Product Description: This exciting and complete instructional package starts with the basics and progresses through step-by-step demos that take readers from line art to full, awe-inspiring color. Readers will get instruction on equipment, scanning, setting up pages, color theory, flatting, rendering, special effects, color holds, color separations, and even details on the business of becoming a professional colorist. The CD-ROM includes Photoshop tools and actions that artists can use to streamline their coloring work, plus sample Photoshop files so that readers can work along with the demonstrations.
Invaluable tool for learning the art of digital coloring. ^ This book is exactly what anyone who wants to learn how to color any type of linework in photoshop. It reads a bit like a textbook and even includes homework sections so that you can practice what you've learned. The book comes with a CD-rom full of helpers including photoshop scripts, examples of linework, and background effect helpers. This book is a must have for anyone who is starting in this line of work.
Thorough and clear. ^ I have been coloring for years, writing professionally for about 5 years, and teaching Photoshop coloring for the past two. I didn't think there would be much I could get from this book but I picked it up to see how the information was organized and presented.
There are a few points that I disagree with but overall, this is an amazing resource for beginner and intermediate colorists. I recommend it to all my students. I even learned some new tricks!
While it's true that much of this information can be found online, you can also find a lot of inaccurate info out there. And it's hard to find it all together like this, presented in a logical, clear, and straightforward manner. The writers have an instinctive awareness of when to hold back and not overwhelm the reader. The exercises build as the book progresses and if a reader does the assignments in the order they are presented, then they will learn a ton. At the end, all they will have left to do is practice.
I look forward to the next book from Brian and Kristy Miller.
Average book ^ I am a comic book colorist, already a professional, so keep that in mind as I review this book. There aren't a whole lot of books out there on digital coloring and so this book should be given credit for at least covering the basics and does cover a lot of things about printing which are important to know to get your comics to print correct. It does not however explain much about color itself so it should be called Hi-Fi's technique of rendering comics. This is probably the best single book I've read on the subject (better than DC's guide or bluelines, but that's not saying much because this field of writing is under-represented). If you are already a comic book colorist and can do flats and handle files and so-on this will probably be useless to you, but if you are don't know where to begin this book will cover the basics very well and get you started. The CD that came with the book would be useful for people who don't have a lot of lineart to practice on, but it would have been nice if the artwork was in the public domain so people could post their work on their own website instead of the authors, which I found self-serving.
I LOVE THIS BOOK ^ IF YOU ARE A NEWBIE TO COLORING, THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU.if you already know how to color comics you may complain about already knowing this stuff. i have read some petty complaints about this book. i think it focuses more on photoshop than other graph programs. also, there are other ways to color. this book used selections. i must admit i dont use this book much, but its full of info i didnt have before. the cd and the website offers help and the author of the book is very active and gives almost imediate responses to questions. i bought photoshop mainly for digital art and this book helps me along the way. im sure others will recommend other products that are better and i will look into them also, but this book helped me. attention newbies,every new tip is more than you knew before and it helps avoid aggravation and saves time.
THE Book for Aspiring Colorists - Bar None ^ I've always been interested in coloring my art in Photoshop like the pros do; as a self-taught artist, I'm constantly looking for the best resources to teach me what I need to know. Suffice it to say, I've bought quite a few books discussing computer painting and coloring. I've picked things up from them here and there, but I can honestly say that I have not found a book more comprehensive, more considerate of its audience, and better conceived than Hi-Fi Color for Comics. Before reading any further, however, please note that to get the best results from this book, you need to have Photoshop on your computer.
Hi-Fi Color for Comics is actually the best resource you can have if you're trying to learn how to do computer coloring for either comics work or just coloring your own black-and-white artwork - whether the art is inked or still in pencils. In this book you'll learn:
1. How to best scan your work and even how to best stitch together artwork that is too large to fit into one scan 2. How to 'flat' artwork (lay down the base colors) 3. How to render over the flats (the actual painting) 4. How to create color holds (turning black and white lines into colored lines for dramatic effects) 5. Special effects (making glows, fire effects, etc.) and making 'Helpers' (special image files that you can use in your artwork as starters for skies, grass, gravel, etc.) 6. Color Separation (in other words, how to finish your artwork's file and make it ready for print, etc.)
While this book would be great if it only outlined these subjects, it does something even greater: it contains a DVD-ROM that includes a large number of files. Here are just a few:
1. Photoshop Pre-Sets (color settings, brushes, and even shortcut scripts [which you will use liberally in the book's lessons] that you can install directly into Photoshop) 2. Examples of colored artwork, Helpers, etc. 3. 'Homework' assignments for stitching scanned artwork, flatting, etc.
Basically, the DVD-ROM allows you to practice what you learn right along with the lessons taught. You can open the files provided and dig right into coloring them to really get your feet wet in the coloring process right away. This is probably the best feature of the book. And, as a bonus, the pencils that you will color over are done by professionals and, in some cases, provided by top artists like Terry Moore and John Byrne.
Now, certainly, this book is not perfect: there are a number of typos, a couple of accidents in some of the lesson steps, and I found several instances where some lesson steps were accidentally left out (fortunately, they're simple enough that you will figure it out even if you're a novice). Also, those of you wanting to color your penciled artwork should note that, before performing the color separation Step 3 script to finish your artwork, be sure to Apply your line art or else your pencils would be almost completely washed out (the book fails to mention this problematic issue, I discovered).
While it has its faults, Hi-Fi Color for Comics remains the very best resource out there for those interested in learning the comic book style of computer coloring. It is a tremendously well-thought-out book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. If this book is your speed, you may also want to consider another helpful volume, with has another approach to coloring, Digital Manga Workshop: An Artist's Guide to Creating Manga Illustrations on Your Computer. Enjoy!
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