#Colorists

[patemi-pk]

There are a few problems in the colorist community in italy. From the page of the association FeMU:

"IF THEY MAKE YOU THIS OFFER, DO NOT ACCEPT IT

It is known that Christmas is the best time to announce mass layoffs and spending cuts. Italian comics are no exception! GFB, the company that manages the coloring of comics and series published by some of the main Italian publishing houses such as Panini and Bonelli, has announced to its colorists that their payments will be reduced by 20%, going, in the case of the colors of Mickey Mouse, from €8 gross to €6.40 gross per panel. This is an unjustifiable offer and should not be accepted. Normally a flattist takes between €10 and €15 per panel. This is without considering the growth in the complexity of the work in recent years, especially on the panels of series such as Mickey Mouse. Coloring it no longer means making simple flats, but managing more complex atmospheres with timing ranging from 40 minutes to 3 hours at the table: the compensation in this case drops to €2.7 gross per hour. The situation is similar for those who make the flats of the collections attached to the Corriere della Sera of Bonelli series such as Blek or Commander Mark.

All this always as freelancers (with all that this entails: no coverage for sickness, holidays, maternity, fixed income) and without stable contracts.

We want to respond to this offer with three messages. To those working in the publishing sector, we want to say, once and for all, that proposing to someone to work for figures like these is mortifying for the professionalism and commitment shown by the author. This applies to the company that pays €2 per hour to the flatter as well as to the publisher who pays the designer €15 per table. This is even more true for those comics where there are no royalties on sales and where you can't even bet on an unexpected success of the project. Nobody forces you to be on the market and make comics. Nobody forces you to use third-party agencies that withhold part of the payments for intermediation. And the fact that there are professionals willing to accept such wages cannot be a justification. We contest the frequent narrative according to which your company/publishing house is presented as a large family in which you have to help each other and make sacrifices together. This is not the case. Cartoonists and their clients are not related by blood or friendship. They have a professional relationship. Companies are the subjects that can and must most sustain the entrepreneurial risk and the sacrifices that derive from it without passing them on to the author. If you want to do so, make the authors your partners. On the other hand, we want to tell the authors not to accept these figures and to always carefully evaluate the conditions that are proposed.

To give you an idea of ​​how little colorists are paid through GFB, consider that in the best case scenario we are talking about a salary of €6.40 gross per hour (corresponding to approximately €5.60 net) and in the most common (2 per table) of €3.20 per hour (€2.80 net). The minimum wage for a housekeeper (among the lowest paid jobs overall) is €6.11 net, for a babysitter it is €7.03 per hour. In both cases we are talking about jobs that give the right to sickness, maternity, thirteenth month, severance pay and unemployment benefits in addition to a higher basic hourly salary.

Do not accept conditions like this first of all for yourselves, for the quality of your life and for your career. Working in the world of comics and living off comics is very difficult, but there are many opportunities, especially if you look abroad.

If you are offered a low-paid job and you are considering taking it to gain experience, always evaluate whether it is actually something that can give meaning to your portfolio (making only flat, unfortunately, no).

But don't accept it for the sake of others. Taking low-paid jobs is harmful for everyone, because it justifies your clients to propose these rates or to reduce the compensation, even now that inflation and consumer prices are increasing. Each of us has our own life and our own needs, but if we remain isolated, certain things will never change. Publishers, fairs and agencies often have a paternalistic and condescending attitude towards those who make comics. We are treated with condescension, without the care or respect we deserve. We must be a united front at certain times and remind publishers, fairs and agencies that we are the professionals who allow them to exist and as such we must be treated and paid. Let's network.

To those who say "why complain? Our industry works like this!”, we reply: it’s true. It’s normal that those who make serial comics are usually external collaborators but in practice employees, deprived however of all the guarantees that an employment contract offers. It’s (bad) practice that those who make comics are not entitled to holidays, sick leave and that they work constantly and even more than the hours provided for by most collective agreements (and without overtime payment, to boot), but to this we cannot add the fact that they don’t even get to receive the lowest hourly wage achievable by the least generous of employment contracts. Do you like this? We don’t. This system can neither be justified nor normalized. We need to talk about it. The system is wrong and must be changed.

We condemn GFB’s choices to reduce compensation so suddenly and drastically, at a time when it would be useful to increase it to align it with the market and to allow a dignified life for those who make a living from this profession.

We ask Panini, Bonelli, Corriere della Sera and anyone indirectly involved to verify the adequacy of the conditions offered by their service providers and third parties to the final workers, if necessary adjusting their budgets, acting as bearers of the legitimate rights of professionals in the sector and ensuring that they have sustainable working conditions and adequate remuneration. We ask you to join us in showing solidarity with all those professionals who have collaborated with GFB for years because it happens too often in the comics profession to have to choose between giving up everything or having to continue working in absolutely unacceptable conditions. We are with you!

Merry Christmas"

[cherrygeek]

Mad Cave Studios' 8th Annual Talent Search is taking submissions until 8/29/2025 and it's your chance to break Into the comic book industry! #MadCaveStudios #Creators #TalentSearch #Pitch #NewTalent #Diverse #StoryTellers

[iamwizzzzz]

[orphetoon]

wtf do sonic artists eat that make them so good at colors

[avidanimator123]

🎨 Dive into the realm where imagination meets innovation!

Uncover the intriguing dynamics of AI and 2D animation colorists. 🌟 Check out our latest article: 👉 "Will AI Replace Colorists?" 🤖

[balshumetsbaragouin]

The next three are all Batman themed. This one much more obviously so, but I promise all of them are Batman related or references! I had a lot of fun with clear comic style of these lines. It was very delightful to work with, and frankly, looked like a graphic novel page. Thanks to @ectospacecadet for the outstanding lines!

Title: A Gotham Apprenticeship

[meziniart]

@moist-car PAINTED MY JAYROY I'M CRYING SCREAMING THROWING UP 😭😭 ououuwghh auuruegrghh ily ily

[bixels]

I think 90% of my gripes with how modern anime looks comes down to flat color design/palettes.

Non-cohesive, washed-out color palettes can destroy lineart quality. I see this all the time when comparing an anime's lineart/layout to its colored/post-processed final product and it's heartbreaking. Compare this pre-color vs. final frame from Dungeon Meshi's OP.

So much sharpness and detail and weight gets washed out and flattened by 'meh' color design. I LOVE the flow and thickness and shadows in the fabrics on the left. The white against pastel really brings it out. Check out all the detail in their hair, the highlights in Rin's, the different hues to denote hair color, the blue tint in the clothes' shadows, and how all of that just gets... lost. It works, but it's not particularly good and does a disservice to the line-artist.

I'm using Dungeon Meshi as an example not because it's bad, I'm just especially disappointed because this is Studio Trigger we're talking about. The character animation is fantastic, but the color design is usually much more exciting. We're not seeing Trigger at their full potential, so I'm focusing on them.

Here's a very quick and messy color correct. Not meant to be taken seriously, just to provide comparison to see why colors can feel "washed out." Top is edit, bottom is original.

You can really see how desaturated and "white fluorescent lighting" the original color palettes are.

[Remember: the easiest way to make your colors more lively is to choose a warm or cool tint. From there, you can play around with bringing out complementary colors for a cohesive palette (I warmed Marcille's skintone and hair but made sure to bring out her deep blue clothes). Avoid using too many blend mode layers; hand-picking colors will really help you build your innate color sense and find a color style. Try using saturated colors in unexpected places! If you're coloring a night scene, try using deep blues or greens or magentas. You see these deep colors used all the time in older anime because they couldn't rely on a lightness scale to make colors darker, they had to use darker paints with specific hues. Don't overthink it, simpler is better!]

[unikid-shortfilm]

Something's among the plains, and Kid needs your help! Unikid is currently looking for Background Layout, Background Paint, Animators, and Colorists!

Applicants must meet the following: Have strong work ethic Great at communication, and is level-headed Adaptable and can draw cartoony styles

Everyone, CSUF and beyond, is more than welcome to apply :D There is currently no due date, but it is highly recommended that you apply as soon as possible. Note: This is a student film and is an unpaid opportunity!

Still interested? Please email your questions, portfolio , and resume to unikidshortfilm@gmail.com .

Graphic designed by @chromatiff

[odioart]

MR FISH x ODIO DARKSTALKERS COLORFUL

[bu99erfly]

aespa Long Chat (#♡), 2024

[harumichan12]

Finally finished colored the lasted Hori sketch of Bakugo 💛✨️

Cleaned by @_sneez__ on twitter

[iamwizzzzz]

[striderepiphany]

HELLO I’m finally done with my piece for the 2024 Loser’s Secret Santa !! My recipient was @curiousbadger who requested werecat Eddie! I hope you like it :))

[a-bad-case-of-the-stephs]

The biggest question Steph grapples with throughout her entire pregnancy is the question of whether or not she should give up her baby. By closely examining the elements from Steph's dream sequence as she gives birth the reason Stephanie eventually decides to give up her baby becomes apparent.

We first see this question arise in Robin #58, where sitting on a rooftop, pretty soon after discovering her pregnancy, Steph brings up the idea that she wants to keep the baby, and says she doesn’t know how she could give it up.

Steph seems to continue with adoption arrangements despite this confession, although we can see that Steph seemingly spends the rest of her pregnancy arc secretly debating the matter.

We see this subtly illustrated through the usage of magazines. Steph begins her pregnancy reading magazines geared towards her age range and gender, ("teen" and "boys") with one magazine seemingly about pregnancy "9 Months".

Robin #59

When we see Steph reading magazines again a few issues later, she has a "clothes for baby" catalogue and a "teen" magazine. She seems to be looking at the baby clothes catalogue when Tim walks into the room, causing her to subtly hide it under the "teen" magazine.

Robin #61 / #62

Steph brings up a big question on that rooftop in Robin #59: how can she possibly give up her baby? And although it appears at first Steph accepts and moves on, choosing to give up her baby, we know that this question never really got answered for Steph, she’s still been thinking all the while throughout her pregnancy, while reading these magazines, while hiding her doubts until the last moment: how is she going to be able to go through with this?

But we don't get final confirmation of this fact until Steph finally voices her conflict to Tim, the same night she goes into labor. Notice how all the magazines around her are now all baby related.

Robin #64

When Steph finally cracks and confesses to Tim her desire to keep the baby after all, Tim tries to reason with her. Although Steph seems to agree with some of his points, it’s very important to note that it still doesn’t seem like Steph’s committed to the choice to give up her baby for adoption. She says she knows it’s the right thing to do, but she trails off with a ‘but…’ making her indecisiveness clear. She still hasn’t really made up her mind.

Steph goes into labor later the same night, and due to unspecified complications is rushed to the hospital. Steph is given some kind of anesthesia, and enters her dream as a c-section is performed. When she exits her dream and awakes, baby born, something has changed.

Robin #65

So if Stephanie, all throughout her pregnancy up has been questioning this, finally voicing her doubts the night before she goes into labor, and when she awakes, she has come to a firm decision she says she figured on her own, the only place and time where Steph could have made this choice is during her dream sequence.

So what about the dream changed her mind?

One of the big repeated themes throughout Stephs dream sequence is a conflation of her own childhood and that of her baby's. Stephs feelings and memories meld, and the line between her and her baby is shaky.

This isn't a random detail, or even an inevitability of a dreamlike state: it's a specific choice and I think it explains how and why Steph makes up her mind the way she does.

Stephs biggest influence towards the idea of giving her baby up for adoption is her fear that her baby might experience a similar childhood to her own. We see this argument start to convince Steph when Tim brings up Stephs own childhood the night she goes into labor and when Steph appears more confident in the idea of giving up her baby in the Secret Origins 80 Page Giant, it's directly connected to the idea of sparing her baby the same garbage childhood she was subjected to.

Steph is convinced finally to give up her baby because the conflation between her babys potential childhood and her own childhood in her dream sequence convinces her that the elements which made her childhood so shitty have not fundamentally changed.

Crystal Brown

Despite their relationship seemingly better than perhaps in years, Dream-Crystal is portrayed as completely oblivious to the danger Arthur presents, ushering him in and even scolding Steph for her concern. If Steph and Crystals relationship is at such a high point, then why would Steph’s mind portray Crystal as someone who opens the door to this danger and ignores this threat?

Because it’s something Steph is dredging up from her own childhood. It’s not malicious, but it’s apparent that despite being a target of Arthur’s physical abuse, Crystal historically has been quick to assume the best of Arthur and ignore hints of his worse nature. By the time Steph’s pregnancy arc has begun Crystal is able to recognize Arthur as shitty, but throughout Steph’s childhood that’s just not the case. (Both drug use and a malfunctioning ‘lie detector’ as Steph puts it, seem to be to blame for this).

Batman Chronicles #22 / Secret Files 80 Page Special / Robin #111

Stephs subconscious doesn't have faith that Crystal has changed. Despite Crystal having progressed and become much more present and cognizant of the harm Arthur poses, Stephs subconscious is still wary. This is realistic. Maybe it's not fair to Crystal, but Steph can't help holding onto this fear, at least subconsciously. To be fair, it can’t have been over a year since Crystal was smiling at Arthur, seemingly accepting him back from prison soon before Steph dons the Spoiler costume for the first time. This breaks part of Steph’s counterargument to Tim in Robin #64 where she asserts she could raise her baby with the help of her mom. Despite all the progress Steph and Crystal have made, Steph still isn't able to fully trust Crystal with her baby, and her dream shows that.

2. Arthur Brown

Cluemaster appears, the subconscious fear of how he poisoned Stephs childhood leaking over to how she thinks about her baby's hypothetical childhood with her. Would her baby be safe from Arthur?

Steph knows very well that Arthur is free from jail and as dangerous as ever: between their encounter in Blunt Trauma where he tried to kill her, and the fact that he destroyed her and Crystals house, the physical threat of Arthur Brown is readily apparent.

Robin #54

But its not the physical harm that her father poses which the dream fixates on. As per usual for Steph, she seems much less scared of her father hurting her as she is frightened by the idea of his criminality as a symbol of her own wrongness.

Just like Steph believes her own self to be poisoned by her relation to Arthur she fears that her baby might be tainted the same way. Her fear isn't absolutely unfounded either. Arthur is free, and he's ransacked and destroyed Stephs home during Cataclysm. His recent violation and destruction of what should be a safe place, much like he barges in and disrupts Stephs peace in her dream, signify how Arthurs still has and would have this huge presence in Steph -- and by extension her baby's -- life.

So, Steph has two reasons which warn her against keeping her baby, two things she is afraid would give her baby the one thing she wants to avoid: it having the same shitty childhood as her. But not everything is the same as when she was a kid, right? Now she has allies, friends even, who are powerful and capable. Hell, Stephs a hero too! That means something, doesn't it?

3. The Heroes Arrive

Stephs subconscious seems to think so, at least to a degree. Steph isn't left alone to save her baby. As her panic mounts, the heroes appear just in time.

And just like that Steph is wearing her Spoiler costume, the symbol of her agency, the thing that allowed her to stand up to her father in the first place.

Vigilantism is therefore empowering, and the connections (albeit highly tenuous connections) Steph has made in the hero community are empowering also.

Steph has new factors, factors which weren't present in her own childhood which can step in, the situations are not actually identical, maybe she can keep her baby, maybe it will be safe.

Some of the heroes she conjures make a lot of sense, Steph is very close with Robin, he's supported her especially during her pregnancy and he's one of the last people she saw before entering her dream. She's had a positive encounter with Connor Hawke which clearly influenced her. Even her tenuous encounter with Huntress proved to Steph Helena was highly capable. I honestly don't know why Nightwing is there, they haven't met. And Batman. The Batman.

Notice Batman's dialogue. If it sounds familiar, that's because Steph said an almost identical line in the last issue, in that same moment Tim and her are discussing Steph keeping her baby.

Dream-Batman parrots the same language as Steph, the same sentiment, but not about Steph, about her baby. How much has really changed, then?

The heroes fight, but its to a standstill. The assorted heroes present fight the assorted villains that Arthur has brought with him, but Arthur himself is untouched, her baby is still in harms way. And Steph, stands there in the middle of it, horrified and still as Crystal laughs behind her.

Steph's subconscious decides its not enough. Theres so many of these heroes, sure, but they can't stop Arthur, can they? They couldn't when it was Steph in danger, when it was Steph who needed saving. It's no ones fault. But Steph knows.

Just like it always has: Steph knows it comes down to her.

4. Catch

Arthur throws her baby into the air, and we've arrived at the final moments of her dream. And so, the final question, the deciding moment. Can Steph rely on herself?

After spending the rest of her dream remaining uncharacteristically helpless and inactive, Steph finally leaps into action.

Let's hone in on that middle panel. It stands out, for good reason. Despite the rest of the dream taking place during the afternoon, with clear light in the sky and a cloudy purple hued sky, the sky in that second panel is pitch black and dotted with stars. And below the baby, there's this light purple grid.

It's not random, we're being shown a time and location we know. That's the exact roofing of Steph’s house, we're looking at Stephs rooftop, at night.

We've seen this time and location before, during Stephs pregnancy, way back in Robin #58, when Steph first questions whether or not she should keep her baby.

This is it, this is the moment. We saw Steph first question how she could give up her baby on this roof, and now, as her baby plummets into an identical scene, right before Stephanie wakes up, we're getting our answer.

But this isn't the only time we see this setting during Stephs pregnancy.

Secret Origins 80 Page Special

The second scene with this framing is a flashback, to a young Steph, sitting on the roof of her house alone, looking at the moon. The attached dialogue is Steph’s narration explaining how she used to dream that she’d see Batman some day. This is a scene about faith and hope. About dreams, about wanting to get saved.

So why do we see the same roof and sky again, for the third and final time during Steph’s pregnancy arc while her baby falls?

Stephanie’s dream sequence is a checklist of reasoning for why she can’t keep her baby. She is reflecting her own childhood onto the baby and she is concluding not enough has changed, she is suspecting her baby could very well be subject to the same circumstances.

And it culminates in this final moment. Crystal, while more present than ever is still not fully reliable in Steph's mind. Arthur is on the loose and as sadistic as ever. The heroes can show up, but they can’t save her baby, just like Batman couldn’t save Steph on that rooftop years and years ago. Just like then, it’s down to Steph on her own. Thats why when she lunges out for her baby, the baby is falling onto that rooftop. It’s both a reminder of the question Steph is stuck considering and an explanation for how she reaches her answer.

Because she can’t rely on anyone else, because she has to leap out, reach out, save her baby, and ultimately that look of horror as the baby falls isn’t a look of anticipation, it’s a look of utter and horrific acceptance. I don’t think Steph believes she reached her baby in time. I think Steph doesn’t think she can save her baby at all.

Steph is a very proactive character. It's strange to see her hesitate towards action, and extremely strange to see that when that action is saving someone from danger. But she's indecisive throughout her pregnancy, and she's helpless throughout her dream sequence until the very last second. Even donning the Spoiler costume doesn't help. She's helpless in this dream.

So, checklist gone through, conclusions drawn, Steph wakes up and makes the only decision she can, the decision which goes against her very nature: Stephanie lets go.

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Here is the second piece for Green With Envy for me this year! I was really inspired by the lines by @halfalix and @furiarossa and just had to color them. I'm proudest of how the moon and flaming hair came out, but you all will have to tell me your favorite bits in the reblogs!

Title: King of the Stars