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

[dennis the menace]

i think they used ink but i am not sure could anyone tell me how did they color comics before photoshop

[Captain Storm]

Hi Dennis,I'm sure one of our experts will be along to answer your querie shortly.In the meantime,some Artists actually produced Watercolors or painted a matte background,whilst others employed the services of a colorist a la Marvel who laboriously inked in the clear line fill-ins with something akin to Indian ink(permanent).Having said that,there is something clinical,divorced from the normal about Photoshop techniques,except for D'Israeli who does some stunning work on Stickleback for 2000ad...it just doesn't look organic enough.Which brings to mind the old Target comic which was notorious for the off set bleeding effect look of its color strips.Now over to the people who really know......

[Peter Gray]

Nice colour inking on this



lots of texture...

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

[Peter Gray]

So you can get some nice effects on photo shop

hope The Dandy gets Steve Bright back...

[Lew Stringer]

Nice colour inking on this

The Buster covers of that period were coloured by John Burns, nephew of the comic artist John M. Burns.

Lew

[Peter Gray]

Thanks Lew for the information I'll add that to the blog and a thank you to you...

Very good the colours...makes it stand out very well..

[felneymike]

I once went to an exhibition of a cartoonist who did various newspaper gags during the war, and he used to lightly shade in areas of a picture to indicate where blocks of colour should be printed. I think it was generally only two colour (black and something else) which was either applied solid, or as 'dots'. This practice seems to have continued into Annuals right up to the 70's and 80's

[Captain Storm]

Interesting topic this.I remember some strips had a chequered background to give shading and atmosphere.Sort of like a load of jumbled up Shredded Wheats behind the characters Anybody else remember this?

your Clueless Cap!

[Lew Stringer]

Interesting topic this.I remember some strips had a chequered background to give shading and atmosphere.Sort of like a load of jumbled up Shredded Wheats behind the characters Anybody else remember this?

your Clueless Cap!

Some of the older comics were coloured using seperate overlays for each colour, with various percentages of Letratone added to each layer for the required shade, carefully cut around the required shape with a scalpel. (I think a 20% red tone was used for flesh tints for example.)

There was also a method of filling in the colour areas on each layer with solid black accompanied with a note (20% red, 50% yellow, etc) as an instruction for the printers. I'm not so familiar with that method though.

Lew

[kevf]

I visited the 2000AD offices in 1980 and saw Tom Frame colouring a centre spread by Carlos Ezquerra (Stainless Steel Rat, now you ask). The art had been converted into blue outlines. Tom then watercoloured over the blue outline version and this was sent to be converted into letterpress plates.

The end result, as old 2000AD fans will know, was a very coarse-grained colour separation, with mostly flat areas of colour, but some gradated areas. It didn't allow for much subtlety, and could be expected to be printed out-of-register with the black line, but was far better than how American comics were coloured at the time, which was with an artist (often Marie Severin) producing a water-colour guide, and then a team of poorly-paid workers cutting out sheets of acetate and benday-dots to represent each colour.

Back in my fanzine days I used to colour the covers of Fantasy Advertiser in the US letratone method and, fun though it was, it took forever and was hopelessly limited. (Come to think of it, much of my humour comics work in the 90s was coloured this way too!)

Personally I still like crisp black outlines with colour filling them in, but I realise that's a bit old hat these days.

[dennis the menace]

the problem is i cant afford photoshop or photoshop elements so i need to find a way to colour comics

[Captain Storm]

Hi Lew,would this have applied to bog-standard b/w strips?That is what I should have mentioned Either way,this topic is very interesting and informative.I believe some artists back in the days of b/w were experimenting with different shades of grey and black,some using palette knives to coat on a layer of charcoal in certain areas of the frame to for instance give subtle changes of dark when rendering clouds.The Yanks may have been Masters of 4 Color but the Brits were playing with hundreds of blacks and greys

[Lew Stringer]

In the case of those b&w strips Captain, I assume you're thinking of the glossy photogravure comics like TV21 etc which had a higher standard of printing? In which case the grey wash would be applied onto the artwork by the artist. "Colouring" with diluted black inks basically.

Lew

[Captain Storm]

No lew,I am actually thinking along the lines of perhaps DC Thomson or maybe Fleetway.Damn,I have no examples to hand.Sorry.

[felneymike]

the problem is i cant afford photoshop or photoshop elements so i need to find a way to colour comics

I bought "Photoshop Limited Edition" for about 20-30 squid and it's served me well enough...

Pencils are pretty cheap and fairly easy too! but scanning can obliterate them