're going to be in the Charlotte area that weekend, you should come by the comic shop, Heroes Aren't Hard to Find because they're going to have a whole mess of comics creators at the shop all day (including me!). Check out the full list here.

One of the free comics on offer from Marvel, is Captain America/Thor: The Mighty Fighting Avengers written by Roger Langridge, drawn by Chris Samnee, and colored by me. Check the preview out here. So, come by and pick up an issue, and if you want, I'll even deface it with my signature!

Process...

2011-04-22T19:41:00.000-04:00

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

ifanboy.com's They Were Robbed! Missed Eisner Nominations...

2011-04-11T11:50:00.000-04:00

ifanboy.com has shown a lot of love for Thor: TMA this past year. Well, they've done it yet again by putting the book on their list of books and creators that they think should have been given an Eisner nomination...

So, I thought, "That's cool, I wonder what else is on the list?" Toward the bottom I find, to my complete surprise, they singled me out as well!

I suppose it sounds silly, but it's cool just to be on someone's list of "should have gotten it". Maybe next year I can get nominated, and not win! ;)

MW

Big Uncanny X Force #7 preview...

2011-04-08T09:14:00.001-04:00

Below are a handful of pages from Uncanny X Force #7, which comes out Wed. April 13th. Click here to see the pages with words.

Moon Knight 1 advanced preview...

2011-04-06T14:35:00.000-04:00

Capatain America #616 (70th Anniversary).

2011-03-30T10:38:00.001-04:00

Captain America turns 70 this month, and issue #616 is the celebration of this anniversary. I colored a 12 page story drawn by Paul Azeceta, and there are a ton of other awesome artists in the book (to see the full preview, click here). So go out and pick one up (it's in stores today, 3/30).

Uncanny X Force #6 preview...

2011-03-21T10:41:00.001-04:00

Everybody was Kung Fu fiiiighting! HUH!

(Pictures with words, here)

Ultimate Comics Doom #4

2011-03-19T08:24:00.001-04:00

Here's some pages from the final issue in the Ultimate Comics Doom mini series. This mini concludes the three part story told in Ultimate Comics Enemy #1-4, Ultimate Comics Mystery #1-4, and Ultimate Comics Doom #1-4. I'm told that they will all be collected into one book. Anyhow, here's a preview with words, and below are the pages without the baloons...

Out today (3/16)

2011-03-16T13:47:00.000-04:00

I have work in 3 books out today. Captain America and Crossbones #1, Generation Hope #5, and Iron Man 2.0 #2...

Fear Agent, Vol 6 cover

2011-03-07T19:29:00.000-05:00

Here's my colors over Jerome Opeña for the final tpb of Rick Remender's Fear Agent...

Captain America 616

2011-02-25T18:39:00.000-05:00

Did you know Captain America will be 70 this coming month? To celebrate issue 616 is going to be huge, and feature quite a few artists (check out the preview). I've colored a 12 page story drawn by Paul Azaceta, and here's the first page...

Uncanny X Force #6

2011-02-24T02:12:00.000-05:00

An advanced preview, with random, out of order pages is up at CBR. So why not post them here too, right?

Iron Man 2.0 #1

2011-02-22T12:06:00.000-05:00

Iron Man 2.0 is out this Wednesday (2/23), and here are 2 pages from the book. The art is split over 3 artists. The first page is by Barry Kitson, and the second page is by Carmine Di Giandomenico. The third artist is Kano, but he colored himself in the first issue.

Ultimate Comics Doom #3

2011-02-22T11:59:00.000-05:00

Almost done with this series. :( Issue #3 comes out Wednesday, and I'm working on issue #4 right now. Here's a preview with words, and below are the two spreads sans-lettering...

Generation Hope #5

2011-02-22T11:55:00.000-05:00

I saw a page of this posted in an interview with the writer of Generation Hope, Kieron Gillen. So, let's spruce this place up a bit, and make a post out of it!

Uncanny X Force #5

2011-02-10T14:03:00.001-05:00

A new project of mine is 3 issues of Uncanny X Force, written by Rick Remender and art by Esad Ribic with John Lucas. Here's a preview, and below are the pages without all the words...

Anchor is "2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens"

2011-01-23T11:25:00.000-05:00

Hey, check this out. The Anchor Vol. 1 (a book I colored) has been selected by the Young Adult Library Service Association as one of their 2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. Here's the official press release...

January 21, 2011 - Los Angeles, CA - BOOM! Studios is proud to announce that for the second year in a row the Young Adult Library Service Association (YALSA) has selected a BOOM! Studios original graphic novel, THE ANCHOR VOL. 1: FIVE FURIES, as one of their 2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens.

This year, YALSA has compiled a list of 63 titles out of 89 official nominations presented annually at the ALA midwinter conference. These titles are recommended for readers ages 12 to 18 and are chosen for their ability to "meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens."

"We can't express how excited we are to receive this honor once again!" says BOOM! Studios Marketing Director Chip Mosher. "It's a pleasure to see that the hard work and dedication of the entire BOOM! staff does not go unnoticed. Thanks to YALSA for the opportunity to say once more that we produce 'Great Graphic Novels for Teens'"
Anyone may view the list of other award recipients at the American Library Association website: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/greatgraphicnovelsforteens/ggnt11.cfm

Pretty cool!

MW

That was easy...

2011-01-22T10:27:00.000-05:00

Well, sorry for the lack of posts for the start of 2011. The slow going around here kind of mirrors my work this year. It's been a perfect storm of sick artists, and late art, and as a result I haven't done much work this month. I've also had a lack of motivation, but I'm thinking that my mood has just been mirroring my workload, because now that I've got plenty of work stacked up I'm all pumped up to color again!

So yes, there is a whole bunch of fun stuff that I can't wait to color, and other fun stuff that I've finished that I can't wait to show off.

Let's start with the easiest 2 pages I've ever been paid for...

HA! That made it easy to hit my page quota that day! ;)

And here are the other two pages that you can also see in a preview at various places on the internet...

And here's a page not in the preview 0_0...

Arcade: Death Game

2011-01-14T11:05:00.000-05:00

This is going to be used in some way or another for Paul Tobin's Arcade: Death Game. It was going to be 3 separate covers, but now I'm being told it's something else. Meh, what do I know, I'm just payed to hit the color button. :)

2010 and Thor TMA...

2011-01-03T13:09:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone's enjoying the first few days of 2011. I am finding it incredibly hard to get motivated with work.

A lot of "Best Of" lists for comics in 2010 are out, and Thor TMA sure got a lot of love.

Comics Alliance has it at #8 in it's top 10...

Roger Langride, Chris Samnee, Matt Wilson and Rus Wooton have collaborated to create a rare gem of a comic, and in their own way managed to subvert the contemporary definition of quality in the superhero genre.

It's also #8 in CBR's top 100...

The best introduction to the character since Walt Simonson's run almost three decades ago, Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee turned out to be an ideal match in terms of tone, charm and making this kind of superhero book look easy.

Graeme McMillan from the Robot6 blog has it at 7 in his top 10 and the book is mentioned numerous times by creators as a favorite book in Looking forward, looking back: Creators weigh in on comics in 2010 and 2011 also at Robot6.

George Marston over at Newsarama gave Thor TMA his Gold Medal...

My gold medal this year belongs to the unsung masterpiece of modern superhero comics that is Thor: The Mighty Avenger. As I write this, there's only one issue left, and a bigger crime against comics there could never be. Everything about this book is perfect.

iFanboy has Thor TMA listed in it's Top 10 Best Things About Comics in 2010 article at the #5 spot...

Clearly there was an audience out there -- not a big one, mind you, but a passionate one -- for a Thor comic that existed free of the shackles of Marvel Universe continuity and that served not to prop up a larger storyline, but to just tell fun, all-ages stories full of charming characters and wonderful art.

As well as a mention in their Best Writers, Artists, and Series of 2010 video podcast...

The book may be on other lists, but these are the few that I've seen. I'm really glad I was a part of such a special book with some great creators. And looking ahead we still have issue #8 coming to stands in January, and the Free Comic Book Day issue in May.

Speaking of issue #8, Robot6 has an exclusive preview. Click here to check that out!

Thor TMA & Free Comic Book Day!

2010-12-21T11:07:00.000-05:00

That's right, Marvel is doing a Thor TMA issue for FCBD!

Crossbones

2010-12-18T10:37:00.000-05:00

So this is a preview for something waaaaaaaay down the line. As in, not until March. This Crossbones one-shot will be for the 70th anniversary of Captain America this coming spring.

A friend of mine, Declan Shalvey, drew the book. This is the first time we've worked together, but we've been wanting to collaborate for ages now. I feel like the book is a perfect fit for both of us, and I'm having a blast coloring these pages.

CBR has info on the book in the latest T&A article, and here are the preview pages...

Ultimate Comics Doom #1

2010-12-17T12:57:00.000-05:00

Ultimate Comics Doom will conclude the story told in Ultimate Comics Enemy and Mystery. Issue #1 will come out next Wednesday, the 22nd. CBR has a preview, and below are the pages without words...

Invincible Iron Man #500

2010-12-15T12:41:00.000-05:00

I'm coloring a story in Invincible Iron Man #500 that comes out in January. Marvel has made a trailer for the issue...

MW

Wolverine #4

2010-12-10T12:31:00.001-05:00

SNIKT!

CBR preview here, pages below!...

Arcade: Death Game cover #1

2010-12-09T14:20:00.000-05:00

Here's the 1st of 3 covers that all connect to make one large image for the new mini series Arcade: Death Game. The series is written by Paul Tobin and the covers are drawn by Chis Samnee.

Thor: TMA #7

2010-12-03T10:53:00.000-05:00

The next issue of Thor: TMA is out next Wednesday, 12/8. Here's a preview from CBR, and below are the pages without words...

Wizard World Atlanta

2010-12-02T14:06:00.000-05:00

Just a reminder, I'll be at Wizard World Atlanta this coming weekend (12/4-12/5)...

1K (and Woverine #4) (edited)

2010-12-01T11:14:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I colored my 1000th page this year. My page count is at 1011, with one month left in the year.

And just so this isn't a text only post, here's a page from Wolverine #4 that comes out December 15th...

Invincible Iron Man back up...

2010-11-24T09:09:00.000-05:00

Almost forgot this one! Jamie McKelvie and I are doing a back up story in Invincible Iron Man starting with issue #32, which comes out today.

Here are some pages from the back up...

It's a rather full week for me in terms of books coming out today. Along with Invincible Iron Man #32, I have work in Ultimate Comics Spiderman, Ultimate Comics Avengers, and Thor: The Mighty Avenger #6.

MW

Ultimate Matt

2010-11-23T10:50:00.001-05:00

Hey, I have work in two Ultimate titles for Marvel this week. I did a short story in Ultimate Comics Spiderman, and I helped out Matt Hollingsworth on Ultimate Comics Avengers. CBR has a preview of both, here's Spidey and here's the Avengers. Below are some pages from the books...

Avengers...

Thor: TMA #6

2010-11-22T11:39:00.000-05:00

Even with the news of it's cancellation, Thor: TMA still has 3 issues coming out. Issue #6 comes out this Wednesday (11/24) so go check it out.

Here's CBR's preview, and below are some pages from the book...

Thor no more...

2010-11-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

*A note for some context. Thor: The Mighty Avenger is a book I color for Marvel Comics. It is written by Roger Langridge and drawn by Chris Samnee. It has been announced that the book will end at issue #8.*

Due to some deadlines I'm a couple of days behind the announcement of Thor: TMA coming to an end, but I wanted to make a post despite the fact that most of you have probably already read this else where. If not, well then here we go!

Chris Samnee said it best over on his blog...

"The cat is out of the bag that Thor: TMA will be ending at issue 8, for now.

Thank you all so much for all the kind words and amazing support you gave this book. Thor: TMA has meant the world to me and I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to work on it with the amazing team of Roger Langridge, Matt Wilson, Rus Wooton, Nate Cosby and Mike Horwitz.

We've still got three more awesome issues that will be out, I hope you continue to support the book. And feel free to let Marvel know that you'd like to see it come back! :)"

Well, except that I would change out my name for Chris on that list of names so I wasn't praising myself. :P

Roger Langridge, the writer of the book has also posted about the books ending, saying...

"It's been officially announced now, apparently, so I can mention here at last that Thor: The Mighty Avenger has been cancelled - issue #8 will be the last one. Thanks to everyone who bought the book - it's been such a great experience working with Chris Samnee on this thing; his artwork consistently exceeded my expectations. He and colourist Matt Wilson made that book the best-looking one on the stands.

Chris and I were four issues shy of wrapping up the mega-subplot we'd been setting up since issue #1 - if we'd reached issue #12 a lot of questions would have been answered and the series would have been tied up with a nice little bow - so if you're Twitter-enabled and you'd like Marvel to publish those last four issues at some stage, let them know."

There has been an amazing swell of support shown for the book since the announcement. It's pretty amazing to see SO MANY people speak out about their love for the book. A lot of people are campaigning for the book to continue.

So, if you're in the dark about all this and want to catch up, I'll compile what I've found so far... There is a Save Thor: TMA page on Facebook and there is a hashtag (#) for saving the book on Twitter as well.

iFanboy has 4 articles up about the books cancellation, (articles are here, here, here, and here). And Robot6 has made the book's cancellation the subject of three of it's articles (here, here, and here).

I've seen multiple people express their support for the book with an image, such as this one from the blog in continuity...

This tweaking of a panel by my buddy Rico...

And another one by Rico...

This little comic made over at the blog The Encyclopedia of Mostly Useless Knowledge...

I'm sure there are many more bits of Thor: TMA support out there on the internet, and even though they aren't listed here they are still MUCH appreciated (I just don't get out often, so I miss a lot :/).

It's really nice to see so many people expressing their attachment to something I've worked on. I hope this ground swell will help convince Marvel to bring the book back. But in reality the only thing that would do that is, better sales. SO, if you'd like the book to ever come back, continue to bug Marvel, but also make sure you buy the book. There are still three issues to come and then the two trades (out December and March). You can already preorder the first trade (on Amazon, for example, where it's shot up the charts for Marvel's books this week!). Also, there's a Thor: TMA poster for sale (my earlier blog post about it, here), not that those sales would make a difference for the book. But in case your interested, there you go. So get out and vote with your dollars, because that's the vote Marvel will pay attention to.

Thanks again for all the support, and keep your fingers crossed!

MW

Osborn #1 is out today (11/17)

2010-11-17T13:54:00.000-05:00

I colored the first two pages of the main story (I was going to be the main story colorist, but I'm not on the book anymore), and I colored the 8 page back up story. The main book is written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and drawn by Emma Rios. The back up is written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Jamie McKelvie.

Osborn #1 back up...

2010-11-12T19:51:00.000-05:00

I was originally going to be the colorist on the mini series Osborn. But due to scheduling conflicts I am no longer coloring that book (I did color the first 2 pages of issue #1). However, I was put on the back up for issue #1 with Jamie McKelvie. I don't know much about the back up other than, the story is about one of the other criminals Osborn is locked up with. As always, I love working with Jamie, and this past month I was able to color 20-something pages of his art, so yay!

There's also a preview of the main story over at CBR.

Thor: TMA Poster...

2010-11-11T09:55:00.000-05:00

Hey! So, I forgot to post this a few weeks ago when I first saw it, but Marvel is making a Thor poster and they're using the cover Chris and I did for the Thor: TMA #1 and #2 reprint, Double Rainbow. The image is below, and you can order the poster from HERE, or your local comic book shop. The cut off date for preorder is Nov. 19th (I know, that's soon, sorry!).

Busy, busy.

2010-11-05T01:04:00.002-04:00

Hey! I've been pretty busy these last 2 weeks. I did a whole bunch of shorter stories (three of them drawn by Jamie McKelvie!) and helped Matt Holingsworth with some pages on Ultimate Avengers. I'm also in the middle of my next issue of Wolverine and Thor: TMA and about to start Ultimate Comics Doom #1. So I'll have a whole bunch of posts in the next few weeks.

Tomorrow I'm taking a day off of work to talk to students at SCAD Atlanta about coloring comics. The amazing colorist Laura Martin will also be there to speak. It should be a lot of fun. Here's a link to the blog post about it.

EDIT: I didn't realize there was this cool poster for the talk...

Anyhow, that's my update for now. No work to post today, but like I said, there are a whole lot of previews coming real soon.

Talk again soon!

MW

Out today, 10/27/10

2010-10-27T10:14:00.000-04:00

Ultimate Comics Mystery #4 is out today. Here's a preview over on CBR, and below is an image from later in the book. (Don't worry, it's a flashback, so it's not a spoiler!)

Wolverine #3

2010-10-27T10:07:00.000-04:00

There's a Jason Aaron interview about Wolverine over on CBR, and they posted a few pages from issue #3. Click the link to read, or just look below to see the preview art...

Ultimate Comics Mystery #4 preview...

2010-10-22T23:32:00.001-04:00

With words... (CBR preview)

Without words...

It's been a while...

2010-10-20T11:08:00.001-04:00

Well, It's been over a week since I returned from NYCC. It was a fun show, and flew by. I didn't have a table, and I just walked around visiting with friends and taking in the sights. Not much new going on in terms of work. Issue 4 of Ultimate Comics Mystery comes out next week, but no previews yet, so stay tuned those pages soon. In the mean time I saw the cover of Thor: The Mighty Avenger #8 on Marvel's site, so I'll post it here...

Wolverine #2

2010-10-04T12:49:00.001-04:00

Here's some pages from Wolverine #2, which comes out this Wednesday (October 6th)...

3 (technically 4) books out today...

2010-09-22T07:35:00.001-04:00

Hey there. Ultimate Comics Mystery #3 and Deadpool Teamup #889 comes out today as well as Thor: The Mighty Avenger Double Rainbow! which is actually two issues (Thor: TMA 1 and 2 collected).

Here's some work from Ultimate Comics Mystery #3...

I'm back (plus Thor #5)

2010-09-12T06:07:00.000-04:00

Hey hey! We just got back from Korea and it's back to coloring comics. I'll be finishing up Tho: TMA #5 first and then issue #2 of Wolverine. The next few weeks will be busy with work, and then NYCC will be here before I know it, and I can't wait!

Anyhow, here's a preview of Thor #5 from Robot 6 on CBR. Below is a page from that preview...

Pick of the week!

2010-09-09T21:12:00.000-04:00

Hey folks! I haven't been keeping up with posting or any internets-going's-on because I'm in Korea this week, but I'll be back soon! I did work in two Wolverine books that came out last week, Wolverine #1 and Wolverine: Road to Hell. I've got Thor: The Mighty Avenger #4 out this week, and iFanboy.com has it as their pick of the week! So that's pretty cool. :D

Here's the cover, drawn by Chris Samnee and colored by one of my favorite colorists, Christina Strain.

Alright, that's it for me. I'll be back soon with some more work to post!

MW

Deadpool, teaming up again...

2010-09-02T12:07:00.000-04:00

Issue 889 by Jeff Parker, Steven Sanders and myself. Here's a preview, and below is page one...

Ultimate Comics Mystery #3 preview...

2010-08-30T10:27:00.000-04:00

I don't know how I missed this, but there's an unlettered preview over at CBR.

Thor reprints...

2010-08-23T16:26:00.000-04:00

Thor TMA #1 and #2 sold out so they're reprinting them both in one book with a new cover. How awesome is this? Very awesome!

Here's a link to the article talking about the reprint. And here's the cover image...

Ultimate Comics Mystery #2 preview...

2010-08-20T01:34:00.000-04:00

There's a preview for Ultimate Comics Mystery #2 out, click here to see it. I thought I'd put up pages with a little more visual interest than the talking heads in an office scene that's in the preview.

Also, I just read the script for Ultimate Comics Mystery #4 today and found out the big reveal. I thought it was pretty cool, so make sure to check out this series.

Pale Horse #4 cover

2010-08-17T19:28:00.000-04:00

Here's a cover I did for Boom! Studios Pale Horse #4. The art is by Leonardo Manco, and it was a pretty fun piece to color. I was playing the game Red Dead Redemption when I colored this, and I was really enjoying the whole western theme!

Want to read the first 5 pages of Thor #4?

2010-08-15T16:01:00.000-04:00

Well Marvel has you covered with their fully lettered preview! Click on over to their preview and check out the beginning to issue 4 and the introduction of the Warriors Three into our series.

Thor: The Mighty Avenger #4 preview...

2010-08-12T09:10:00.000-04:00

A few days after I've turned in the files Marvel has put out a preview for Thor #4, due out in stores in early September. Here's the CBR preview, and below are some pages...