Industry Insider: SDCC wrap-up edition

Kristy and I are back from Comic-Con International in San Diego, California where we had a blast meeting new fans and creators and catching up with old friends. Each year it seems San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) gets bigger and better and this year was no exception. In the bigger department Kristy and I were scheduled to sign each day at World Famous Comics (Booth 4918) and Impact Books (Booth 1415) as you may have guessed based on those booth numbers these booths are on opposite ends of the exhibit hall and we did a lot of hiking back and forth between the two booths. The distance was so great I wanted to hire one of the pedi-cab drivers outside the convention hall to sneak-in and chaufuer us around.

The good news is between round trips we had the pleasure to sign comics, color prints, sketch cards, and copies of Hi-Fi Color for Comics for fans and aspiring creators of all ages. I reviewed quite a few color portfolios this year and can honestly say this was the best year ever for portfolios. Some of the up and coming talent is really good. Kristy and I also gave away free Master Digital Color posters (promoting this website and the upcoming book), featuring artwork by the super talented David Bryant and color by yours truly. There are a lot of freebies at SDCC and it isn’t unusual for someone to turn down your swag because they don’t have anyplace to carry it, are only interested in one particular item or genre, etc. I was amazed how many people would start to say no and then see the poster and change their minds. This can only be testament to David Bryant’s beautiful artwork.

At the end of SDCC Preview Night DC editor Eddie Berganza had dinner with a number of colorist assigned to various Blackest Night titles. Kristy and I joined, Nei, Randy Mayor, Alex Sinclair, Blond, Carrie Strachan and others. Are we finally seeing signs of colorist being taken seriously as part of the creative team? Based on the line-up of talent one can only guess Berganza and DC want to ensure Blackest Night features only the best when it comes to color. Eddie is always an entertaining and gracious host and everyone enjoyed sharing stories of coloring deadlines, crazy projects, and favorite gigs. I was able to catch up with a few of the colorist and want to pass on some of the cool projects you should check out from each of them.
- Wonderland Colorist Nei, is coloring Blackest Night: Batman. You can also catch her work in issues of DC’s Supergirl & World of New Krypton. Also look for Nei’s colors in The Talisman published by Del Rey.
- Wildstorm’s Randy Mayor is coloring Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, and Resident Evil
- Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep colorist (and former Hi-Fi colorist) Blond, will be part of the new Superman creative team starting with issue #693. You won’t want to miss it.
- In addition to coloring the cream of the DC crop Alex Sinclair mentioned he would someday like to publish a book of wildlife art. Lets hope he does it soon, I for one would love to see his take on the animal kingdom.

Thursday Kristy and I enjoyed breakfast with Booster Gold creator/writer/artist Dan Jurgens. Dan outlined his plans for Booster Gold and I can tell you big things are brewing for Booster and Skeets. You will not want to miss an issue. We were also excited by the Booster Gold Fan Club t-shirts Graphitti Designs debuted at con as well as the upcoming Booster Gold #23 cover featuring G4′s very own Blair Butler in said t-shirt.

Friday I participated on the Impact University panel along with writers, editors, and artists. The focus of this panel was breaking into the industry and there were a ton of great questions from the audience. Many of the questions reveal how little people know and understand about what colorist do. Most people in the room and a few people on the panel were not aware that the majority of all comic art is colored digitally. The fact that many believe comics are traditionally painted is a tribute to the great creative talent colorist bring to their projects. Even non-creative types seem fascinated by what we do.

Kristy and I met up with Terry & Robyn Moore for breakfast one morning and were finally able to congratulate them on the Echo movie deal and Strangers in Paradise Omnibus. There were some issues with the Omnibus arriving from the printer in China in time for SDCC. This means many fans may not have had the opportunity to purchase a copy. The omnibus collects over a decade of Terry’s Strangers in Paradise work into 3 massive volumes. Over 2400 pages in total. Do yourself and the Moore’s a favor and head over to http://www.strangersinparadise.com/omnibus.html right now and purchase your copy.

In addition to coloring I also create traditional illustrations. This year I decided to limited myself to 20 commissions for SDCC and I was blown away when the list became full the first day of the show. Each night after the convention dinners and parties ended I worked away in the hotel room drawing con sketches (and trying not to disturb Kristy). I’ve never drawn so much during SDCC and I appreciate all the fans who sought me out. A big shout out to the Star Wars and Booster Gold fans for pushing me to draw some very challenging images.

6PM Saturday Kristy and I hosted the Color Styles & FX panel. We have been giving the Hi-Fi Color for Comics panel for the past two years and have our presentation down. This was our first time giving this all new presentation and we thought we were a bit rocky but luckily the fans tell us all went well. The panel opened with a quick, funny video featuring creators shouting out the favorite colors. We demonstrated four color styles and effects techniques and announced the upcoming book, Master Digital Color. The Q&A session was the best I can recall and we were mobbed after the panel by aspiring colorist who had success stories to share, copies of Hi-Fi Color for Comics for us to sign, and portfolios for review. I’ve never seen better color samples at any show.

While signing copies of Hi-Fi Color for Comics at the World Famous Comics booth Allen Passalaqua stopped by to show an up and coming colorist the book. It was a pleasure to meet Allen and I want everyone to check out his work on JSA starting with issue #29. Hi-Fi used to color this title but the book is getting and all new creative team and that means a new colorist too. You couldn’t pick a better colorist to take over the monthly duties than Allen.

One colorist who did not make it to SDCC 2009 was Andrew Crossley. Andrew was in the middle of coloring and issue of marvel Adventures Avengers. When con started he was still waiting on 5 pages of artwork and decided to cancel his convention plans. This is certainly one of the dangers of being a colorist as we are last in line when it comes to deadlines and often asked to make-up for late story and/or artwork. Andrew is currently coloring GI Joe #10 for IDW. Yo Joe!

Jennifer Love Hewitt announced her new comic project with IDW, Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Music Box. I painted alternate covers for The Ghost Whisperer mini-series and Jenniffer Love Hewitt liked them well enough that I will also be painting covers for Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Music Box. I’m looking forward to this new series.

During the Women of Marvel panel colorist Laura Martin announced she will soon be coloring exclusively for Marvel. Laura colored Astonishing X-Men, Thor and other projects for the House of M and now becomes the newest creator to sign an exclusive deal with Marvel. Martin will continue to color The Stand and work with Thor artist Olivier Coipel on an as yet unannounced upcoming project.

There were some very talented colorist nominated for the Eisner award this year including former Hi-Fi colorist Val Staples for his work on X-Men: First Class. This year’s big winner for Best Comic Book Colorist is Dave Stewart for Abe Sapien: The Drowning, BPRD, The Goon, Hellboy, Solomon Kane, The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse); Body Bags (Image); Captain America: White (Marvel). A big congratulations to Dave who is not only a talented colorist but also a nice guy.

San Diego Comic-Con 2009 was a big year for digital color and colorist. The booths are packed-up and everyone is back to work coloring comics for the next big deadline and dreaming about what Comic-Con 2010 holds in store. Until then someone call me a pedi-cab, my feet are tired.

- Brian Miller

Brian is a comic book colorist and founder of Hi-Fi colour design. Brian co-authored Hi-Fi Color for Comics with Kristy Miller. Look for their new book, Master Digital Color coming Spring 2010 from Impact Books.