Comics.com gets more colorful
Charles Brubaker
Antonio E. Gonzalez
How good this is depends on how many sudden cases of argyria
develop . . .
--
- ReFlex76
- "Let's beat the terrorists with our most powerful weapon . . . hot girl-on-girl action!"
- "The difference between young and old is the difference between looking forward to your next birthday, and dreading it!"
- Jesus Christ - The original hippie!
<http://reflex76.blogspot.com/>
<http://www.blogger.com/profile/07245047157197572936>
Katana > Chain Saw > Baseball Bat > Hammer
Ted Kerin
"Charles Brubaker" <cbru...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:a63afb6d-75ab-414c...@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
It looks like maybe the colorizing actually replaces some of the
black-and-white shading -- as opposed to just colorizing the shading dots.
Could be tricky, unless they now have the artists submitting the shading on
a different "layer" of a Photoshop or similar file. Maybe I'm mistaken, but
see, for example, Tony's shorts and the background house in this "Monty":
Black-and-white
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2008/9/15&name=Monty
Color
http://www.comics.com/comics/monty/archive/monty-20080915.html
Beefies
> black-and-white shading -- as opposed to just colorizing the shading dots.
> Could be tricky, unless they now have the artists submitting the shading
> on a different "layer" of a Photoshop or similar file. Maybe I'm
> mistaken, but see, for example, Tony's shorts and the background house in
> this "Monty":
>
> Black-and-white
>
> http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2008/9/15&name=Monty
>
> Color
>
> http://www.comics.com/comics/monty/archive/monty-20080915.html
That's an interesting example. I could see a cartoonist supplying two
versions of a strip, one with dots and one colored (or without dots for
someone else to color), but I don't think that happened here. It looks like
the moire pattern made by the dot screen became the colored diamond pattern
on the robe and the stripes on the shorts, as if the dots were just selected
and recolored. That seems like kind of an unintended-but-cool accident to
me.
My understanding is that some syndicated cartoonists do provide color files
but most don't. For those that don't, it's usually handled by Reed-Brennan
Media Associates, which (as I think we've discussed here before)
occasionally makes very entertaining or puzzling errors.
Brian F.
http://brianfies.blogspot.com
D. D. Degg
> How good this is depends on how many sudden cases of argyria
> develop . . .
Howzabout a sudden case of Aarrrgghhh!
Checking out the strips I'm happy they didn't colorize the classics.
Li'l Abner dailies? Still black and white.
http://www.comiczone.com/comics/lilabner/index.html
Jerry Bittle's strips, Fat Cats, Meg!, all b&w.
Arrghh! They ruined Tarzan!
http://www.comiczone.com/comics/tarzan/index.html
D.D.Degg
Charles Brubaker
> Antonio E. Gonzalez wrote:
> > How good this is depends on how many sudden cases of argyria
> > develop . . .
>
> Howzabout a sudden case of Aarrrgghhh!
>
> Checking out the strips I'm happy they didn't colorize the classics.
>
> Jerry Bittle's strips, Fat Cats, Meg!, all b&w.
>
> Arrghh! They ruined Tarzan!http://www.comiczone.com/comics/tarzan/index.html
>
> D.D.Degg
"The Buckets" and "Grand Avenue" are, so far, still in B&W
Mark Jackson
> On Sep 15, 8:27 pm, "D. D. Degg" <ddd...@comcast.net> wrote:
>> Antonio E. Gonzalez wrote:
>>> How good this is depends on how many sudden cases of argyria
>>> develop . . .
>> Howzabout a sudden case of Aarrrgghhh!
>>
>> Checking out the strips I'm happy they didn't colorize the classics.
>> Li'l Abner dailies? Still black and white.http://www.comiczone.com/comics/lilabner/index.html
>>
>> Jerry Bittle's strips, Fat Cats, Meg!, all b&w.
>>
>> Arrghh! They ruined Tarzan!http://www.comiczone.com/comics/tarzan/index.html
> "The Buckets" and "Grand Avenue" are, so far, still in B&W
Arlo and Janis is colorized. Blog comment by Jimmy Johnson: "It was
news to me. Or if they told me, I forgot."
Don't care for it myself. The colorist insists on inventing background
detail:
http://www.comics.com/comics/arlonjanis/archive/arlonjanis-20080915.html
Reminds me of those plastic overlays, sky blue at the top, grass green
at the bottom, and uncolored in the middle, you could buy back in the
1950s to turn your black and white TV into a "color" set.
--
Mark Jackson - http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~mjackson
The capacity to wreak destruction with your models
provides the ultimate respectability.
- Emanuel Derman
JGM
> > It looks like maybe the colorizing actually replaces some of the
> > black-and-white shading -- as opposed to just colorizing the shading dots.
> > Could be tricky, unless they now have the artists submitting the shading
> > on a different "layer" of a Photoshop or similar file. Maybe I'm
> > mistaken, but see, for example, Tony's shorts and the background house in
> > this "Monty":
>
> > Black-and-white
>
> >http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2008/9/15&name=Monty
>
> > Color
>
> >http://www.comics.com/comics/monty/archive/monty-20080915.html
>
> That's an interesting example. I could see a cartoonist supplying two
> versions of a strip, one with dots and one colored (or without dots for
> someone else to color), but I don't think that happened here. It looks like
> the moire pattern made by the dot screen became the colored diamond pattern
> on the robe and the stripes on the shorts, as if the dots were just selected
> and recolored. That seems like kind of an unintended-but-cool accident to
> me.
I don't think the answer is as simple/cool as that -- look at the
countertop in panel 2. if this was a simple case of coloring over the
gradients the color version should show something different, I think.
Also, in the case of the house in the background of panel 1 the color
version shows significantly more detail than the gradient -- clearly
here an artist picked a "brick wall" texture for that area.
I think Meddick provided a line-art only version for colorization and
the colorist used the gradient-rich version as a guide. (Or Meddick
did the colorization himself). In either case, it reflects more
effort than usually gets put into color dailies, and I like it.
JGM
Ted Kerin
I get the same impression as you, about the examples you mention. But I
agree with Beefies about the telltale matching moire pattern in, for
example, the robe. Whatever is going on exactly, it does seem to me that
somebody has put some thought into the process, and as you say, some effort.
And my reactions are mixed. Color comics were a special thrill on Sundays
when I was a kid, so I take some enjoyment in seeing the color more often.
Certainly the color helps a strip like "Spider-man," where there's nothing
special about the black-and-white artistry. But I find I miss, for instance,
seeing "Arlo & Janis" in black-and-white, and "Monty" for that matter.
Antonio E. Gonzalez
<mjac...@alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:
>Charles Brubaker wrote:
>> On Sep 15, 8:27 pm, "D. D. Degg" <ddd...@comcast.net> wrote:
>>> Antonio E. Gonzalez wrote:
>>>> How good this is depends on how many sudden cases of argyria
>>>> develop . . .
>>> Howzabout a sudden case of Aarrrgghhh!
>>>
>>> Checking out the strips I'm happy they didn't colorize the classics.
>>> Li'l Abner dailies? Still black and white.http://www.comiczone.com/comics/lilabner/index.html
>>>
>>> Jerry Bittle's strips, Fat Cats, Meg!, all b&w.
>>>
>>> Arrghh! They ruined Tarzan!http://www.comiczone.com/comics/tarzan/index.html
>
>> "The Buckets" and "Grand Avenue" are, so far, still in B&W
>
>Arlo and Janis is colorized. Blog comment by Jimmy Johnson: "It was
>news to me. Or if they told me, I forgot."
>
<snip>
Speaking of colors, this should be raising a huge red flag . . .
Guy Gilchrist
> On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:48:59 -0400, Mark Jackson
>
>
>
>
>
> <mjack...@alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:
> >Charles Brubaker wrote:
> >> On Sep 15, 8:27 pm, "D. D. Degg" <ddd...@comcast.net> wrote:
> >>> Antonio E. Gonzalez wrote:
> >>>> How good this is depends on how many sudden cases of argyria
> >>>> develop . . .
> >>> Howzabout a sudden case of Aarrrgghhh!
>
> >>> Checking out the strips I'm happy they didn't colorize the classics.
> >>> Li'l Abner dailies? Still black and white.http://www.comiczone.com/comics/lilabner/index.html
>
> >>> Jerry Bittle's strips, Fat Cats, Meg!, all b&w.
>
> >>> Arrghh! They ruined Tarzan!http://www.comiczone.com/comics/tarzan/index.html
>
> >> "The Buckets" and "Grand Avenue" are, so far, still in B&W
>
> >Arlo and Janis is colorized. Blog comment by Jimmy Johnson: "It was
> >news to me. Or if they told me, I forgot."
>
> <snip>
>
> Speaking of colors, this should be raising a huge red flag . . .
>
> --
>
> - ReFlex76
preparing for this day. I want control over how my artwork looks. My
assisant Richard Doak and I handle all of it. While this certainly
changes our schedules, and causes more hours at our work, it is what
is expected these days, and another way for us to hopefully provide a
quality product.
Guy
Nancy
http://www.gilchristcartoonacademy.com
>
> - "Let's beat the terrorists with our most powerful weapon . . . hot girl-on-girl action!"
>
> - "The difference between young and old is the difference between looking forward to your next birthday, and dreading it!"
>
> - Jesus Christ - The original hippie!
>
> <http://reflex76.blogspot.com/>
>
> <http://www.blogger.com/profile/07245047157197572936>
>
> Katana > Chain Saw > Baseball Bat > Hammer- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Blinky the Wonder Wombat
>
>
>
> > - "Let's beat the terrorists with our most powerful weapon . . . hot girl-on-girl action!"
>
> > - "The difference between young and old is the difference between looking forward to your next birthday, and dreading it!"
>
> > - Jesus Christ - The original hippie!
>
> > <http://reflex76.blogspot.com/>
>
> > <http://www.blogger.com/profile/07245047157197572936>
>
> > Katana > Chain Saw > Baseball Bat > Hammer- Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -
And you effort certainly shows up it the comic- a quality job.
However, in my mind, "Nancy" in anything other than black and white is
just wrong!
D. D. Degg
> * Charles Brubaker> What's going on with Pearls Before Swine?
>
> I could have sworn that last Monday's strip was in color. But while other
> comics I read stayed in color, PBS switched back to black and white.
> Then yesterday's PBS (with the doghouse) was in color, but last week's strips
> are still in black and white. But today the strip (with witness protection)
> is in black and white. And yesterday's strip is now too in white and black.
Possibly it returns to b&w by request of the creator.
As Brooke McEldowney explains the syndicate did not ask,
or even notify, their cartoonists of the color change.
The syndicate just went ahead with their scheme.
Brooke McEldowney, and I would guess others,
requested them to stop fiddlin' with his strip.
McEldowney writes about the situation here:
http://officialpibgorn.livejournal.com/2008/09/18/
and here:
http://officialpibgorn.livejournal.com/2008/09/22/
links courtesy of http://www.comicsreporter.com/
D.D.Degg
Guy Gilchrist
>
> - Show quoted text -
Remember, nancy on Sundays and in the comic books was always in color.
If I didn't do a quality color job on it, and add it to my workload,
my vision would be ruined by hands not being directed by yours truly.
It's survival. Kids want color. I want readers.