Neozoic Colorist, Jessie Lam

Profile on a Digital Comic Book Artist

Feb 26, 2008

Lam reveals what it's like to be a digital colorist today, what it was like working with Red 5, and information of how to get FREE comics.

While coloring line-art is an activity encouraged of adolescents everywhere, it is rarely thought of as a career worth pursuing.

Lead Colorist for Sunscript Studios

Jessie Lam's case is an exception. She was set on being a comic artist since childhood. Now at 24 years old, and just out of Sheridan College, her dreams are already starting to be realized, as she already works as the lead colorist for Sunscript Studios, and the sole colorist of Red 5 Comic's newly released Neozoic series.

It is one of those jobs you have to love in order to do well, says Lam. "The business side of the comic book industry does its damnest to make everyone feel negative. Those who stay are there because they're already pocketing big cash, or because they are masochists who love what they do, figuratively speaking."

What Do Professional Colorists Do?

Being a profesional digital colorist is not as simple as filling in a coloring book. Other than the corporate and business attachments to the field, the process of coloring is different as well.

Lam uses computer programs such as Adobe Photoshop 7 along with her Wacom Graphire 2 tablet, rather than crayons and paper or the cell shading of traditional animations.

She says what first attracted her to the digital art was the cleanliness of the medium. Not only do the images look cleaner. It is also easier to clean up a mistake, unlike traditional mediums which tend to be unforgiving to error.

With traditional mediums, after placing a layer of color, it is impossible to completely take back the decision. With digital art, however, each color is separated onto different layers. These layers of colors can be edited or even deleted completely without affecting any other layers.

In the animation world, this could mean saving time, money and resources lost to potential errors.

The Internet Allows for Collaboration

The Internet also enables animators to distribute their work to the studios without relocating. On the Neozoic project, www.red5comics.com this enabled the writer, penciler, colorist, and letterer to collaborate on the same project without ever seeing each other in person.

Beyond convenience, the digital media is affecting the art world as well. "The whole process of digital painting along with the exploration of traditional media will prompt artists to further explore their craft beyond the confines of popular style biases and public opinion," says Lam.

This difference can be seen in Neozoic, where, rather than looking like the traditional Marvel or DC comics where there are "lots of heavily drawn detail, areas of flat blacks, and gradients of washed out colours, there is the introduction of liquid." Lam continues that comics are starting to look less like mass produced, formulaic, and flat drawings, and more like the paintings in art galleries.

Rave Reviews

These differences led to raving reviews upon Neozoic's release, complimenting this new, independent comic as unique, and a rare example of a book in the industry which is concerned making "something to be proud of" (Litany of Schist).

Lam got started in the animation industry shortly after graduating high school. She was attending a comic convention, and showed her portfolio to representatives at the Sunscript Studios booth.

This got her foot in the door to doing backgrounds for the Swordsmen animation project Sunscript.

Then, during a later project, Lam colored six pages solo, leading to her promotion as lead colorist.

Despite the increase in her workload, Lam responded to this promotion saying "even if it burns me out completely, I'm masochist enough to say 'MORE! MORE!!! Sure I've worked on a Nike project, and a Microsoft project, and heck, I even achieved my dream of working in comics. They're great highlights in a resume but nothing beats the feeling of being accepted onto a team of talented individuals and growing alongside them."

Eventually, the tight-knit relationship she established with her workmates at Sunscripts helped her gain the job at Red 5 Comics, when J. Korim, an artist she worked with on the production of a never released comic Rotogin, recommended her as the colorist of Neozoic.

Neozoic explores the idea of what would have happened if dinosaurs had not died out, and dinosaurs and humans ended up co-existing in the modern world. Lam admits she still gets jittery drawing a herd of dinosaurs, because it's "thrilling. We don't know what they look like with all the skin on top."

Free Comic Day

She also highly recommends people to attend Free Comic Day, which is being held in select comic stores all over the world on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008. Free Comic Day is handing out copies of dozens of different titles, including the award winning Neotopia, Graphic Classics which includes illustrated versions of classic tales by Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ambrose Bierce, and Mary Shelley, as well as comic classics like Disney, Marvel, Gumby. Neozoic will be given out as well, in a two book package, along with Red 5's bestselling Atomic Robo.

She also hints at hidden inserts of her "dark brand of humour" in a couple pages of Neozoic, to look out for.