hi, dandelion.

rosalarian:

urdchama:

Once upon a time before Adobe Photoshop, the color palette of comic books was very limited. Instead of the millions of colors that you can blend and gradiate and add filters to, there was a time where you were limited to 64 colors on average (that number is liquid if you’re a nerd about the printing process.)

[…]  

The main complaint I hear from pretty much everybody with good taste, is that there is a total abuse of color and computer effects that is committed in most comics. Take a look at nearly any mainstream book and you will see the atrocity. Stand 10 feet way from a rack of comics and tell me if you can make out any particular focal points on any of the covers.

The total truth. I want to try this palette RIGHT NOW. 

Here’s how they look less aged:

These are the colors I use for Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space and no other colors. In fact, I tend to shy away from anything that uses all 3 red blue and yellow dots and try to stick to colors made up of 2 colors of dots. It’s a lot of fun, and sometimes giving ourselves limits in art can actually be inspiring. Because I have all these swatches saved in PS, they tend to be the colors I use for most others projects, too. Nearly all the comics I post on Tumblr are these colors. And it means when I go to print them it’s nice and easy.

Wait, I just realized I also include black in my swatches, so I have a bit more than 64 colors to work with. But still, same principle of making colors based on 25% increments of red, yellow, blue, and black.

I don’t think the current method of coloring is bad, though. It has its own look to it, and there are definitely times when I can’t quite find something in my limited colors that’s what I want it to be. The two styles are different, and I have a preference for

(via knifeyutensil)