Direct coloring

The technique of Direktkolorierung has since the 70s the Comics revolutionized. Traditional comics are set up as line drawings, in which three artists are often involved (sketchers, inkers, colorists). The colorist carries out his work on a photocopy of the ink drawing. This colored copy is then photomechanically transferred to a cling film (film, cell). For the final comic print, color foil, ink outline foil and text bubble foil are placed on top of one another and reproduced precisely.

With direct coloring, however, the draftsman sets the colors directly on the original of the ink drawing (drawing cardboard). This has the disadvantage that the ink of the contour lines is partly covered by the color (glaze formation), which is why the artist has to touch up the lines afterwards. (If, however, he has made a cell foil of the ink drawing before coloring, he can later place it on top of the directly colored original.) The advantage of this working method is the greater color and graphic brilliance of the finished print product. Since this process is much more time-consuming than coloring black and white drawings, it is not suitable for the mass production of comic books, but rather is found in artistically designed albums that are published in relatively high numbers, especially in the French-Belgian region.

Artists who have shaped direct coloring include:

If black contour lines are not used in direct coloring, the result is a flowing transition to the painting, i.e. H. to the painted comic. Richard Corben and Vicente Segrelles are considered pioneers here . Black and white productions in which the individual images are laid out as paintings with spatial depth are also considered a special form of direct coloring.

literature

Didier Moulin et al .: Couleur Directe. Chefs d'Oeuvres de la nuovelle Bande Dessinée Française. Edition Kunst der Comics, Thurn 1993, ISBN 3-923102-86-0 (exhibition catalog, 1st International Comic Salon Hamburg, May 27 - May 30, 1993).