Countdown #10: Authors, editors, & contributors… oh my!

Kristy and I received the final proof for Master Digital Color from our editors at Impact Books this week and after some last minute tweaks and notes we have signed off on Master Digital Color: Styles Tools Techniques.  Now you and I wait.  We wait for the book to be printed and bound. We wait for the bonus disc to be mastered and duplicated.  And we wait for the finished books to be shipped to your local bookstore, comic book shop, or maybe shipped directly to your home from Amazon.com or any number  online retailers.  Still, we wait.

While we wait I thought it might be fun to go behind the scenes and share a bit about what goes into making an art instruction book and why anyone would be crazy enough to do it.  With the continuing success of our first book, Hi-Fi Color for Comics, Kristy and I are constantly receiving feedback from readers and what we learned is a lot of aspiring creators are looking for opportunities to learn new techniques while practicing their coloring skills on professional artwork.  Most importantly many readers and fans requested help with specific styles.  Some want to learn how to color manga style and while there are plenty of great manga and anime art books available few delve into coloring technique.  Others wanted to learn modern superhero comic style coloring while others still were interested in alternative comics.  And a very large portion of readers wanted to learn how to create animated style colors.  With this knowledge and the support of our publisher Impact Books Kristy and I set-off over a year ago on a journey to create a new kind of art instruction book.

Kristy and I started by creating a wish list for this new book:

• Functional sequel to Hi-Fi Color for Comics
• Friendly to new readers too
• Artwork from a variety of contributing creators
• Showcase a variety of color styles
• All new tips, tricks, and techniques
• More hands-on tutorials
• Bigger and better bonus disk with video content
• Flexible format with more visual cues
• More challenges to practice what you learn

Along with our list of wishes was an underlying goal to make a fun book that put our readers needs above all else.  To that end we tried to make every decision while writing, creating tutorials, selecting artwork, and editing, with our readers in mind.

If Hi-Fi Color for Comics is all about removing technical barriers allowing you to be more creative then Master Digital Color is about leading you on a journey of discovery where you learn to master a variety of coloring styles while learning new tips, tricks, and techniques along the way.

With the groundwork laid come back next week and read Countdown #9: The journey to find the destination and discover more about what you will learn in Master Digital Color. I’ll also show you a glimpse behind the scenes at some of the artwork for Master Digital Color. And remember if you pre-order Master Digital Color from Amazon.com today you will save close to $10 off the cover price and show Impact Books you support art instruction for the aspiring digital colorist.