COLORING HIS WORLD: RICHARD ISANOVE

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

The first issue of Neil Gaiman’s 1602 hit this week, and so far, the spotlight has been on Gaiman and artist Andy Kubert. However, there is also another person who is very much part of the creative equation and he is colorist Richard Isanove. Newsarama ventured into Isanove’s world of color.

Newsarama: What does it feel like to be collaborating with Neil Gaiman?

Richard Isanove: I'm a big fan of his - who isn't? I saw him in San Diego, and while he has an impressive confidence in front of a crowd, he’s still very nice and personable one on one. His scripts are amazingly clear and precise. I read each page as I go along so I can discover the story as I work on it and keep the suspense going.

We had a talk at the beginning about what he wanted to do with the book: he said he wanted to try and bring the mood of early Marvel books into the medieval world, I said I'd try. He gets JPEG's of the finished pages and e-mails me any correction he might have. So far there's only been a couple on each book and he's very enthusiastic about the project so I guess you can say he's very easy to work with.

NRAMA: Likewise then, you’re back with Andy Kubert again. You’ve colored the work of both Kubert brothers before – have you worked out a system by now?

RI: Right - I started working with Andy on diverse covers for Captain America and Thor, he knew my work from his brother whom I'd been with for a few years.

Andy's a great guy, we've got our method down by now and it's very easy to work with him. On 1602, as on Origin, we started with long discussions about what we wanted the book to look like and once we settled on a look, we started working. He e-mails me the pencils, I color them, send the page back to him and if he doesn't see anything I missed or miscolored, I send them to Marvel. It's a pretty well-oiled machine.

NRAMA: Backing up a little, while you’re fairly high profile now, let’s go back to your earlier days. You began at Top Cow, right?

RI: Correct. I started about eight years ago when Top Cow moved to Los Angeles. They were looking for colorists and I, fresh out of school, was looking for a job. I stayed there for a couple of years and ended up Art Director for the color department. Then I got married and decided to work from home as a freelancer. I worked for about every company out there, and finally settled at Marvel.

NRAMA: Where did you get your gift of coloring from?

RI: I have a traditional training in fine art. I just stayed in school as long as they would have me and learned a few tricks along the way. I think what school mostly teaches you is the ability to learn. So, even though colors were not my strong point, I knew enough that, when Brian Haberlin put me in front of a computer, I was able to fake my way in, and then learn from the guys working around me in the studio.

NRAMA: While you’ve got a school of colorists looking at your work for inspiration, who are yours?

RI: I look mostly at painters like Frazetta, John J. Muth, Phil Hale, etc... As for colorists, I learned everything from my co-workers at Top Cow: Brian Haberlin, JD Smith, Steve Firchow, Tyson Wrengler, Dean White and Dan Kemp. Those guys were the most talented group of people to be associated with.

Ever since, every time I hear about someone doing some good work, I pick up one of their books and see what I can steal from them.

NRAMA: Do you find that you end up with specific artists, rather than say, publishers or titles?

RI: I think so. I've worked on a lot of projects but, mostly, I’ve stuck with people who liked my work and who I got along with. I'm lucky to work with guys like Joe Quesada, Adam and Andy Kubert, Sam Kieth or Brandon Peterson who are willing to push the limits and experiment with new stuff with their art. Also, I'm a cheap date, you just have to tell me once in a while that you love me, and I'll stick with you forever. You don't even have to dine me.

So, to sum it up, I've colored the works of:
Brandon Peterson from Medieval Spawn/Witchblade to his joining CrossGen.
Adam Kubert from X-Men #82 to Ultimate X-Men #8 plus his covers.
Joe Quesada since Daredevil #5.
Andy Kubert since Origin.
Sam Kieth since Legs - except for his DC work.

NRAMA: Mix blue with yellow and you get green. But if coloring comics was that simple, everyone would be doing it. Can you go into your process a little more?

RI: The color theory is pretty easy, so the main thing is you have to know the basics of drawing. You want to keep your harmonies simple and work with the storytelling. So many elements are preset by the costume colors, the light sources and the specificity of the script that it's like a puzzle: you start by putting the known elements in place and fill in the blanks. That's where the knowledge of the form and volume comes in: the more you know coming in, the less you have to make up as go.

Working with good pencilers has been my main asset: when they know how to set up a dramatic light and have a good understanding of anatomy and composition, I just have to walk in their footsteps.

NRAMA: So touching on what you said earlier, you came ot 1602 with Andy, right?

RI: Marvel liked Andy and me working together and they wanted to put us on a new projects. Since they didn't want to do Origin 2 right away and they just had made the deal with Neil - who liked the look of Origin, it just came together. All I really know is that Joe Q called me and said he had a project I couldn't say no to: written by Neil Gaiman and drawn by Andy to be digitally painted. He was right.

NRAMA: Who defines the color tones of the characters and settings in 1602?

RI: If Neil or Andy have any preconceived idea about a character, they let me know, but most of the time I do whatever I want. At first, I thought I’d try to keep the good guys in primary colors and the bad guys in secondaries, but, by page 2 of book #1, I decided that Fury would look cool in a purple outfit - and it takes a real man to pull that one off - so that went out the window.

NRAMA: Out of the characters showing up in 1602, which is the one that you find the most challenging to color, and why?

RI: I enjoy coloring Queen Elizabeth: I gave her the white, clown-like, make-up that you see at the end of the movie Elizabeth with bright red hair, and her outfits are always intricate and colorful. She's at the same time a strong authority figure and a sick old woman, coughing blood in her handkerchief as she controls the world destiny.

NRAMA: Wolverine is not one of the characters scheduled to appear in 1602. Having worked on him in Origin and the various X-projects, do you miss getting the chance to coloring him in this unique setting?

RI: I still get to color the covers of Ultimate X-Men, which, let's face it, feature him on every other one. I like Wolvie, and something tells me I'll get back to him soon enough.

NRAMA: Which other character(s) that you wish you could apply your colouring techniques to in this project then?

RI: I don’t know what’s coming up in the next issues, so it’s a little early to have regrets. Anyway, the characters look so different from their modern counterparts that it really depends on what Andy makes of them.

NRAMA: What challenges have you encountered with 1602?

RI: I try to take a different technical approach on each main project, which no one else might notice, but it’s important to me so I can feel I’m not just doing the same thing over and over. Apart from that, I just try to make everyone happy. You have to feed off the remarks people make or any criticism they might have. It always takes a little while to fine-tune so that everyone is satisfied, but it’s part of the process. It’s nice to be on a long-term project, you have time to iron out all the rough spots.

NRAMA: Technically speaking, what are you and Andy trying out on 1602?

RI: Andy’s style on this project is much tighter than on Origin so I had to use thinner, more delicate stokes. He shaded the whole thing with 45 degrees etchings so I developed a technique that would complement his work and build on his foundation. It took a couple of issues to get comfortable with it, but by issue #3, I think we got it down.

NRAMA: Is 1602 your full-time gig for now, then?

RI: Just 1602 and some covers. That should keep me busy until February 2004.

NRAMA: Given the chance, would you draw and color more interiors like what you accomplished recently with X-Men Unlimited #48?

RI: In a heartbeat. It’s more time consuming and therefore not very a good business for Marvel or me, but it was a great learning experience and I hope to do much more in the future.

NRAMA: How did you end up with Bruce Jones for that story?

RI: I loved Bruce Jones as a kid. [Jones wrote the story that Isanove drew in X-Men Unlimited #48] His name on a book was enough for me to buy it. To work with a guy that wrote for Wrightson and Corben, made me feel very spoiled. Also, before we even started, he asked me what I wanted to draw. Being a fan of his run on Ka-Zar in the 80’s, I suggested the Savage Land and he said OK. It was really cool.

NRAMA: After doing so much color work, what was it like to get back to drawing?

RI: I hadn’t really drawn consistently since I started coloring. It was great to stretch those muscles. Also there was a lot going on in each page and that forced me to really work on my layout and storytelling. I realized that it’s easy to be a critic but it’s much harder to get down and do the work. My experience was more in storyboards where you can add and cut a sequence as you like. Here, not only was I working from a finalized, detailed script, but also the length of each scene was predetermined. I would start by putting 10 panels per page and had to shrink it down to the five or six that were actually written in the script.

NRAMA: From the current and past creative talents, who else would you like to work with some day?

RI: I would have loved to work with John Buscema. He was my all-time hero. There were a couple of missed opportunities, when things didn’t come into place or the timing was wrong, when I could have colored him. I hope if someone decides to re-color the Silver Surfer, they’ll give me a call.

NRAMA: Winding things down for now, do you have any word of wisdom or advice for budding colorists?

RI: Well, that’s a tough one. When I started everything was new and open, I would think that it’s probably much harder to get started nowadays.

Don’t take on too much work, the quality might suffer. If all you have to offer is a quick turnaround, in the long run someone will always come that is cheaper and faster. You have to stand out by the quality of your work, even if it means having problems making ends meet. The speed will come with experience without having to cut corners. There is always a demand for quality product.

Also, be agreeable. I know corrections are irritating but take them as an occasion to improve your work and understand your client’s taste. The point of the game is to produce something you’re happy with while pleasing your editor and your creative team.

[Falkner]

Originally posted by MattBrady
RI: I hope if someone decides to re-color the Silver Surfer, they’ll give me a call.

Why hasn't a company tried to re-color an old classic with new techniques? I'b buy a TB of the original SURFER colored by Isanove in a heartbeat.

[Tobey Cook]

Richard's coloring work definitely fits the tone of this book, and brings the art to a new level.

Kubert/Isanove is probably one of the best artist/colorist combinations in comics today. These guys need more work

[Gregg Cummings]

I personally am not a fan of the faux painted, non-inked comic books that seem to be growing in numbers. That being said Isanove is still an exceptional colorist.

[nihilance]

I agree with the re-coloring issue...although I can see the sticky situation that might develop from recoloring someone's work (thus screwing the original colorist who was shackled with the techniques of the day), I can't help but want collected works brought up to date with the gorgeous methods at our disposal today. Particularly if there are errors or sloppiness in the work.

I recently picked up the X-men Visionaries: Art Adams collection and was disappointed to see all the same coloring mistakes that bothered me when I read the original issues in middle school. Many times artwork and dialogue are corrected for the collected editions (Batman: Dark Victory and the final Invisibles trade come to mind) and although the argument could be made that it is the original creator making these changes, it would seem that "the powers that be" would take advantage of the new techniques that go beyond 4-color and possibly even expound upon them as yet another selling point for customers to pick up these collected works.

[adamania]

I prefer my old school collections to look as close to the originals as possible, minus printing errors and fading. If someone is not into a particular period of a character, no ammount of new school coloring tech will make them part with their money. Maybe I am like all those vinyl record purists who wont buy cd's of albulms they already own because the sound is too sanitized. We didn't have none of them fancy com-putors for coloring our comics back when I was a kid, we had to collect berries and mud and tree bark to stamp with our bare feet to make the inks for our pages, and we had to jump up and down on them until we couldn't walk, and we liked it! Naw, we LOVED it!!

[aries_insaneus]

while we are on the subject, 1602, who is the little white hair girl, she was the one being protected by captain america. i know her name is victora but who is she in the marvel world. can some one tell me?

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Sure, they could have recolored the Art Adams trade paperback, but are you willing to pay for it? There was significant work put into the book to "recolor" it just to get the little color dots taken out. But to recolor it all now via today's computer coloring techniques of cuts and blends and all the rest? The book just went from being $30 to $40 or better, and sales plummeted to unprofitability.

I think it might be interesting to see what Isanove would do with a few SILVER SURFER issues, but it would never happen on a large scale. Maybe as a one-off in the back of a reprint volume somewhere, or as a one shot somewhere along the way. I can't imagine Marvel would be too excited about paying someone to redo all the coloring. It'd just be a waste of time, resources, and money.

-Augie

[nihilance]

Good point...I guess I probably wouldn't have picked it up had it been that expensive. It was just disappointing to see the same 15 year-old errors all over again, especially since I always assumed they were printing errors in the first place.

[Brandon Peterson]

Richard is too damn talented for his own good. A great artist and a great guy. I learned alot from him. I saw 1602 and can't wait to see more.

[Mister Farrell]

Recoloring old comics is such a dicey issue. I tend to feel "if it ain't broke..." and people should leave well enough alone. I don't think I've seen a single "special edition" film (excepting Blade Runner) which was better than the original, and I would be unhappy to see my old favorite comics tweaked like this.

Sure, with the old limitations of printing the coloring was not always what it should have been, but artists used to draw with the understanding that flat color would be applied to their work and their work reflected that. And there were color artists, like Christie Scheele (whose name I hope I am spelling correctly) who did beautiful work in four colors. Today's artists often draw differently knowing they'll be working closely with a colorist who will more fully model the finished drawings. This is not a knock against either style or mode of working; I just feel modern coloring might overwhelm older line art.

[whoME?]

Originally posted by Gregg Cummings
I personally am not a fan of the faux painted, non-inked comic books that seem to be growing in numbers. That being said Isanove is still an exceptional colorist.

I'm the same way. X-Treme X-Men does nothing for me because Larroca's non-inked pencil looked horrible on the page when colored. Aria by Jay Anacleto is the same.

But if you haven't 1602 yet, or looked at it, the pencils are dark enough, and Isanove's colors are amazing enough that it doesn't look odd or... incomplete. It is one of the best 'faux-painted, non-inked' comics i've seen.

just my 2 cents.

Cheers.

[MichaelCoughlin]

Originally posted by aries_insaneus
while we are on the subject, 1602, who is the little white hair girl, she was the one being protected by captain america. i know her name is victora but who is she in the marvel world. can some one tell me?

I wonder the same thing. And who's the old man supposed to be?

DAMN THIS BOOK IS ALREADY GREAT!

[Semicyon]

Originally posted by aries_insaneus
while we are on the subject, 1602, who is the little white hair girl, she was the one being protected by captain america. i know her name is victora but who is she in the marvel world. can some one tell me?

The girl is Virginia Dare, a real person from history. She was the first child of English parents born in the Roanoke Island settlement. Her fate and the fate of that colony is the first big mystery of America: sometime before she turned three, the entire colony vanished without signs of distress. The only unusual thing was the word "Croatoan" carved on a tall tree. To this day, the message remains undeciphered.

The fact that she is apparently older than three indicates that the world of 1602 somehow diverged from that point.

[FIG]

Richards coloring is awesome, a sight to behold. I am totally inspired to open up Photoshop and do some painting everytime I see inspiring coloring like Richard Isanoves.-I especially think Richards work is really done justice when Richard is coloring over somebody who has a more detailed style like Brandon Peterson, thats not to say Adam isn't good.

So Brandon, since you seem to post hear I was wondering if you could answer a question for a huge fan of your work.-I'm promise its quick and painless but if you don't reply I understand. What are you going to be doing now that Chimera is done?-Will we be seeing a different series from you by CrossGen or anymore Chimera in the near future or will you be doing something over at DC, Marvel or Image?

[Boink182]

I really liked 1602. Fitting MU characters into history is fun, and I liked the inclusion of Queen Elizabeth, Virginia Dare, and mention of James Stewart. Cool stuff...

[RDFozz]

Originally posted by Falkner
Why hasn't a company tried to re-color an old classic with new techniques? I'b buy a TB of the original SURFER colored by Isanove in a heartbeat.

Who says they haven't? many, if not all, of Marvel's earlier MARVEL MASTERWORKS releases were recolored versions of the original. Some of the colorists stuck very closely to the original scheme; others were keen to put the modern techniques to work.

I believe this subject hit something of a crossroads with the first DAREDEVIL Masterworks volume (originally # 17 or something like that). I think Rich Howell colored this, and (in my opinion) he did a wonderful job. The pages that provoked a bit of controversy involved a sequence where Daredevil is in his original yellow and red costume, and he is in a dimly-lit area. The yellow areas are colored a shade of brown (I think), which seems a reasonable enough representation of the low lighting level of the situation. However, many people picking the book up believed it was a printing or coloring error (it did make the costume look noticeably different), and "to re-color or not to re-color" became a hot topic.

I don't know if Marvel's current re-release effort on the series will use the old color guides for some volumes, the DAREDEVIL one in particular; however, I believe both the Masterworks and DC's Archive Editions currently tried to simply mimic the original color schemes.

As usual, I find myself of two minds about this. Employing the fancier coloring techniques of today might actually harm some book - when an artist wants a ripple effect, or a rainbow color burst, they can plan their art around that, and allow the colorist to use the computer to apply the right filter/effect. However, trying to slip that into existing art could be problematic.

As has been mentioned, some people might feel that the original colorist's efforts are being slighted, or even argue that the work no longer feels like an accurate representation of the original. Many people want these reprints to be exact recreations, warts and all.

On the other hand, I doubt anyone, even the original colorists, would object to simple effects that they would have used if they could have. Where a light source is indicated, two (at most three) different shades of a color may have been the only way to effectively show that light source, due to the limited color palette; changing an oblong smear of light blue on an FF uniform to become a more natural highlight and fade wouldn't be a horrible insult - it would just allow the art to look better, a fact that would befit the presentation on higher-quality paper.

[Brandon Peterson]

Originally posted by FIG
So Brandon, since you seem to post hear I was wondering if you could answer a question for a huge fan of your work.-I'm promise its quick and painless but if you don't reply I understand. What are you going to be doing now that Chimera is done?-Will we be seeing a different series from you by CrossGen or anymore Chimera in the near future or will you be doing something over at DC, Marvel or Image?

I will be doing something, but right now my focus is a whole mess of administrative things for CrossGen in my VP capacity. I should be able to announce it very soon.

[Hellboy]

Originally posted by Augie De Blieck Jr.
Sure, they could have recolored the Art Adams trade paperback, but are you willing to pay for it? There was significant work put into the book to "recolor" it just to get the little color dots taken out. -Augie

Avalon actually did recolor and has been recoloring the legends books.Although not in the normal fashion that they do new comics in.If you look at the books closely you can see these have been computer colred and new seperations have been made.


But I digress.I would love for a company like Marvel or Dc to put out a monthly comic collecting "Greatest comics" type arcs fully recolored,each arc getting a different "superstar colorist" like Isanove or Haberlin to recolor the art.The only rules being the comics have to be 15 or more years older and they have to have great art.

Call the book Marvel tales.

[sat]

Originally posted by MattBrady
NRAMA: From the current and past creative talents, who else would you like to work with some day?

RI: I would have loved to work with John Buscema. He was my all-time hero.

Well, Dark Horse is reprinting the classic CONAN series:

http://www.conan.com/f_remaster.shtml

Maybe Richard should give them a ring about doing the recoloring of the John Buscema run?

Especially, if DH reprints the b&w SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN stories in color. That way he could be the first to ever color those Buscema CONAN stories!

[adampasz]

And now that Dave Sim is finishing up Cerebus, maybe he can take the next 30 years to get all that colored too!

[sat]

Originally posted by adampasz
And now that Dave Sim is finishing up Cerebus, maybe he can take the next 30 years to get all that colored too!

Naw, he'd have to fight off the tag-team of
Kurt Busiek & Cary Nord:

http://www.conan.com/f_cary.shtml

They are laying down the *new* CONAN smack-down!

[AForceOfOne]

having just put down 1601 I have to say that everyone in the creative team really outdid themselves. I tried it, loved it, and I'll be sticking around.

The coloring job was RI's best to date IMO. Amazing work.

[MichaelCoughlin]

i still ask: who was the old man at the end? the watcher perhaps?

[aries_insaneus]

Originally posted by AForceOfOne
having just put down 1601 I have to say that everyone in the creative team really outdid themselves. I tried it, loved it, and I'll be sticking around.

The coloring job was RI's best to date IMO. Amazing work.

i think he might be magneto, because the had the scarlet witch and quick silver by his side