Comic Fury Webcomic Hosting - In need of a Colour Consistency Critique

The problem with traditionally drawing comic pages is the colour inconsistency.

We are worrying about it a bit.

I mean, it the differences KIND OF make it seem like the time of day it is - but also might be annoying for readers?

Just wanting to know if it's noticable if reading through Nothing Fits? (ignoring the first 5 pages which were done in a different medium and will be redone at some point)

Because someday we hope to get the comic printed/published, would it be annoying if you were reading the hardcopy do you think? Because I don't feel as a webcomic it'd be too annoying but in print maybe? Should I go through and make them all similar on the computer?

Pages next to each other to compare:


Some feedback from someone elses eyes would really be appreciated.

I actually like it.

It adds subtle variation and it gives a more 'analog' feel to it, sorta more hand-made charm, if that expression makes any sense.

So uh, keep on trucking I guess.

You are the best one Fubar. The best one.

Thank you.

I never noticed it change, other than the the pages in Solemn's lair where I did notice the change in pink. And looking at the pages lined up here, it is nice to see that the yellow and green when they are outside it a bit brighter, which makes sense.

I do agree with Fubar that the slight variations are nice because the hand colored look of it is appealing.

I think in a hard copy the only time where it might be an issue is if two pages one after another were the same 'color' but the shades were different. Other than that I think the reader will just kind of lump all the pinks (for example) together and not really think about the slight differences.

That being said, it would probably be pretty easy to change the colors in a program like photoshop to be more consistent. But I don't think you need to do that.

There's a few pages that might look a bit off next to each other but I could fix those close to a possible printing time if ever printed.

And yeah, Solemn's Lair is the main difference, maybe those do need a tone change, just because they are quite different.

Yeah, I changed the latest page's yellow (it was kind of lemon yellow, which wasn't right so changed before I uploaded and stuff), so it wasn't too hard to do. It's just an issue of needing to do it or not - and me not liking to tamper with the pages too much.

Thank you BlueGecko for your words, you are also the best one.

I always find it odd when comic artists show how they color each strip from the same little box of pre-selected colors. To me that just says their color is by the numbers, dead and boring. Color and light change constantly so why shouldn't your art?

It's good to have base colors as a starting point, if anything, not to mention it keeps things consistent. I keep a palette of the same colors for that reason. If the scene shifts to a different environment, or the time of day changes, or the lighting is different, you can always mess with the base palette so that it works for that scene. If you're constantly changing the color and lighting from panel to panel, you might just end up confusing the viewer.

But for Nothing Fits, especially since it's traditional, I see nothing wrong with the slight inconsistencies. It adds charm to the style.

So, it's fine then? Kupocake I respect your thoughts because you've written very well thought out critques in the past for people, so yeah. Even if it was printed/published you think this would be okay?

(Aw shucks.)

One of my favorite graphic novels of all time is Blacksad, which was colored with gouache. Even that comic couldn't keep the colors totally consistent, but the important thing was that the colors were as consistent as possible within a few pages/scenes. It isn't jarring and you can't really perceive the differences unless you actually sit down and compare various pages. Nothing Fits works in a similar way, the slight differences in color temperature and value are not distracting enough for even a nut like me to get riled up over.

I think that's the beauty of traditional mediums, anyway. Even if you've trained years and years with it, there will always be slight unpredictabilities that ultimately adds charm. Especially with watercolors.

Oh! This is a good thing to know. Thank you :) I didn't mind going back and altering the pages colours digitally, but I guess if people aren't seeing it as a big issue there's no real point in me doing that.

And as I said, I always see the colours reflecting the time of day anyway, even if Alex has done that subconciously.

i kinda like the colors - they seem "mostly" the same - gives it a very hand done approch not seen a lot in webcomics - i realize others may have said similar but i kinda like the small variantiions .. gives it a warmer sense of chaos :D
very edward sissorhands kinda thing ..

I happen to really like your rendering style. I believe photoshop would rob your coloring of its soul..

Ah, this is all good news :) I'm glad this is not a problem cause I didn't really see it as one in the first place, but always good to get other peoples views.