Sample Comic Pages?

[kurios]

I heard a few years ago you could mail DC/Marvel and ask for sample comic pages to practice inking/coloring on. Is this still the case?

Is there anywhere else to get comic pages to practice on? I want lineart to practice coloring. Should I just look around somewhere like deviantART? I want something I can put in my portfolio (with credit to the original penciller/inker/source of course) to show coloring samples.

Thanks in advance.

[OmenSpirits]

digital webbing forum could tell you quicker, as well as penciljack.com

[kurios]

Thanks, I'll go check those out.

[Mirana]

Err...I have never heard of that before. Seems like an extremely odd thing to make their interns do, but I guess you never know.

Dark Horse's submissions page says "Feel free to scan any black and white comics if you are in need of pages to use if you are in need of sample pages." which seems like a brilliant idea. Just remember to size up.

The job boards on penciljack/digi webbing tend to have people who post pages for colorists to sample color for jobs. My favorite is just ASKING artists who's pages you like. I wouldn't hit up the big names unless they are fairly active on DA/CA/Twitter/Etc. But find something you like and ask. And you DO need to ask. Not only is it proper form, but you shouldn't be coloring from the size/resolution most people post on the web. Also, artists sometimes like to see the results.

[kurios]

That's a really great idea. I follow a lot on Twitter. I'm sure someone would be willing.

Also, it's cool to hear about the Dark Horse thing. I'll have to do that.

[Black Spot]

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...=17968&page=91 There are a lot of broken links, so it might be best to work backwards through the thread. Have fun.

[Psychotime]

Find a good scanner (and hopefully a large enough one) and if you're interested, buy one of those Marvel "Essential" or DC "Showcase Presents" books. You know, those phonebook sized things that reprint older stories with only the inks. There's tons to choose from.



Or find a good black and white book and color that! Maybe an Oni Press, First Second Press, or Pantheon book, or heck, maybe even a manga (that's low on the tone)!

I'm just about finished with a class on digital coloring and the last thing I colored was a few pages of an old 50's Harvey comic called Hot Stuff the Little Devil. Original drawings by Warren Kremer. I had a collection from Dark Horse that printed mostly from the original black plates without any color, so I got some clean crisp line art to work with with minimal photoshop tweaking.

If you read comics, it shouldn't be hard to find something to work with. It's even more enjoyable when it's something you genuinely like.

[Mirana]

Are those color samples the ones you just did? Very nice!

I'm just about finished with a class on digital coloring

Is Julie still teaching that? Or are you in ATL? (Or am I confused?)

[sanya]

You might want to hold off on mailing anything for a nice big convention-- aside from being able to get some pro feedback, some major cons will do portfolio reviews with bigwigs from Marvel and DC. It's not as simple as walking up to them-- you'll hand them your portfolio and after a few hours, if they "deem you worthy" you'll get a brief sit down with them to talk about your strengths and weaknesses. But all the same, it can be a valuable experience if you make it that far. Last year I was chatting with a few artists who'd gotten reviews done and though I think they all felt a little beat up, the advice they'd gotten was, wow, spectacular. I was making mental notes the whole time.

[Psychotime]

Is Julie still teaching that? Or are you in ATL? (Or am I confused?)

I'm terrible with names, but I believe so.

EDIT: Yep, Julie Collins.

You've got a good memory.

[dose]

I can confirm that they used to mail photocopies of pencils to demo inking on. I got to see them and they were extremely complicated- I assume to discourage the faint of heart. However, several years ago they stopped this practice and instead started selling a little booklet that you could purchase from them for the same purpose. Around this time (IIRC), they also stopped accepting mailed submissions and said to sign up for a review at official conventions. DC did this first and I believe Marvel followed suit afterwards. This was 5 or 6 years ago, though, so they may have changed since then.

[Mirana]

@Psychotime: LOL! Actually, I'm terrible at names and I never took Julie's class (JLowe wouldn't let me. Made me take a waiver on it because he thought I already knew how to do digi coloring.) However, Julie's my neighbor. She lives across the street from me. I could throw a rock in any direction of my house and hit a seqa prof. JLowe lives two blocks down and one street up, and Larison lives two blocks and one street down from me. Tom lives somewhere close too, but I forget where.

[kurios]

However, several years ago they stopped this practice and instead started selling a little booklet that you could purchase from them for the same purpose.

Do you know how to go about buying the booklet? Or is the same phonebook sized book mentioned above?

[Mirana]

You can ask them directly: Marvel and DC.

[[email protected]]

I could throw a rock in any direction of my house and hit a seqa prof.

Please don't...