Poster Job

So during my time off from school, I have been knuckling down and getting to work on a coloring job that I have been putting off with other projects or jobs. This is a sequential comic in poster format that I did for my little brother a while ago, based on his favorite film. The whole poster is 1 foot by 4 feet and this is the first panel in that overall layout, setting the time, place, and mood. Initially, this was going to be just my pencils and I was going to call it good.  But, being curious, and I suppose, a glutton for punishment, I asked him if he would like me to color it for him. Of course he said yes. Coloring has been something that I have been trying to get better at. I’ve been trying to go for more of a naturalistic look with more contrasts in hots and colds, and lights and darks and better values. I have been learning a lot while working on this and so far, am pretty pleased with the results I am getting-for the most part. I have been looking a lot at the work of colorists such as Peter Doherty, Alex Sinclair, and Richmond Lewis and seeing how they work with issues or problems I may be having. In particular, I was very impressed with the way Peter Doherty colored the desert landscapes of The Shaolin Cowboy by Geof Darrow. His work has been a great help and inspiration to me as I try and work through this project.

The original Lines

Here is the colors layer

With the linework added on top

This is my color correction for the work I had done. Going into this, I knew there would be some color manipulation done in post. I really like how warm the previous panel feels, but to more emulate the reference material that this panel is coming from, I decided to desaturate the blues to cause a cooler temperature and the sense of the panel being slightly overcast.


P.S. Bonus points if anyone can guess the movie this shot is from. Good Luck.