DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics

List Price: $21.95 Discount Price: $11.72

Customer Reviews:

Amazing book for Visual Artists & Filmmakers [Posted on 2007-07-31]
You sometimes have to read outside of your field to understand central aspects that goes unsaid or unexplained. As a filmmaker, I've looked to other how-to comics and graphic novel books for help, but they didn't bridge any gap between the page and screen. Alas, in the first few pages, all the questions I've had of color theory and applying it are answered with accompanying illustrations. Right away you can see the dramatic effect of a color value in a black and white image. The last book that attempted to cover this that I read was Sight and Vision, and it kind of confused issues by being too academic. This is very direct.

This book focuses on Photoshop and Illustrator, and explains the workflows for each. Again, very direct on the ideas behind WHY you do something, provides the HOW, leaving it to the reader to put in the time to get good through practice. The ilustrator portion will have you doing quick balloons in no time. Even if you don't know Illustrator or can't get through the manual.

So if you're unsure of why you would color correct an image- get this book. If you're unsure of why you should even bother to worry about the colors of sets and costumes- get this book. Again, I've been aware of these issues and theories, but this one book just made me say "Hey! I got it! I understand the jargon finally!" And not only do I get it, I understand WHY an image works, and how to make it work for the emotion desired. For the cover price, that's a low fee for a personal triumph!

Finally, this is a practical book. There are books on doing fantasy art and sci fi art, but this focuses on an extremely important art of coloring and lettering. Read this first!

industry standard [Posted on 2007-08-03]
It's a good and informative book, but be aware that the authors assume you already know how to use the equipment needed (including ink, pens, computers, software, etc).

great book [Posted on 2008-01-16]
This book gives you a insight on how the pro's are coloring and how you should get started also. The artwork and examples are great for comic D.C. comic fans.

Good for Beginners [Posted on 2008-03-16]
This is a great guide for those who would like to get into coloring or lettering comics, but have no idea where to start. In this volume, you'll learn a little about the theory of coloring comics--how to use color to create a dynamic mood without making the art look clutter. Dozens of full color examples are provided to show the contrast between good color jobs and bad color jobs. Also it provides info on how to create your own fonts for use in lettering. It also provides information on which tools would be useful for computer coloring and lettering. Most of this is done on computers these days, so the appropriate software is recommended. If you already have an idea of which tools you would like to use, it may be better to go ahead a get a guide on the specific software you are going to use if you would like more on the side of technique. If you're just getting started in the field of comics coloring, this is a great volume to begin with.

Concise, clear, megahelpful [Posted on 2008-05-20]
This book has proved valuable to me, both in my comic-book work and my teaching. I rate it just as highly as the other two excellent DC books on penciling and inking by Klaus Janson. This one is a marvel of economy, giving the reader a grounding in two fairly technical (and not widely appreciated) areas of comic-book production in the briefest form imaginable.

Most of it is a how-to, but there is some spot-on coaching on matters esthetic and expressive.

As for the how-to aspect, when I wanted to find out how, for example, to letter in Illustrator, Klein's section walked me through it, right down to making the balloon pointers pointed.

Chiarello's well-illustrated section walks you briskly through the four or so main styles of coloring gives a bit of guidance as to why you might choose each, and tells you how to do them.

(As a side note to colorists, I'm not sure Chiarello's method of backing up the blacks is necessary: I believe Photoshop does this automatically, to a degree that's determined by one's color settings.)

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