D’Israeli posts candidly on his career as a colourist and how much more damned difficult he finds it colouring another artist’s work (as he did in his early 2000 AD career) compared to colouring his own art: “The problem with colouring other people’s work, is that I find it pretty strenuous. It’s a very different proposition from colouring my own stuff, where I have a picture of the colouring in mind from the beginning. With other people’s work, there’s always the slight feeling of scribbling all over someone else’s drawing; half the time you have no contact with the artist, and even on the occasions when you can get in touch and get some sort of direction from them, there’s still a sense of treading on eggshells about the whole process.”
(Pussyfoot Five written by John Smith, art by Nigel Raynor, colouring by D’Israeli, from 2000 AD, (c) Rebellion)
He then goes on (rather bravely) to exhume a skeleton from his closet, discussing his colouring on Pussyfoot Five, written by John Smith and illustrated by Nigel Raynor, because said series has just re-appeared as a reprint in the current edition of the Judge Dredd Megazine. I can see where Matt is coming from here and I think we all look back at previous work, written or drawn, and think I should have done this differently and that (unless we’re of the Anne Rice school and think our work above all criticism), but I think he’s being too hard on himself. Still, its an interesting little insight into his work and as he said the problems he found with colouring helped drive him into doing more as the actual artist on strips. Which is something I’m quite thankful for and, I suspect, a lot of your are too. (thanks to Matt B for the link)
Thu, Feb 12, 2009
Comics and cartoons