We Need a New Credit
I believe that we need a new credit in the comic book business, and that is "Digital Painter."
The whole point of HAVING a credit system is to allow the curious reader to know which person did which job in a comic book, so if they liked/disliked a particular aspect of the comic, they would know who is responsible.
This is not being achieved by the current colorist credit.
If you open up the pages of Jonah Hex #1 tomorrow, you will see that Luke Ross is credited as the "artist" of the book, while Jason Keith is credited as the "colorist." Keith IS, indeed, the colorist on the comic book, but he is also clearly digitally painting Luke Ross' pencils. Look at a comic book pencilled by Luke Ross and inked traditionally, it looks almost nothing like Jonah Hex #1 (or Star Wars: Empire #36, for that matter, where Ross and Keith also worked together). So the credits are inappropriate.
At the same time, the credits also serve to be unfair to colorist who do NOT digitally paint, as it really is not fair to compare the two, as a Dave Stewart on Conan is doing a whole different job than an Alex Sinclair on All-Star Batman and Robin, and therefore, should be credited for it.
Frank D'Armata is doing distinct work on New Avengers and Captain America. On the former, he is strictly a colorist, while on the latter, he is digitially coloring Steve Epting's pencils.
Marvel and DC have begun to basically acknowledge the importance of digital painting by giving these colorists name credits on the covers of the comics, but still, inside the actual comic, it is Luke Ross getting credit as "Artist," while Jason Keith is "Colorist."
I think we should strive for better accuracy in credits, and we should have the addition of "Digital Painter" to the credit lexicon.
The whole point of HAVING a credit system is to allow the curious reader to know which person did which job in a comic book, so if they liked/disliked a particular aspect of the comic, they would know who is responsible.
This is not being achieved by the current colorist credit.
If you open up the pages of Jonah Hex #1 tomorrow, you will see that Luke Ross is credited as the "artist" of the book, while Jason Keith is credited as the "colorist." Keith IS, indeed, the colorist on the comic book, but he is also clearly digitally painting Luke Ross' pencils. Look at a comic book pencilled by Luke Ross and inked traditionally, it looks almost nothing like Jonah Hex #1 (or Star Wars: Empire #36, for that matter, where Ross and Keith also worked together). So the credits are inappropriate.
At the same time, the credits also serve to be unfair to colorist who do NOT digitally paint, as it really is not fair to compare the two, as a Dave Stewart on Conan is doing a whole different job than an Alex Sinclair on All-Star Batman and Robin, and therefore, should be credited for it.
Frank D'Armata is doing distinct work on New Avengers and Captain America. On the former, he is strictly a colorist, while on the latter, he is digitially coloring Steve Epting's pencils.
Marvel and DC have begun to basically acknowledge the importance of digital painting by giving these colorists name credits on the covers of the comics, but still, inside the actual comic, it is Luke Ross getting credit as "Artist," while Jason Keith is "Colorist."
I think we should strive for better accuracy in credits, and we should have the addition of "Digital Painter" to the credit lexicon.
posted by Brian Cronin at 11/01/2005 04:20:00 PM
6 Comments:
While I agree with your point here, I'm thinking that "color artist" might be more appropriate a designation. That way, it doesn't emphasize the medium that was used for adding color so much as it emphasizes the artistic ability of the person doing the colors.
Understood, Jerry, but would people really pick up the distinction between a Color Artist and a Colorist?
By the by, I just had THE coolest word verification code. Y U C P
Hahahahaha
I alwayas felt that the word "colorist" undersold what they do; it makes it sound to my ear like they do something akin to grabbing some crayons and coloring between the lines, followiing a sort of color-by-numbers chart. But "color artist" means to me that they took a raw piece and added their own intepretation to it, leaving a result that is far more than just colored black & white art.
Frank D'Armata is doing distinct work on New Avengers and Captain America. On the former, he is strictly a colorist, while on the latter, he is digitially coloring Steve Epting's pencils.
Actually, I don't think that's true. I'm fairly certain that Epting (or Michael Lark on his issues) is inking those pages.
And now I believe Mike Perkins (?) is assisting on the inking as well.
He may be creating the impression of digital painting, but technically that's still colouring (IMO over-colouring, which may be why it appears to be digal painting).
BIll Angus
Thanks, Bill.
Anyone know what the case is on Cap? I don't want to undersell the work Epting is doing, if he is inking himself.
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