Colorist Appreciation Day

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johnercek
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It's (comic book) colorist appreciation day again. Kind of funny how arbitrary the selection of the day is, but that is a testament to it's organic origins. (lets hear it for people getting pissed off and starting a movement).  Still, happy to see it experience an anniversary.

In honor of colorist appreciation day i'd like to repost some of which I wrote last year. (Particularly relevant is Nei's most recent post on her dA toolkitten.deviantart.com/jour…)

...The job is so bad that half of them leave the position when they reach the top. (see Christina Strain and Mark Sweeney. Even Nei Ruffino is going after pencils right now). I'm second guessing my own interest in pursuing comic coloring as a career because of what I see in the industry. The pay is low proportionate to the hours and the training. But the worst part is being on the ass end of a production line. Ideally the penciller does a page a day- the inker does 2 pages, and the colorist has to do 4 pages. But then the penciller takes 2 to 4 days on a page here or there, the inker gets backed up and takes and extra day, so that in the end the colorist ends up having to color up to half the book the day before deadline. Not always- but often. Colorists pull more all nighters in this industry than anyone else, with the exception of the editors themselves (maybe). It's a shitty lifestyle, and when people say "colorists do it because they love it"- they don't mean it in the "Teachers do it because they love children" sort of way. They mean it in the "why the fuck would someone stay with that abusive tyrant lover that sucks the life out of them" sort of way.  That or they're fucking crazy. 

In appreciation of the day, here are the DA links for the colorists I currently work with, go tell them you appreciate their work. 

Alex Sinclair sinccolor.deviantart.com/ Thanks for keeping me alive for the past two years!
Beth Sotelo midimew.deviantart.com/ Thanks for being so leniant on the workflow!
Andrew Dalhouse drewdown1976.deviantart.com/ Thanks for working with my own borked up workflow
(2014 - edit) Gabe Eltaeb - I really do enjoy doing all the color holds too!

and even though i don't work with him as often anymore:
Chris Sotomayor sotocolor.deviantart.com/ thanks for getting me into this industry... I think.

and last but not least 
Steve Oliff for being my chief inspiration all those years ago.  (he quit comics at one point because becoming mayor of his city was the easier and more righteous thing to do.. see what i mean about this industry?!)
© 2014 - 2024 johnercek
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DON-WALKER's avatar
DON-WALKER
Sorry I missed this (haven't been DA) for a few day.

Let me say that appreciate all the work you're doing on my book. It's slow going for everyone, but I appreciate the thought you put into every page as well as the physical time. You're rocking and rolling and the book will be better off because of your contribution.