Master Digital Color Talent Search 2010 – Part 3: EPIC!

Tribal Council — By Eric White on June 17, 2010 2:32 PM

Welcome back everyone to part 3 of the Tribal Council’s interview series for the Master Digital Color Talent Search 2010. So far we’ve been fortunate enough to speak with Tommy Patterson and Bruce McCorkindale about their work and their process. Be sure to head over to the Pixel Shrine on HueDoo.com to check out all the action.  For out next installment we have a big treat! Our Superhero Style portion of the search comes from the upcoming comic called EPIC by writer Tyler James, artist Matt Zolman and colorist Ty Tyner.  By the wonders of modern technology (by which I mean Google Wave) I got a chance to speak with these guys about their work.  I don’t want to put this off any longer…so here goes.

Tribal Council: My first question here in the Tribal Council is always the same, hard hitting question: What is your favorite color and why?

Tyler James: Blue. Boys are supposed to like blue right? I think growing up, I always thought blue was the right answer. Oddly, enough though, I use a lot of neon pink on my website. See, I’ve grown.

Ty Tyner: In my everyday life its always Black, maybe I’m a supervillain in hiding or maybe I’m just a little spooky. However, as a color artist you tend to stay away from using a lot of black so when it comes to coloring I think I use blue more than any other color.

Matt Zolman: Blue has been a good color to me over the years. I’ve always been partial to green as well. Both colors bring me to summer which is always a good thing.

Tribal Council: Please tell us a little about yourselves and what you do.

Tyler James: I’m a comic creator and video game designer living in Newburyport, MA.

Ty Tyner: My name is Ty Tyner and I color comics. By day I work as a graphic designer and by night I work long hours trying to break into the comic industry. I live in Austin TX & spent my youth playing in punk and metal bands. During that time I designed merch art & posters for bands. These days I’ve traded my guitar for a Wacom pen and I couldn’t be happier.

Matt Zolman: By day I’m an interactive designer, by night I fight crime . . . well, draw characters fighting crime. I’ve always been into comic books my whole with the dream of someday creating my own. Last year, I decided it’s time to take on that challenge and started taking serious strides to make it happen.

Tribal Council: How did you all get involved in working in comics?

Ty Tyner: I’ve been a fanboy for longer than I can remember. A few years ago I started listening to the Raging Bullets podcast (the best DC comics podcast around FYI). They had Allen Passalaqua on the show talking about the process of coloring comics. I went home & started trying to color that same day. I say “trying” because I had no clue what I was doing. From there I stumbled upon the HueDoo forums and learned a bit more about the process of coloring. A few months later Raging Bullets had another DC color artist on the show, David Baron. David mentioned giving a helping hand to colorists trying to get started so I emailed him. I didn’t expect much of a response but he was very helpful. He gave me lots of advice and guidance and even went as far as doing some one on one training. After that it was just practice practice practice until I found my first gig.

Tyler James: I started making comics when I was 12 years old after getting a copy of “How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way” and kept at it all through high school. About six years ago, I returned to the medium, and have been serious about creating comics ever since.

Tribal Council: This art from EPIC is…well…epic. What can you tell us about the story and when can we expect it?

Tyler James: That Zolman guy can draw, can’t he? Actually, it was my desire to work with Matt that was responsible for generating the EPIC concept. I had seen some of Matt’s superhero work and loved it, but I didn’t have any ideas kicking around that I thought he’d be perfect for. So, I spent a week mulling over ideas in my head, until I came up with one I thought he could rock.

Here’s what I pitched him, and the concept has basically remained unchanged from that first email I sent him six months ago:

After a freak accident gives teenager Eric Ardor incredible powers, he enthusiastically joins the ranks of the super hero set. He quickly learns he’s one of the most powerful heroes around: super strength, speed, flight, heat vision…you name it, he’s got it. Unfortunately, he’s just discovered he has a weakness…beautiful girls. See, Eric’s powers are linked to the attraction and arousal center of his brain. While most boys his age lose their cool around hot chicks, Eric loses his powers! And living in Miami, home to the most beautiful women in the USA, that might be a problem…

Much to my delight, Matt wanted to hear more, and EPIC was born.

Matt Zolman: Thanks! I think the characters and story make it fun to create over the top action and with Ty’s unique coloring on top of that, it’s been a real treat so far for me to be involved.

Tribal Council: Do you have a favorite character in the story so far?

Matt Zolman: Beanie Barnes is my favorite so far which is kind of funny considering he’s so non superhero which was a challenge for me. I think Beanie has a lot of potential for good emotional storytelling.

But my favorite character growning up (and still to this day) is Thor. So when I had the chance to create our own Thunder God, it was a way of putting my own stamp on him.

Tyler James: Beanie’s the man. He’s Eric/EPIC’s best friend and he’s a genius. But he’s CLUELESS about girls…and girls are EPIC’s biggest problem.

Ty Tyner: I love Roid Rage. After seeing the concept art Matt had done for the character I decided I had to be the colorist on this book.

Tyler James: Just wait until you meet Sasha St. Pierre aka Sinstress. She is the ultimate mean girl…and also happens to be a psychopathic super-villaness. Writing her is a blast…and comes surprisingly naturally to me. I guess that means if I were a hot chick, I’d be a TOTAL bitch.

Tribal Council: Tyler, EPIC has a great twist with Eric loosing his powers around pretty girls. That might not be a bad thing if he lived in some places…but Miami? That’s brutal! Where did you draw your inspiration for the story?

Tyler James: Girls and superheroes. Since I was a teenager, for better or worse, there are few things I’ve thought more about. I don’t know about you, but my love of comics and superheroes and all the other geeky stuff we all love hasn’t always mixed well with the ladies. So I think EPIC will resonate with readers. Beautiful women are a lot of guys’ kryptonite.

Also, people familiar with my work know I tend to have genre-ADD. In the past two and a half years, I’ve done everything from horror/sci-fi to political thriller. EPIC, a book full of superteen hijinx is just starting up as OVER, my bromantic dramedy online graphic novel, winds down. OVER was a long tough grind and a solo project, so I think I needed my next project to be collaborative and something completely different, and EPIC is definitely that.

Tribal Council: How far out are you plotting the story?

Tyler James: I believe strongly in knowing where you’re going before you start. <cough…Lost…cough, cough> I also think indy guys really behoove themselves to think in terms of the trade…or even the big hardcover collection. That’s my approach with EPIC. I’m considering the first 10-12 issues to be “Season One” and that’s what I’m plotting out. I really love Robert Kirkman’s approach, collecting 5-6 issues into softcover trades and then 12-13 into beautiful, giant sized collections. So, that’s what we hope to do.

At the same time, I fully plan on packing enough awesomeness into the very first issue that if Matt, Ty and I got abducted by aliens and never had a chance to do a second, EPIC #1 would still be a great book to own.

The first season is going to be all about establishing our characters and the EPIC Universe, and setting a tone and identity for the book.

Tribal Council: Matt, let me just tell you that I LOVE your super tight, clean style. It’s fantastic. How did you develop that style? Was it a natural thing for you or is it something you have to work on?

Matt Zolman: Wow, thanks! Throughout the years, I’ve always been attracted to art that showed dimension with less shading and line work. As much as I’m a fan of Jim Lee, I never tried to absorb his style. Art Adams had and still has a big influence on me. But I’ve also come into my own and trust in how I draw and let the style develop into itself.

My clean lines are attributed to the fact that I do everything digitally. With today’s tech, you can really control the end result and keep your hands clean as well.

Tribal Council: Also for you Matt, how does knowing that the pages will be colored eventually effect your creative process in the black and white stages of the art?

Matt Zolman: We all collectively wanted this to be a fun and exciting book with “cell-like shading” which didn’t call for a lot of spot blacks.

I’m a big fan of the digital process, which causes me to have bigger expectations when it comes to coloring. I think the colorist and penciler/inker can really work together to create a great finished page. I great example is the cloud backgrounds in EPIC #0, I drew in some clouds in at first, then Ty added digital clouds that were competing with the ones I had drawn. We made the decision to use the digital clouds which I thought added a unique atmosphere to the background.

Tribal Council: Ty, I’ve seen some of your colored work and it’s really great. What are your influences?

Ty Tyner: First off thanks for the kind words about my work. I’ve only been in the industry a short time but I’m loving every minute of it. The color artists that influence me the most are: Laura Martin, Alex Sinclair, Nei Ruffino, Hi-Fi, Guy Major, David Baron, & Dave Stewart. I’m sure I’m leaving out some great color artists here.

Tribal Council: Your color pallet is bright and is reminiscent of an animation type style of coloring. How did you decide on that look?

Ty Tyner: Short answer – editorial mandate. Coming in to the project I knew that both Tyler & Matt wanted a classic superhero cartoon look on the coloring. I studied up on my Teen Titans & JLU DVDs and worked out how to approach the style. This was the first time I’d attempted a cell shaded animation style, so there were some growing pains but in the end I found a style that worked well for the book.

Tyler James: Truthfully, we knew the look we wanted but probably could have done a better job conveying it to Ty. The guy was a trooper. I met Ty at the Baltimore Comic Con last year and worked with him on a very small project about six months ago. He’s work has grown in leaps and bounds since then. I didn’t know what to expect from him for this project, but we tested out a number of color artists, and Ty won the job.

Ty Tyner: Hey thanks, like any good artist I’m always striving to improve my skills. I knew going in to this project that I was going to have to wow Matt & Tyler to get the gig (since it was an open call for paying work, I’m sure they got a flood of potential color artists). Truthfully after getting a taste of the story and the art I knew I had to be a part of this project.

Tribal Council: For all of you…if we got a sneak peek into your work spaces…would we find pen and paper or a bunch of computers?

Ty Tyner: What is this paper and pen you speak of? If you were to look at my workstation you’d see a giant Mac a secondary flat panel monitor and a small intuos 4 Wacom tablet. Oh and lots & lots of toys, does that count? I’ve got a mean 80s toy collection on display in my office.

Matt Zolman: All computers for me! I invested into a Wacom Cintiq this year and couldn’t be happier. Funny thing is I rarely draw on paper from day to day.

Tribal Council: You guys released a digital ash can promo for EPIC. That’s a great idea and displayed brilliantly. How did you come up with that?

Tyler James: General rule of thumb the brilliant ideas are all mine.

Of course, I jest. But in this case, releasing EPIC as a digital ashcan was something I wanted to do to build some early buzz in anticipation of our Baltimore Comic Con debut. I chose the Issuu format to release it in because it’s a natural book reading experience presentation, and because the ashcan is embeddable.

See. You can run it right here in this very site if you want. (Hint. Hint.) I think more creators should be taking advantage of things like this.

Tyler is the driving force behind our marketing. He’s doing a great job. My favorite part of the day is when I hit him up with an idea and not only has he thought of it, but he’s half way through implementing it.

Matt Zolman: I’ll agree that most of the brilliant ideas are Tyler’s. Except for that time . . . . well that’s for another story. Seriously, we’ve bounced around ideas on how to promote EPIC and Tyler brought up the digital ashcan and thought it was a no-brainer. Great way to show potential fans what to expect.

Tyler James: This is TRULY a creative collaboration. And it a damn good time.

Tribal Council: Any advice for comic creators (not specifically just colorists) who are trying to collaborate to put together a project?

Ty Tyner: The only thing stopping you from making comics is you. Get out there and make some comics!

Tyler James: Agreed. And while for some reason Google Wave hates Ty, I think it’s a piece of technology tailor-made for comic book collaboration. The Wave is now open to the public, so get in there and give it a try.

Ty Tyner: Ty types too fast for puny google wave to keep up. Ty smash google wave!

Tyler James: See what I mean? Also check out my Creating Comics! column over at Comic Related for more of my tips and tricks about making a go of this indy comics thing.

Matt Zolman: Find creators that are just as excited as you are about creating comics. The team’s energy and enthusiasm keep me going on those late nights when I’m dog tired.

Tribal Council: 12 months from now…where are you hoping to have taken EPIC (or…where are you hoping EPIC will have taken you)?

Tyler James: I think we’re all very excited about telling this story. This summer we’ll be releasing a #0 issue at Baltimore, and be following that up with a short cross-over with the flagship character of another popular indy creator. We haven’t announced this yet, so no more details at present. (But I can say the story rocks, and it will be a great introduction to both characters.) After that, it’s on to EPIC #1.

A year from now, I hope we’ll be close to completion on the first trade collection.

Matt Zolman: I hope we can build a great fan base that is just as excited to read the next adventure of EPIC as we are creating it! Oh, and flying to a con in my private helicopter that EPIC payed for . . .

Ty Tyner: I can’t wait for the rest of the world to get a taste of Epic. Also, bring on the Epic action figures!

Tyler James: I do really want a Roid Rage toy for my collection.

Tribal Council: Where can we find more of your work?

Ty Tyner: www.TyTyner.com or my more often updated Deviant Art site at http://eyesgodark.deviantart.com You can also follow me on twitter @tytyner.

Matt Zolman: mattzolman.wordpress.com as well as http://mattzolman.deviantart.com/ and on the twitter @mattzolman

Tyler James: Follow me up on Twitter @tylerjamescomic and keep tabs on me on my Facebook Page, and if that’s not enough cyber stalking for you, tylejamescomics.com will get you to all my comics.

Tribal Council: Anything else coming up that we should be looking for? (cons, books, other projects, etc)

Ty Tyner: This years Baltimore Comic Con is going to be the big debut of Epic Issue #0. Its going to be amazing. We’ve got a corner booth and will be sketching and hand coloring special editions of the book.

Tribal Council: Woah! Hand coloring? That’s a great idea!! You’re going to have a popular booth.  (for times, dates, location and ALL the information on the Baltimore Comic Con…check out www.baltimorecomiccon.com. Their guest list is MASSIVE. Looks like a can’t miss type of show)

Tyler James: Yeah, we’ll have a sketch cover variant of EPIC #0 for sale, each with an original cover. Matt will pencil, I’ll ink, Ty will color. How often can you get a piece of original art with three creators contributing to it…AND a comic!

I’ll also be finishing OVER online this summer and printing the graphic novel by the end of the year. And definitely check out TEARS of the DRAGON, the fantasy webcomic I write. We’re midway through the second chapter, and it only gets better from there. Oh, and soon most of my stuff will also be available for digital download for your iPhones, Androids and iPads. I’m excited about that!

footnote: This interview was the first multi-person interview that I’ve done and, thanks to a brilliant suggestion by Tyler, was done on Google Wave.  It worked REALLY well and I can say for certain that if I have another interview like this or a collaborative session between myself and 2 or more other people…I’ll be suggesting we use Wave for it.  It was great.

Tags: Color Challenge, Coloring, colorist, Comic Book, EPIC!, Hi-Fi Color for Comics, Master Digital Color, San Diego Comic Con