how did they colour comics in the 70s and 80s

[HighAndMighty]

If you're looking for a computer-based solution, try out GIMP at http://www.gimp.org

It's an open source (free!) Graphical Image Manipulation program that's not a bad competitor to photoshop. It's currently only available to Windows or Linux users but a Mac O/S version is currently undergoing testing.

Give it a try, there are online tutorials avaialable.
If you don't like it, uninstall it.

It's braw!

[SH]

yeah i heard gimp was good . we have at where I work and some people I know use it and like it.
Dennis , you could always use markers water colours acrylics or anything you want to colour your work, most publishing houses will except any form of color these days. All they do is scan in your art and off they go or you can send them a scan of your work etc. There are many comic book artists still using traditional media. If you do manage to get photshop, check online because there are some great tutorials that are FREE!

[dennis the menace]

ok thanks

[tonyodonnell]

I can remember applying black ink onto an acetate overlay in order to produce a Poster with a red tint. Then years later I did some Colour Cover acetates for Harrier Comics..it was a time consuming, laborious process using either solid black inked areas or letratone..it was largely guesswork and experience as to whether you got the Colours you were hoping for in the printed Cover.
TV 21 and Eagle used photogravure and could faithfully reproduce the Colour work of the artists..though I believe that this method was very sensitive and unless you worked from primary colours rather than pre-mixed colours ..things could go wrong. This is from reading an interview with Frank Bellamy, not from my own experience.
My first DCT job was in line and grey wash [diluted ink] this was SCOOP which was on glossy magazine paper.
Some artists used letratone sheets in B&W comics for grey or SFX others used cross-hatching,dot-stipple,ink-spatter..or even smudge inking with fingers or a rag,and dry-brush...these were good effects for clouds or battle scenes.

[Steve Bright]

On another note Steve Brights wife used photoshop in a wonderful way on Bananaman...very 3D effect..

Point of Information, Mr Chairman!

Er....she's not my wife, and she won't thank you for demoting her to the position, Peter.

Oh, and the page you followed that post with was one that I coloured I'm afraid - if I recall correctly, she wasn't very well at the time. But other than that, you're absolutely correct.

[Peter Gray]

Steve sorry...

When the new database is set up on comicsuk v2.......it would be interesting to find out which characters you wrote for...or even created...when you have the time..

[dennis the menace]

interesting

[BH]

Ahh, at last something I know about.

Colouring was done in many different ways. For instance, the two tone effect (either pink/red, or blue/pale blue) was achieved by laying an acetate overlay over the artwork and just filling in with block colour.
For full colour work, usually the black inked artwork was reproduced into pale blue on a watercolour paper and the black was reproduced identically onto an acetate overlay. Then either watercolour inks, or gouche paint was applied to the blue base paper. The colours were much more vibrant using inks, but more texture could be had using the paint. Sometimes a mix of the two looked better.
Sometimes, artwork would be printed onto a watercolour paper as a black outline and inked over, but this could prove very fiddly.
Quite often, for speed and cheapness mainly, an acetate overlay would be used and letraset tones were used, cut around with a scalpel as mentioned already. Colour and texture was not very good this way but it brightened up the dull black and white pages.
Grey ink wash was also used sometimes if the artwork looked a bit weak, or boring and I even had to add hatching (by hand) once to an entire strip (Blackhawk) because the black guy looked the same as everyone else and was printed in black and white.
IIRC, around the late 70's, the freelance going rate for colouring a two colour page was about £1.50 and a full colour page about £2-2.50.
Had to put a lot of hours in back then to earn a crust!

[dennis the menace]

i need a few examples of water colours in comics i think they were used on 90s minnie the minx

[AndyB]

It's currently only available to Windows or Linux users but a Mac O/S version is currently undergoing testing.

I've had it on my Mac for ages. All you need is Xwindows from the optional installs - it relies on being a unix program. I can't remember off-hand whether gimp itself is in the optional installs.

Personally, what I don't like about gimp is that there aren't very many text manipulation tools available, which has limited me somewhat - but I now have Photoshop and Fireworks

[Lew Stringer]

i need a few examples of water colours in comics i think they were used on 90s minnie the minx

Possibly. They should be fairly cheap to buy on eBay or car boot sales. Good luck. Don't forget to tell us how you get on.

Lew

[dennis the menace]

i have got gimp but a it confused how to color comics its something to do with multiply and making a duplicate layer

[dennis the menace]

lew for this brilliant strip did you use a marker to make the outline.

[Conor B]

Hey dennis...
If you want to colour comics, Photoshop is great, but I started off with a program called Paint.NET. It gives you quite a few options, not as many as you may want, but there are different techniques you can use. E.g. I coloured these two red and blue Biffo and Roger strips (Beano, 1993) using the Percent technique. It gives them an older feel.




And I did this one in Photoshop...

[dennis the menace]

could you give me some full color ones thanks