"The Artist" color vs. black and white question

[jabba359]

I was flipping through Usagi Yojimbo Saga book 8 and noticed that The Artist and Buntori are reprinted in color. While I had read The Artist in color before (in the single issue) and also in black and white (in Usagi Yojimbo vol. 29: Two Hundred Jizo), as I looked at the color reprinting I couldn't remember how the watercolor art that "the Artist" paints in the story translated to a black and white image. I was surprised to discover that rather than being a monochromatic version of the watercolor, it was a new piece of line art.

My questions to Stan are, what was the process for putting that art into the story? Did you paint watercolor directly onto the original comic book page line art, or were the watercolors created separately and then edited in? When it came to reprinting in the trade, was there a test to see if the watercolors could be reproduced in the black and white format satisfactorily, or did you always plan on doing a line art version for the non-color release?

[Maka]

Good questions. Check out the artist edition #2 (the big book of original scanned pages). I’m not at home right now, but I remember it being blank. Stan painted it separately and with the magic of computers(I think, I could be wrong here) they merged the two.

I’m Stan will correct my errors.

Peace, maka

[jabba359]

Good questions. Check out the artist edition #2 (the big book of original scanned pages). I’m not at home right now, but I remember it being blank. Stan painted it separately and with the magic of computers(I think, I could be wrong here) they merged the two.

I’m Stan will correct my errors.

Peace, maka

Ah, I hadn't thought of that book! I mean, it's only called "Gallery Edition Volume 2: The Artist and Other Stories," but it never even crossed my mind that I'd find the art in there. Haha, I missed the obvious. That also fits my initial impression, as to my eye it looks like a digitally merged image rather than being physically painted onto the same page as the art.

My copy is in a box in storage so I can't pull it out to look right now (Long story short: I boxed up a bunch of stuff and put it in my storage unit a few months back when I was going to move, but the new place fell through and so I left the stuff in storage since I would still like to move at some point in the nearish future ). But if you're recalling the blank part correctly, then that certainly answers part of my question. Thanks!

[Steve Hubbell]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater



https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

I found the images that Stan had posted to Facebook, but not the actual posts.....

[jabba359]

Thanks Steve! So it looks like the line art was drawn onto the original page (foresight that they'd be needed for the black and white trades, perhaps?) and then watercolors done on a separate template to match the shape within the panel.

[Stan Sakai]

Thanks Steve! So it looks like the line art was drawn onto the original page (foresight that they'd be needed for the black and white trades, perhaps?) and then watercolors done on a separate template to match the shape within the panel.

That is it exactly.

[Chopalong Slashity]

Man, I can't decide which I like more. The colored version is beautiful, but Stan's lineart sometimes adds a certain "gritty" quality to it...