Comics Experience Blog: Intro to Coloring Class a Huge Success!

As many of you probably know, Chris Sotomayor, colorist of nearly every comic book published by DC and Marvel at one time or another, and I co-created the Comics Experience course, “Introduction to Comic Book Coloring.”

Now the goal was, in a word, a "stretch." We were hoping to take in seasoned colorists and complete beginners with no working knowledge of Photoshop and stick them in the same course, keeping it interesting for both and informative for both and helping elevate everyone’s coloring skills.

Tall order, like I said. But HOLY MOLEY, everyone surprised me. EVERYONE. We did have a couple complete beginners, most people were somewhere in the middle, with either painting courses under their belts or a good knowledge of Photoshop, and yes, we even had a professional colorist or two who had been working consistently for quite some time in the industry already.

Well, why don’t I just stop talking and show you some examples of the assignments that came in. It was truly amazing to watch these comics enthusiasts (for the most part) become capable color artists. The real high-marks go to the students themselves. Their own enthusiasm was catching. And Chris did an outstanding job as an instructor, knowing when to push further and when to let the students explore on their own. I couldn’t have imagined a more successful first outing.

How do I know it was a success? A) Everyone loved the class, myself and Chris included. B) They loved it so much, we’re already about to begin an Advanced Course because enough of our students wanted to continue on and Chris and I were just that enthusiastic! Okay, shutting up now. Take a look at what these amazing students did!

First week’s project: Do flat color on a page, choosing your initial color scheme as you go, separating planes.

Second week’s project: A value study to understand the brightest and darkest spots on the page and composition of the whole piece.

Third week’s project: A study of color combinations that work well together and tell a story.

Fourth week’s project: Render a couple of pages of artwork. Model the images to give that three-dimensional look that we’ve all come to know and love.

Fifth week’s project: Take notes given in class and give us amazing, fully rendered pages.

I think we can all agree, just at a glance, that this is some amazing stuff. At the very least, every student came out with a couple of good, professional, portfolio pieces. I can’t wait to see what they can do after the Advanced Course.