Countdown 6: Turning words and pictures into a book

Writing a book is not a solo effort.  In the case of Hi-Fi Color for Comics and Master Digital Color Kristy Miller and I divided the authoring work.  She who has the multiple degrees and many years of education experience would conceive and write the Homework Challenges while I would create the step-by-step tutorials.  In Countdown #7: The artist of Master Digital Color I mentioned there are 20+ artist and creators contributing to Master Digital Color so before the book is even started we can round the number of participants to 25.  Of course our publisher Impact Books has their staff we work with directly and indirectly; editors, designers, legal, marketing, foreign editions, and many other people whose job it is to ensure the book is delivered to the printer on time and once printed arrives at your local book store, comic book shop, or favorite online retailer by the release date.  All together 3,000 or so people share some sort of responsibility for the copy of Master Digital Color you will soon be holding in your hands.

Lets look at the collaboration between myself, the editors and designers to see exactly how a book is transformed from words and pictures into a working art-instruction book.

Creating the Master Digital Color Destination Guide.

In Countdown #9: Every journey starts with a destination I described my original concept to abandon numbered chapters and create destinations using color coding to visually define the sections of the book.  With this concept in-mind I started by looking at old maps including some from theme-parks like Worlds of Fun and Disneyland.  Using these maps for inspiration I created basic design for the Master Digital Color destination guide.  Each section of the book would have a signature color, a chapter logo inspired by a road sign, and symbol or cartoon that tied in with the style or theme of the chapter.

At first the lead editor was skeptical about changing the paradigm for the book.  You can imagine a book publisher like Impact has a lot of experience and a way they like to do things.  Fortunately I was able to explain my vision for navigating the book in a way the editor could get on board with.  The basic idea came to me after watching students using Hi-Fi Color for Comics in the classroom.  Few art students read a book like this from cover to cover. Some information will be new to one person but other info they may already know.  Most aspiring artist find the tutorial they want to learn from and start there.  With this in mind the Master Digital Color Destination Guide shows you visually the various sections of the book so you can jump straight to the info, tutorial, or homework challenge that interest you most and get started.  If you do want to start at the beginning and work your way through  the book that is OK too.  The format allows for maximum flexibility and enjoyment.

Once the editors and designers at Impact get ahold of my concept they decide what elements they can incorporate into the final design and what elements need to be tweaked or sometimes removed altogether to make the book work best for you and allow the book to be translated readily into foreign editions.  The end result is sleek, functional, and puts the info at your fingertips in a way that feels much more useful and dynamic than a typical table of contents.

Vintage theme park maps served as inspiration for the Master Digital Color Destination Guide.

Original concept for Destination Guide featuring color coordinated sections and road-sign inspired chapter logos

Final Master Digital Color Destination Guide as created by the design team at Impact Books is expanded to hold more information and featuring only black text.

Something old and something new. Envisioning the new Chapter Openers.

Each chapter of Master Digital Color also has an opener similar to Hi-Fi Color for Comics.  The opener serves as an introduction to the chapter and gives you the reader some idea about the style of coloring covered in the section.  Some openers feature historical information about the style while others feature first hand accounts and advice from industry professionals. The opener connects the visual look and feel back to Hi-Fi Color for Comics while also incorporating the visual cues of the road-sign inspired chapter logos and introducing color coded borders for the particular section of the book.  Tying into to past Hi-Fi design themes and the overall road-trip look and feel I created a unique retro-themed wallpaper pattern to serve as color coded page borders to help readers find each section quickly and easily.

During the process of working with all the great people at Impact Books I learned a bit about world markets.  To enable publishers in other countries to publish the book at the best price all the text resides on the black plate.  This means all text in the book needs to be black, a shade of gray, or white text on a black or gray background.  While this limits creativity and meant losing the road-sign inspired chapter logos it also means more people worldwide will have access to the information and tutorials within the pages of Master Digital Color.  When the book is to be printed in another language the publisher can quickly drop out the existing English text and place the translated text on the black plate without disturbing any of the full color illustrations or design elements within the book. This is one example where occasionally a design idea needs to be sacrificed for the benefit of you and other readers.

Original concept for Chapter Opener features color coordinated chapter logo, page borders, and art credits.

Final Chapter Opener created by Impact refines the ideas from the concept to better serve readers and world markets.

Let your fingers do the walking.

Moving inside the chapter to one of the tutorials you can see the color coded page borders continue.  This helps you  find the section you were previously working from and get back to your tutorial quickly.  Especially helpful for students who may be working on these coloring tutorials in a class room, then later in a computer lab, and later still at home or in a dorm room.  Being able to find the information you want quickly makes the book much more enjoyable and reader friendly. The color coding also extends to the mini-tutorials within the section and sidebars that highlight special information like tips, tricks, or techniques.

A tutorial is an area where having editors and designers you can depend on counts.  My original text is written in very much a stream of consciousness fashion.  Technical Editor Amy Jeynes reads through every paragraph and decides how to break up the information into smaller easy-to-digest morsels.  Sometimes she rearranges the order of steps to make concepts easier for you or suggest adding additional information or informative sidebars to ensure important information is not lost.

The Impact designers play a major role in crafting the tutorials as well.  Since my original concept icons are all full-color the designers have to create new icons with the text only in black or white text on a black background.  The designers have to create the sidebars and often translate my crude ideas for a design into a functioning layout ready for print.  The end results is a tutorial that is easy to read, understand, and follow giving you the freedom to create your best work.

Tutorial concept includes a large shot of a character followed by a step-by-step progression

Elements form the concept are streamlined and refined by the designers at Impact Books for a more rewarding experience

The student becomes the master.

I’ve had the honor of teaching and giving coloring demonstrations at schools, universities, and comic book conventions all over the the United States.  I’ve learned quite a bit from these students and have incorporated much of what I have learned into Master Digital Color.  One example is the artwork featured at the beginning of each tutorial.  In my original concept I had created a monochrome image tying the artwork into the design elements of the page.  I thought it might spoil the fun of the tutorial to see the finished full-color artwork up front.

I learned from students, many if not all, aspiring colorist would rather have the finished full color image featured at the start of each tutorial to see the expected outcome of the project.  Makes perfect sense when you think about it form a student’s point of view, yet I may not have come to the realization on my own.  Many real experiences like this helped shape Master Digital Color into a book that serves you and your needs first and foremost.

Concept included monochrome artwork at the start of each tutorial

Impact's final design features full-color image at the beginning of each tutorial

Created exclusively with you in mind.

In the end quite a bit of time and effort is exhausted working to create a book that best suits the needs of you the reader.  Once the words and pictures are locked down the real work of crafting the look and feel of a book begins.  This means balancing lofty design goals with the need to ensure each tutorial is easy to understand and complete.  The requirements for printing foreign editions are also taken into account as are the needs of students and instructors.  The end results may not be a coffee table book that you leave around for guest to peruse but it is one of the most attractive and easy to use art instruction books available.  My goal and the goal of everyone involved in the making of Master Digital Color is to give you a book that will help you master your digital color skills.  In addition to that we’ve also worked to make Master Digital Color a showcase for some of the best looking comic artwork in every style.  I hope Master Digital Color helps you unleash your creative potential and achieve your artistic goals.

About that name change…

Quite a few people have asked me about the name Master Digital Color.  During the entire time Kristy Miller and I were writing this book it was under the working title Hi-F Color for Comics 2.  There were even cover mock-ups using that title submitted to Impact’s design department to help influence their final cover design.  One day I receive the initial cover design attached to an e-mail and I see Master Digital Color for the first time.  I was a more than a bit upset and thought Impact was making a big goof by breaking the brand recognition we had worked so hard to create for Hi-Fi Color for Comics.  As it turns out the word comics was scaring off quite a few would be readers.  You see many people using the techniques from Hi-Fi Color for Comics are architects, fashion designers, video game developers, toy designers, and story board artists.  So many people outside of comics are adopting the tips, tricks, and techniques of Hi-Fi Color for Comics that Impact Books had identified an entirely new audience for digital coloring.  Hence their decision to change the name from Hi-Fi Color for Comics to Master Digital Color.  You still get all the best secret tips and tricks from Hi-Fi and the tutorials you need to master any digital color style… now you get to share them with the non-comic world too.  Who knows, maybe some Master Digital Color readers will discover a love for comics themselves?

More behind the scenes info revealed in the next Countdown installment.  See you then.

Brian is a comic book colorist, founder of Hi-Fi colour design, and co-author of Hi-Fi Color for Comics and the upcoming sequel Master Digital Color.

Pre-order Master Digital Color from Amazon.com today you will save close to $10 off the cover price and give yourself the knowledge you need to succeed.