Kickstarter Follow-up 2: Surrealist Cowgirls, Kevyn Lenagh cover colored!

 HI all!

Took a couple minutes to add color to the alternative cover for my current Kickstarter.

I might play with the text a bit more. I like the Western feel of it, but I'm not sure it reads.  But overall, I'm very happy with this. I've had few other artists draw my beloved Cowgirls, and Kevyn's work charms me! Also, this is the first time I've colored Domino Chance!

Original Art Sundays (Monday) No. 185: Supergirl coloring tryouts!

Another week of too much work, but still plugging away at the Cowgirls fairy tale and the other long-promised Cowgirls project. I really am plugging away at these things, as my energy allows.
Soon, my pretties, soon....
Meanwhile.
As I was filing papers, I found some pieces I thought long lost.  The first of these was a tryout page from the early 2000s. I thought I'd posted this ages ago, but a search of the blog says otherwise. Friend and sister Venus de Mars approached me and a few other folks to join a team of Photoshop colorists. The project was recoloring pages for DC's Archives series. I was given pages of Supergirl to recolor, along with scans of the original page for reference and a shared swatch palette. I completed three pages, but only this one survived in print, and that computer is long gone!
The process is pretty straightforward.

First, isolate the black in a separate channel.
Also isolate in a separate layer.
Use as baseline for making coloring selections.

Then go layer by layer, adding basic color. Go from large areas to specific.
Keep effects to a minimum. You're duplicating an existing color scheme,
not making a new one! Flatten colors to one layer when complete, but save other layers
until the page is approved, to make changes easier. The process for flattening:
make a new layer and press Command-Option-Shift-E to merge visible.
Be sure the black layer is not visible when you do this step!

Turn the black layer (line art) back on, do another Merge Visible and a Save As... Final.
Send to the boss and receive your accolades!

While the whole team worked very hard on these tryout pages and did some great work, ultimately DC gave the job to a different team. Still, a great experience, and it honed my Photoshop coloring skills (not to mention my attention to detail) a great deal.

Next: who knows? I'd love to get back to the Cowgirls, if I can get enough time off work! If not, I have more of these newly discovered backup pieces for your reading pleasure...

Best Comics of 2013, No. 8: RASL Color Edition!

My admiration for the work of Jeff Smith is hardly a state secret. I treasure BONE and its related stories ROSE and Stupid Stupid Rat Tales no end, and was delighted by his interpretation of the SHAZAM! legend. The latter made it seem like Smith was addressing recurring themes in his work- not a bad thing, but one that can lead to predictability in even the most capable hands.
How wrong I was.
When RASL debuted at San Diego a few years ago in an oversized teaser edition, it was unlike any of his previous work. Certainly, there were dire and grim aspects to all the predecessors of RASL. But this was downright gritty.

The story of an inter-dimensional art thief, RASL also touches on near-Promethean scientific concerns as it plays with concepts from the work of Nicola Tesla. There's also mythic trappings from native American faiths, and a seemingly autistic girl who may or may not be God. As the story unfolds, we learn that our thief is a scientist on the run, trying to hold onto his discovery.
It's also a story of love, loss and betrayal.
While these themes are clearly present in the earlier works, they take center stage here. This is a much harder edged, much more adult story than the BONE or SHAZAM! material.
In addition to the thematic concerns, this work is noteworthy for its coloring. While past color versions of Smith's work have always been worthwhile (note that SHAZAM! has only been printed in color- I'd be curious to see it in B & W: an artist's edition, perhaps?), the color really stands out here. Tightly controlled palettes, low key color (even in the brightest scenes), and use of color for mood and atmosphere, beyond the obvious and blatant uses of color (skin should be this color, etc.) make this a remarkable achievement.
Smith has offered a singular work here. His current online book TUKI, which I am woefully behind on reading, is every bit as good and every bit as singular as its precursors.

Sample of RASL page in B & W and in color

Again measuring up to standards set in past works, RASL is offered in a very affordable hardcover single volume, along with separate volumes of each chapter and a deluxe and super spiffy slipcased hardcover edition (sold out, but there is a deluxe HC at Smith's website for $10 over the base price of the HC).

I'm not a shill for Jeff Smith, really I'm not. But good work deserves both attention and commerce!

Over the years, I read and re-read Jeff Smith's works. The themes are solid and challenging, the art is consistently high quality and moves the story along with deliberation and precision (Smith's background in animation has clearly honed his narrative timing), and the books are exciting every time I open them. As I've lamented ad nauseum of late, my finances are precarious, but I'm mulling what I can sell to secure funds for the deluxe edition of RASL. Reading the public library copy again just won't cut it on this one!

The sold-out slipcased edition

Next: Best Comics of 2013, No. 7: two masters working at the peak of their game.