Thursday, October 8, 2009

our opening page in color

Hi folks...

Long time, no post. We're working away on our book. We got our deadline extended. This graphic novel is requiring a lot of time and energy! We want it to be as good as possible. We hope it will prove worth the wait.

Here is a colored (but dialogue-less) version of the opening page of the book. (We're awaiting the arrival of a custom-made computer font based on David's lettering style. Once we get that, and have it installed, we can begin to type in the final dialogue.)

I hope the lack of dialogue isn't disconcerting. We tried to suggest some of the coloring techniques of the very early newspaper comics. It appears to us that they were colored using water color washes, which were interpreted by the engravers for the four-color printing process.

Comics were printed in flat colors from the start--especially in small-town newspapers, whose engravers could not equal the masterful work of those in the employ of the Chicago Tribune or the New York World or Herald-Tribune.

We have tried to evoke this delicate yet complex early color process here. Our goal is not to imitate the old ways--just to suggest them, and to incorporate aspects of them into our 21st-century efforts.

We hope you enjoy this sneak preview. We're going to do our best to post here at least once a week from now on with more preview pages, art samples, photos, etc. We hope to see you here again very soon!

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge it...

7 comments:

Gabriel said...

Such a good work!!
Like the combination of computer colors and watercolors (it looks like "anilinas" -I don't know how do you say it in english, sorry) and the suitable lettering work. It's me or that dancing lil' child is alike The Yellow Kid?
The little bit stiff figures by David lend to the scene a warmly particular touch. Brilliant as always.
So excited to see this terrific work in print!
Best--

Dalton Webb said...

I am digging the Yellow Kid reference!

Kyle Hilton said...

a friend of yours, Traci Stover, suggested I look at this blog. She taught me color theory back in college. I love what you're doing with this. It's so great. Especially the process of using flat colors. That's something I really love seeing in illustration today. Hinting at "vintage" coloring is something I'm trying as well. Anyway, please keep it up. It's great to see a behind the scenes look into this project.

Ellen L. said...

So pretty pretty. I too am enjoying the nod to the Yellow Kid...and every much looking forward to seeing those speech balloons filled in!
Good luck, gents...

Jeff Hawley, Cartoonist - said...

Great work! Am looking forward to the finished work. The Carter family and their influence is huge in American music tradition. From what I've seen so far, you're going to do 'em proud.

Debbie Drechsler said...

Wow! I love this opening page! The colors are wonderful. I love the muted, soft tones and the slightly painterly effect! Can't wait to see what they're saying!

Peter Richardson said...

Fabulous work - love the drawing and the colors, the whole page has a beautifully organic feel to it with the linework and subtle coloring.

Looking forward to seeing more of this work in progress.