To deepen my understanding of the comic creation process and to hopefully add another tool to my tool box, I'm trying my hand at creating color flats. For those unfamiliar with flats, they are the first step in digital coloring of comic books. This is where each section or object is painted one color, in it's own layer using Photoshop (or art program of your choice). Once the flats are created the colorist adds the shading and lighting effects. This is a vast simplification of the process.
The creation of flats is often outsourced by the colorist because it can be rather time consuming and a little bit tedious. After trying it myself I found it to be a rather Zen-like and quite relaxing. To hone my skills at creating flats I have been coloring the pages from Dangers of the Road, the first Tal Nor short I ever published. I thought it would be a fun to share this comic and some behind the scenes of making comics. This will also give me a chance to re-letter the comic now that I have a few hundred more pages lettered under my belt.
The cover, credits page and the first colored page have been post to the comics section of the site. Each additional colored page will be posted here every Wednesday; please come back check on my progress. I'm hoping that the last page will show improvement from the one posted today. If you have any tips, questions or just want to say hi, please leave a comment below or email us at TalNorComic@gmail.com
T.