Had a chat with a retired comic book colorist and it shook my whole workflow

I was at a small con in Portland last Saturday and got to talking with this older guy who colored for Marvel in the 90s. He mentioned that he never used layers or blend modes, just flat colors and careful hand shading. I always thought digital art was about stacking effects, but hearing him say "the computer can't fix bad fundamentals" really hit me. Has anyone else had a conversation with an old school artist that made you strip your process back to basics?

3 comments

3 Comments

wren2303h ago

Damn, did you feel like you got hit with a lightning bolt too? I had basically the same thing happen when a retired comic inker told me he learned to make shadows with just crosshatching and a ruler. Made me delete half my brush sets and start practicing with default hard round brushes again.

miles_robinson201h agoMost Upvoted

Man, I used to think complicated brushes were the secret sauce, but hearing that really opened my eyes to how much I was hiding behind effects instead of learning the real craft. Now I'm wondering what else I've been overcomplicating.

williamw7538m ago

I don't know, I kind of feel the opposite in some ways... I spent years trying to force myself to do everything with just a hard round brush and basic pencils because everyone said that's the "real" way. But honestly, some of my best work came when I finally let myself use textured brushes for certain things like foliage or rough stone. Those old inkers had decades of muscle memory we don't have, you know? For me, learning when to use tools is just as important as learning the basics.