[Fabrys]

Hello everybody !
I'm working on a french comic book as a color maker and I had to deal with a very special atmosphere, in green (thanks, Fabrys, we didn't undertand the subject of your topic... )
I don't know why but it was a bit hard to deal with. I think that green color flattens the picture, compared to orange or blue.
First of all, the plate #31, where the two main characters go to a bedroom with this famous green light :

In this plate, I already encounted some problems to keep something readable. The good color was a real horror to find.
Here is the plate #32 in B&W which I received one month and a half after I did the previous one. I was worried because the page is cut in two different atmospheres : this green one and a night outdoor one (so in blue tones) with two campfires (orange tones).

And then, the final result :


Thank you to give my your advice because I won't be able to reach the authors for a while and I'd like to have other people's opinion to let me work further on the next plates.
Many thanks.

The line is from Laurent Cagniat, the whole book "Vauriens" (Rascals) is �2002 Delcourt Productions.

Edit : I wrote in the subject "contains nudity" because I don't know if it is obligatory to mention or not

[ April 08, 2002: Message edited by: Fabrys ]

[ April 14, 2002: Message edited by: Fabrys ]

[Sumaleth]

A simple coloring style, but hugely effective. Nice colors and a good look to each page.

[balistic]

That's what comic coloring ought to look like, in my opinion. Too many books these days have their drawings raped by over-eager gradient monkeys who manage to make everything look wet, shiny and completely inappropriate.

Nice job. The green panels are lovely.

[Lunatique]

Very nice work. I like it a lot. Brings back memories of the Heavy Metal days(I was never a superhero fan).

[arkoh]

Nice work!!! Very nice work!

It took me a while to actually figure out what it was, the green tone was telling... well not really on the second one, but somehow on the first one! I'm not sure I would have been able to figure it out, had I not started with the last one!

I dont know... It looks really cool with the greenish tone, but for crist sake it freaks me out that you have chosen to use GREEN as the color of sexuality! Spooky!!!

I haven't really desided yet, wether I love it or it makes me wanna puke!

EFFECTIVE it is for sure!!!

Yeah the green colorscheme you've found works really well! Especially in the second Plate!!!!


Naaah, I just took a look at the first page agian, and I quickly withdraw my comments, It does make sense!!! I am pretty sure the "story" of the green tone is something that would make alot more sense reading the entire comic!!!

Once again... Looks awesome!!!

[P'tit Ben]

Hey Fabrys

As a French comics lover, I'll answer frankly!

At first the green atmosphere surprised me, but it all comes right with the second plate as you counterbalance the green scene with the redish outside scenes! REally nice

Can't wait to see it on shelves! What is the street date?

[Fabrys]

Wow ! What for crits ! I'm really touched because I was waiting for some telling "It works" or "No bad". Thanks to all of you.
Sumaleth and balistic-> you found the words to describe my job. I always try to keep simplicity to respect the artist drawline (even if sometimes I erase some parts of it) and to make the pictures/plates fast readable. A friend of mine who is very famous in France for his colorwork learned me that you always must serve the reader to make him understand what he watches in a few seconds. That's what I try to do.
arkoh-> I agree with you that the green panel is rarely used to express love. That's why I choose this one. Actually, those tones are related to the two characters' lovestory which is quite chaotic (as you guessed). After years, that is the really fist time they are together and... that's their very first time.
In therapy, the green color is used to treat affective and emotional injuries, to bring inwardly peace.
In esotericism, it used to say that emerald is the jewel of chastity and a legend tells that it changes its color if the one who gave it to you has become unfaithful (I don't think that my syntax is right...)
Lunatique -> thank you to compare my work to Heavy Metal. The french comic-magazine is going to be released in few months (shhhh, it is still a big secret... woops !) and I expect to be pre-published in with a personnal project that I have with a writter.
P'tit Ben -> the street date... well. Let's expect it fo june
The cartoonist is very, very, very slow (more than 5 years to end this 3rd and last book). He's now ending the last plates.
To let the others understand, in France we don't have restrictive delays as in USA, even if we have delays to respect. But those seem to be extensible...
For example, Travis Charrest is now working for a french publisher and... really understood the french habits .
We are still far away from the "comic business" as in USA, even if we tend to it. So, you won't find color studios as the ones you have (except just one, in Belgium).
I'll post the plate #33 to let you see the climax... well, not the one of my work
huh, huh, huh

[-HoodZ-]

id like to see it..but i get red x's

[MoleculeMan]

Travis is awesome i cant believe you stole him! heheh

Nice colors, i think that the atomosphere was very balanced. I like how the greens made the reds and blue stand out so much more.

jake

[Fabrys]

Here is the last plate.


You may encount problems to see the pics because of my provider. Try again.

[arkoh]

I'll put it to you, in a very simple way man...

I absolutely ADORE the Green, Blue, Orange color combination you've got going here!!! It just keeps getting better and better!!!

VERY powerfull stuff!!!

[Fabrys]

quote:

---

Originally posted by arkoh:
I'll put it to you, in a very simple way man...

I absolutely ADORE the Green, Blue, Orange color combination you've got going here!!! It just keeps getting better and better!!!

VERY powerfull stuff!!!

---

Many thanks !
I've just jumped to your site (ARKOH.DK) where you posted very nice stuff.
I love your photos of Asia -is it Tha�land ?- and Bolivia. Unfortunatly, I don't understand Danish and I couldn't read your comments. But, I'll ask a friend of mine who would be able to translate.

[jesusclone]

that looks great but I'd like to see a larger version

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http://www.twigpeople.com/dmo

[Fabrys]

quote:

---

Originally posted by jesusclone:
that looks great but I'd like to see a larger version

--------------------


http://www.twigpeople.com/dmo

---

Seriously or just to ogle ?
I didn't want to charge the topic with excessive size pics.

[jesusclone]

yeah, it's hard to see the details =\

--------------------


http://www.twigpeople.com/dmo

[TheRealT]

Great stuff!
Speaking as a comic industry pro, if you're not yet "one of us" you should be! But i bet you already are...
Wicked

[ April 10, 2002: Message edited by: TheRealT ]

[Petra Pan]

I like it - a lot.

[Fabrys]

Thx Petra Pan.
Thx you too, TheRealT. You're right, I'm already pro... since last september
P'tit Ben, at least I have more informations from the publisher. You'll find the book at the end of august... the cartoonist is too late to release it before.
That's not a good thing for me because it is my first colorwork and no publisher will see it before several months ! The second book I worked on is now cancelled to remake the previous issue
May be you know Les Memoires Mortes (Dead Memories) by Bajram & Chouin. I've been called yesterday to make a try to color the #2... not so easy to work with fingers crossed...

[gArGOyLe^]

thats reeally great!

[Fabrys]

New plate... I'll still post one or two because a great tragic scene is coming and I'd like to get advices.
Hope you'll enjoy

[The Magic Pen]

Nice stuff bro!!

[arkoh]

Well... I wouldn't claim to be that much of a comic strip painter, that I could actually give you real proper advices, but I could share my thoughts on your last plate here...

Actually this last plate seems like the one I dig the least! I mean, dont get me wrong... its awesome as well, but there's just something that doesn't seem to be as much in balance as the others!!!

I have been thinkin a bit, and I think it has something to do with the fact, that this plate is the only one, where you start to mix the different areas of color in each frame... I see a bit of blue in the green Frame 02, I see a bit of blue in the orange frame 03, and in the last four frames I'm having difficulties determining what colorscheme these actually belong to! I mean, you have mixed the colorschemes in your earlier plates (especially succesfull in plate #3, with the orange bonfires in the blue atmosphere!), but in the others, the mixing is more clearly seperated and defined by tone and saturation and not as integrated/flat as it is in the last one here! (just my oppinion that is )

ahhh damn... I just did a quick explanatory sketch on your plates to illustrate what I meant, and where I think its working and where its not and why, but my trial version of my FTP client seems to have expired, so NO uploads!! But I hope you can see what I mean anyway... doesn't neccesarily mean you agree, but simply SEE what I mean!

Nice work once again!!! Keep'em coming... always a pleasure and inspiration to see your work!!!

___

And yeah my photos are from mainly Thailand and Indonesia, but lets not loose focus here, ahh... this is not about my work!!

[Fabrys]

Argh ! My browser erased my reply close to the end of it !!!!!
Okay...
Let me explain you the difference of treatment that you can find from a plate to another one.
To express the same atmosphere you would be able to change the colors. The reason's why is that the pic is changing.
Look at the 3 last frames of the previous plate.
The beggar is on the floor and shouldn't be lightened by the fire for two reasons :
1- he is too far away from it.
2- the kid is between the fire and him.
Another parameter is that I don't have the sky anymore to show the reader that the scene is still taking place during the night.
For now, let's forget color schemes to speak about the opposition of "cold" and "hot" in the narrative way.
To show this night atmosphere, I should make a pic completely cold but, the fire is not far away. That's why there is such a gradient going from a hot to a cold color. If you look this gradient, you see that it is already cold under the head of the biggar.
Now another problem is coming. The reader saw this character before and when I painted him for the first time... I didn't know that he would be on mud several plates later. Hehehe... his clothes have a color closed to the one of the floor. To make him readable, there was no other way then to color this guy in a hot atmosphere. This detail changes everything !
Then something hard is coming.
On one hand, we have this green atmosphere which, in the reader's mind, is associated with the bed room.
On another hand, we have an orange atmosphere which is related to the throne room.
A a third hand ( ) we have this blue/orange tones related to the outdoors.
So... then I had to manage all those different atmospheres together to keep a plate viewable and readable. I think that's why you find so much differences with the other plates. I just play with what I learned to the reader, not with the logic.
Look at the next plate. On this one, the cartoonist had the great idea to add characters who you won't see previously... more people around means less light on the beggar and, for sure, no fire light on him.
Actually, doing comics is more a story of tricks than restranscribe the reality. It reminds me a day I tried to draw a sitted girl. I took a photo as support but, one time drawn it looked completely wrong even if it respected the original photo. I had to erase and redraw some parts, wrong if you refer to the reality but right for the eyes.
I expect that I answered to you properly, if not let's go ahead in replies

[Hyptosis]

man, all your work is so niiice

[arkoh]

Damnit man... now I cannot find the password and login name for my webaccount, so YET again NO uploads!!

I completely undestand where it is you are coming from Fabrys, but all I'm saying is that in all other plates you've posted, I think the mixing of the different colorschemes are working alot better then the previous one (the one with the beggar getting beaten!)... Take the last plate here... F###kin awesome man!!! Actually the last one here, to me very clearly explains the way it is when the mixing REALLY works!! Take frame # 1, man the contrasting and the changing between the different colorschemes around the guy lying in the mud works brilliatly here, and compare it to the last couple of frames in the previous plate... take frame # 6 in the last plate here (#6 I think... the one looking down the side of the castle, with the burning bonfires!) the change from one colourscheme to the other within the same frame is very clearly shown, very easily interpreted!!! In the previous plate it seems to me as if the contrasting and the change in saturation isn't powerfull enough... here the Plate seems to flat to me!!!

This is VERY difficult to explain, but seing the last Plate here, I shouldn't actually dare to say anything at all!!! It really takes my breath away! Awesome use of the greyish, blue and the orange colors!!!

Good work...

Hope you've undestood that I absolutely adore the general quality of the colourings you've done!! I'm just makin a mess out of the small things here!!

[ April 18, 2002: Message edited by: arkoh ]

[arkoh]

Ohh yeah... and what's up with the next plate, when's that coming?? The suspens is killing me...

I mean, you can't leave us with nothing but the image of a robe being cut, leaving the young girl to drop 20 meters to the ground!

[Fabrys]

quote:

---

Originally posted by arkoh:
Ohh yeah... and what's up with the next plate, when's that coming?? The suspens is killing me...

I mean, you can't leave us with nothing but the image of a robe being cut, leaving the young girl to drop 20 meters to the ground!

---

Ok, ok...
I didn't want to post anymore in this topic (I expect that I don't bother you) but, as everybody (you Arkoh ) is asking for...
There's no more green (back in 2 plates).

[arkoh]

Stunning man... A pure work of art!!! Just keep going like this!!!

Good luck!!!