Process

So, KPMG asked if I could add color to the comic - I have a little more time, since it's due at the print house on Monday morning. Adding color to a page like this is a little bit of a technical challenge, since I inked the page to be reproduced in black and white.

Still, the first rule of color is to start with a ground - that is, a base color that you then build all the other hues out of. In this case (and, indeed, in many cases), I chose a cool blue as the unifying color scheme:



And that's where I stopped when it was time to leave for the P.C.M.A. recording session today. Close observers may note that I took advantage of the extra time to do a little patchwork on the bottom left panel, which was bugging me a lot. Really, it's the kind of thing that should have been fixed at the layout and pencil phase, but I had to rush through every step and kept thinking I'd fix it when it came to the next step. No - if something looks bad in graphite, it looks double-bad in ink.

Anyway, I didn't do any redrawing, I just realized that the next best thing to erasing and redoing the female figure in that panel was to improve the composition and spatial relationships, so I blew her up about fifteen percent and shifted her right to just behind the chair. At least the design is more interesting - and I'll live with it. If I have a little time after the coloring, I'll see if I can doctor her features somewhat, to tease out a subtler expression and to bring her back 'on model.'

I had hoped to get the complete original version on the page, but in the day and age of Photoshop, the original drawing is just the beginning.

D.