Colouring of comics

[Giskard]

Don't want to sound too strict on you 2000AD people (STILL the best comic mag ever) but the colouring of some stories leave a lot to be desired..I'm taking the latest issue and specifically Escape from Atlantis to prove my point...It's plain crap..I mean the colours are too glossy and too bright, the characters are too crudely pictured and quite frankly it completely ruins what I call the "Magic of Judge Dredd", that mixture of dark imagery and macabre action that characterises most the series...

I'd like to know if the on-going trend towards using computer programs to colour the comics, rather than the traditional paints, is to blame for seeing this phenomenon lately and whether any other readers here think that this process of automisation is really a step forward for the comic industry...

A fan of your mag

[JTurner]

Good god, is it that time of the month already?
It only seemed like yesterday that the last 'What's your opinion on computer colouring?' was posted...

But yes, Atlantis did, for me, fall into the 'Oh god, another computer colour job.' category.

I forget who said it, but I read once that 'The best airbrushed art is that which does not look as though it was airbrushed.'

I think the same applies to computer colouring.

[frazer]

I honestly feel this is a kneejerk reaction to what is simply a matter of taste.
many may prefer the smoothe and glossy finish to the atlantis tale, whilst others prefer the gritty realism of acrylics.

neither is wrong or right, just different. this is what makes 2000ad so vibrant: the sheer variety of styles within.

the trend towards computers is simply one of convenience, seeing as in the right hands the computer can reproduce the same results as paint with less hassle and in less time.
there may be some who use it in a gaudy and unoriginal manner, but the same can be said for "real" colour in days gone by.

i think that the technology DOES enable the magazine to progress, as it allows new artists to explore and experiment.

Frazer

[sigu]

Hello Giskard,

In the same issue there is a Future Shock called Ratings War, which is coloured by the same artist as Escape from Atlantis, the talented Chris Blythe. The Future Shock is computer-coloured in a  much more textured,  painterly way than the Dredd strip. Perhaps Mr Blythe deliberately adopted bright colours to reflect the shiny sterility of an underwater service complex?

There is nothing inherently inferior with computer colouring. An artist's eye and judgement are more important than his materials. I recently heard of a comic colourist who used snot to great effect and the great Pierre-Auguste Renoir reportedly painted with his penis.

cheers,

SiG

[paulvonscott]

"the great Pierre-Auguste Renoir reportedly painted with his penis."

It makes you appreciate and wonder at Michaelangelo's cistine chapel even more doesn't it?

I hadn't realised that Chris Blythe had done the Dredd and the future shock and he wrote one, is he an octopus?

I like my Dredd bright and colourful.  Mega City is grim enough without dark dingy colours.  I liked the watery glare effect particularly.

I like anything if it's done well.  Personally I've seen a lot of bad painted stuff.  As Frazer said, it's just another artists tool now.

[Giskard]

   SiG,

 Indeed SiG the Ratings War story is among the best-illustrated ones i've seen in quite a while and i give full credit to the artist for his skill and taste (I particularly liked the computer "filter" effect on the ruins of Avalon city).

  My main gripe is that the Judge Dredd saga is an undoubtedly classic comic and part of what made it a classic is the artwork that went into it..Don't get me wrong I don't loathe computer colouring but I do believe that in some areas it is simply not fit for the job..For me the colours and sketching of Judge Dredd  go hand in hand with the whole "dark future" atmosphere and even with the character of Judge Dredd itself...and using bright and glossy colours (together with an over use of the "gradient" effect) doesn't help that precise atmosphere..

[paulvonscott]

I'd argue that the whole 'dark future' of Mega City didn't start till the late eighties, when with the advent of colour Mega City one became a dark, shadowy miserable place.  

Before it was a bright, sunshine filled insane place, the darkness was in the citizens, the judges and non visual elements of the strip.

As I said Mega City one is a thoroughly depressing place if you think about it, but as a  lot of the citizens are insane they may not notice it.  If you just looked at Mega-City one on the telly it would seem a great place to live.

[JTurner]

I've done a bit of the ol' computer colouring myself and to get a good effect you need a lot of skill....
I won't say what my results were, but Frazer Irving wasn't particularly impressed. But hey, it was my first attempt.
I wouldn't critisise it as a technique, there's potential here to emulate any other style of colouring. Just as long as people don't just select the paint bucket and do another gradient fill. To some people it does look like an easy alternative to painting, until you try it.

[Mudcrab]

Yep, it's not easy. The problem is though, it dates very easily. After a few years, you'll look back and say "Ugh, not more bloody cheapo lens flare" or "Ugh, you could make that lok much better with Photoshop 17"

A classic example is Carlos Ezquerra's first stuff on Wilderlands (I think). Those horrible 'square' backgrounds. The photo stuff he used for backgrounds was not bad at all, although a mate who's an artist (not a comic one) thought it looked awful. So yeah, it dates very quickly.

As usual I'll list Fabry's, Belardinelli's old ultra-detailed B&W art, which will always inspire cos it's so damned good! But again, fully painted stuff too, although style I suppose will indicate dating also.

Anyhoo, I've wittered enough. Yet again we get sucked into the coloured artwork thread!

[Leigh S]

By jove PVS, you've done it again!  The major problem with most non Wagner interpretations of Dredd is that they attempt to portray MC1 as this dank ,dark, dystopian future.  Now MC1 is not a nice place to live, but the beauty of the strip was that MC1 was a huge, bright, neon filled, garishly painted wonderland, populated by the disaffected, crazy, stupid and ridiculous.  IMO, McMahon is the artist who epitomises this in his work, and it is an important layer that makes Dredd stand out from any number of "world gone wrong" Sci-Fi scenarios.

[paulvonscott]

Well I do have seven brains, though six of them are attached with string.

Mega City One is a soul crushing place, many people go mad just to stay sane.  To paint it as a grim Dark Future world makes it almost unbearable to read.

I could mutter on about the human spirit refusing to be bound by the shackles of a futuristic oppresive state, but I'd just be being facetious.

At some point in the late eighties Dredd went from being a darkly humorous strip to a humorous dark strip.

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