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poirott · 4 years

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This is the 2nd part of the "Riddle of the Spinx" interview with Death on the Nile cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos for British Cinematographer November 2020 issue (part 1 transcribed here). The full interview has now been released on the British Cinematographer website. I've included some of the text below!

In Part 2 Zambarloukos talks about shooting with the cast on location in Egypt and doing a particularly complex single shot of them on set, how they did the opening b&w sequence of young Poirot as a soldier, and built sets of Abu Simbel and the pyramids, the use of realtime footage projected on LED screens to make the studio sets look more realistic, what part of the Murder on the Orient Express set they recycled for Nile, etc.

Q: This was shot like Murder on the Orient Express at Longcross Studios with plates filmed on location in Egypt. Was it ever a possibility to shoot entirely on location?

Haris Zambarloukos: The issue is that 1934 Egypt barely exists today. For example, in the 1960s they moved the Abu Simbel temple 300 metres away so that the Aswan Dam wouldn't flood it. So, we built the entire four-storey high Abu Simbel at Longcross, complete with banks of water. The same with Giza and the Sphinx. In the 1930s the Nile went up to the feet of the Sphinx. Now all you see is the concrete expanse of Cairo.

Secondly, it's difficult to shoot complex shoots on a river while floating, taking all the cast down there and scheduling them, on top of ensuring everyone's safety on such a high-profile project.

Our whole design and research went into creating a set. We wanted to build a life-size boat inside and out; not to break it down into small sets but to shoot it as if we were on a boat. That’s a huge undertaking. Jim Clay built an amazing set to scale for the Karnak. It was so big we needed to build a temporary sound stage around it. We also wanted to use some real daylight when we got great sunlight in Longcross and use a little bit of water to basically film the boats carrying guests to the Karnak.

We recycled the railway from Orient and built the boat on that so we could wheel it in from outdoors to indoors. We built a very elaborate lighting rig that you could pull back and see the entire boat in one shot. You could step onto the boat and walk through all the rooms which were all lit for an analogue film f-stop. It was complicated and took most of our planning but I personally don't think you can tell the difference when we cut - even from a shot filmed outside in real sunlight juxtaposed with one in apparent sunlight on our sound stage. It's seamless because we took such great care and a detailed approach to our rig and construction.

In Orient you created some stylish direct overheads of the train carriage. You've told us of the Steadicam dance sequence in Nile. Were there other stylistic flourishes?

Inside the sound stage we went twice round the Karnak with the entire cast all choreographed for this one great reveal of a murder. It was really hard work to do. I understand why it was cut in the edit although they have kept a lot of other single long takes and there are lots of places where you see the whole cast in a single shot.

However difficult you might think setting up a long single is in terms of lighting and operating, it is equally, if not more difficult, to block a scene with multiple actors, keep the audience engaged and choreograph it in a way that is exciting and at the same time reveals things gradually. There's a lot of pressure on a lot of people in shots like that. Everyone's got to be on top of their game. Because we're all so interdependent, it's a domino effect in that the further you go in the take, the bigger the responsibility is for not getting it wrong whether that's the operator, focus puller, the actor saying the final line, the gaffer lighting a corner at just the right time. We always get excited about those shots but also very nervous.

You augmented the studio work with plates photographed on location in Egypt. Tell us about that.

We filmed on the Nile from a boat with a 14 8K Red camera array. We had a 360-degree bubble on top of the boat and two three-camera arrays pointing forwards and backwards as we travelled up and down. We specifically chose areas where modernity wasn’t present (or where it was, we removed it in post) and we also shot plates from the point of view of passengers onboard the Karnak.

VFX supervisor George Murphy edited the footage and stitched the plates together into an essentially very, very advanced virtual reality rig in which I could pan my camera. We did that before principal photography, so we never had to guess a month or so later what to put there. That’s a big help. Most shoots do their plate photography afterwards. It meant I could pretty much place the camera on any deck of the Karnak for any scene and know what the background would be.

As with Orient, did you play back footage realtime on LED screens outside the boat set?

I'd love to have done it live but on Orient we were only dealing with one wagon's windows at a time. It was still the biggest LED set-up ever done to that point, but the Karnak set is 20 time bigger than that. There aren't enough LED screens available – plus it would have been prohibitively expensive.

Instead, I went for a much larger version of a technique I'd used on Mamma Mia which was to hang back projection screens all around the boat – 200m in circumference, 15m high. We used Arri SkyPanels at a distance to create a sky or a part of the background. It could also be converted into a blue screen when we needed to. It meant that if I had a shot looking above the horizon line into the sky then it could be done in camera.

How confident were you of retaining colour and contrast from set to post?

I took stills on the recce and we used those to the create colours with this back projection for our skies. I take prints (not digital stills) so there is no misinterpretation. A still is a piece of paper that you can see. Once something is emailed across and seen by someone watching on another screen the information can get lost.

At the same time there were a lot more checks and balances put in place. We had a projector at Longcross and I watched dailies with (dailies colourist) Sam Spurgeon every lunchtime. With Kodak and Digital Orchard we have a very quick process to convert analogue filmmaking into digital by the next morning. Film is processed at night, they scan at 4am and by mid-morning those digital images are transferred to our dailies suite at Longcross. At lunch we’d watch it digitally projected, having been processed, scanned and graded at 2K.

I check that first and give notes to Sam and those get transferred onto our dailies which is what Ken, the editorial team, VFX and studio team sees. That's a major check. It's me with someone in a room, rather than me talking over the phone which is a big difference. I have a very good relationship with Goldcrest and (DI colourist) Rob Pizzey who also sees things along the way. I supervise the grade at the end. So, there's no need for anyone to interpret anything. It’s a collaboration in which we all look at the same images.

Did you shoot black and white for the opening scene or convert?

We shot colour for a couple of reasons. Although Kodak could manufacture BW 65, there is no lab in the world to processes it. Plus, there’s a certain skill to grading BW using colour negative and the added benefits are that that you can place a grey tone to a colour. For example, you could take red and decide it will look a very dark grey or a light grey, so you get very detailed tones. Ultimately, I get much more control in the DI this way. They were very monochromatic battlefield sets and costumes so it was quite limited in this case. The Germans wore grey and the Belgians wore dark blue and it’s a dark sooty gas-filled battlefield but you could manipulate the blue in the sky a little bit more and certainly manipulate the intensity of people’s eyes - especially if they had blue eyes (which Branagh does).

How did you handle sound sync?

To do sound sync work on Orient we used sound cameras that are twice as heavy as high-speed cameras, so I wanted to develop soundproof housing (blimp) for our camera on Nile. I took the problem to Stuart Heath at BGI Supplies at Longcross. They've made all sorts of props for us before, from Cinderella’s carriage to the furniture on Nile. I told him that I needed it really quickly. All my other attempts had failed. Stuart suggested using a material that they soundproof the interior of helicopters with. He brought a draper in who basically measured the camera as if making a dinner suit for it and quickly made a couple of versions for us. It was very effective and really opened up the Steadicam possibility for us. All from just wandering onto a workshop on the lot and asking a friend if he had any ideas about how to achieve something. In the old days that’s what everyone did – the answer was somewhere on the lot.

Finally, after six films and 14 years working with Ken Branagh, could you tell us what makes your relationship tick?

It is a fantastic friendship. To begin with you must be able to maintain a professional friendship with any cast and crew which is all about doing your very best and understanding where you have common aesthetics and shared thoughts about humanity. Ask what kind of world you want this to be, because that will come through in your filmmaking.

As you say, I've spent years working in close proximity to Ken and we have a mutual affection and admiration for each other otherwise we wouldn't be doing it for so long. He is relentless in pursuit of perfection and in his advancement of storytelling and is inspiring to work with. It means you have to be as relentless in your area of craft.

I think we both like making the same kinds of films. I'm a Greek Cypriot who grew up with Greek myth and tragedy. Ken's love of Shakespeare is legendary. You can easily see the lineage between Aeschylus (the ancient Greek creator of tragedy) that goes all the way to Shakespeare. Perhaps that appreciation for the human condition in its best and worst forms is the tie that binds.

Photo credit: Rob Youngson

Source: britishcinematographer.co.uk - February 4 2021

#death on the nile #agatha christie #poirot #hercule poirot #kenneth branagh #been waiting for them to release the rest of the interview! \o/#it goes into a lot more detail than the average article #great interview for fans of behind the scenes stuff #ken's brilliance strikes again :)#i'm fascinated by the 'going twice around the karnak' single shot #sounds like the 'figure 8' shot in MOTOE but even more complex #and they fragmented it?#and the LED screen tech is much larger this time #OMG poirot in dark blue belgian army uniform <3 #hope they release some promo pics of it so we can see it in color #the overhead pic of poirot on set has circular camera tracks around him #it's gonna be an awesome shot i'm sure

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cogitaeworks · 5 years

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So I just found what has to be the coolest feature in Clip Studio Paint PRO/EX for comic book artists

Generally when I do my comics I always do them by hand and step by step. You know, doing the sketch, cleaning it, making layers to colour in, and then of course blocking it and painting loose colours over to give it a painterly effect. But, today I realized that Clip Studio Paint introduced a feature a few months ago that acts like a colorize mask with a painterly-ish effect which makes the work SO much easier and faster! And seeing how many people in the Good Omens fandom (and on Tumblr in general) struggle with making colouring methods faster (which are annoying when you end up spending way longer than needed on *one finger*), or how many comic artists are always on a time crunch, then I will show you how to make a fast colouring of a sketch! I wish I had known this sooner, honestly. (I’m pretty sure a lot of people already use this option but I’m new to these technythingies so I thought I could share it for those who didn’t know). First, you do your sketch (ft. Anathema this time around). Just some clean lines sketch.

Once the sketch is done (black lines + transparent background), you select that layer and click on the button above said layer, called “reference layer”). This will set your sketch to main linework so the AI will take the conctours into account. (PLUS: IT WORKS WITH GRAYSCALE PAINTINGS HURRAY).

Once the Reference Layer is set, make a new layer underneath and bloc in some colours. Doesn’t need to be neat, or clean, just make sure all the colours from your main palette are there!

Once the colours are ready, You go to this menu shown down below and click the second option while the block paint layer is selected.

The computer will take it’s time to make this, so just wait and see what happens. IMPORTANT: YOU MUST HAVE INTERNET CONNECTION TO USE THIS FEATURE. Voilá! Colour blocking done in minutes! The layer by default is set to Multiply and on top of the lineart/sketch layer. I changed that by setting the layer to “normal”, put it underneath the sketch layer, and also changed the linecolour to multiply with a brown colour to not keep any heavy harsh lines.

Now that the layer is set, the colours seem off. You will notice that there are a few colours that are off, didn’t pick properly, and that the tones are extremely light and desaturated. To fix that, you will go to the correction menues and and fix the colours with Brightness/Contrast and Hue/Saturation/Luminescence until you get the tones you want. After that, you will have to repaint parts to make it look pretty, like a common artwork done without the AI. But, you have to admit, it’s way faster and the colours being so blended actually look like the typical style done with loose paint strokes!

This is how the sketch looks with the fixing needed, and repainting several partsin the process.

Now, this is an optional thing but I love using this feature because it’s SO USEFUL FOR ANY ARTIST EVER and it’s in the realm of nitpicking. If you click on this option and set the type of fixing you want, the AI will try to soften all harsh lines and pixels in the drawing, so it looks smoother and more professional. To use this option I tend to combine all the layers into one, and set the option on “low” and then gradually repeat this option until the lines and colours are smooth enough.

Before:

After:

And this is the final result. It’s literally a fast sketch done in fifteen minutes, and it looks just like the other painted comics that I did before with the colour blocking and mask layers.

FAST PSA: I do not recommend this to people who have issues colouring or who haven’t practiced enough. This is so useful and fast to use that you will not learn proper colour theory or painting techniques, so it is borderline cheating territory if you’ve never coloured or drew something before. Mostly think about it on a professional position: if you are ever hired to work as a colourist and they ask you to use another software that’s not CSP, then you will be in trouble because you will not know how to paint or colour properly. But to those who have enough experience and are tired of spending time on colouring silly thingies (or professional thingies), this is a powerful feature that will defeat deadlines in a snap of your fingers! And if you can’t use CSP: KRITA (freeware software and my favourite program alongside CSP) has a similar option, the Colorize mask, but it’s not as painterly as the CSP one. KRITA is more defined and works on vector mode which is perfect for north american/harsh line comics and illustrations.

This is a video tutorial from my Youtube channel where I explain how to use the Colorize Mask in KRITA for fast processing images in minutes when on a time crunch. (I also have more tutorials and speedpaints on my channel).

youtube

And this is how I normally paint my artworks:

youtube

Happy drawing!!

#art tips #clip studio paint #krita #colouring mask #colorize mask #digital colouring #digital art #tutorial #art tip #cogitaeworks #good omens #anathema device #sketch #artwork

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tepkunset · 5 years

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Rambles on Marauders #1

When talking about the Dawn of X lineup, I mentioned how I wasn’t sure if I was going to read this one or not. I decided to give it a try; I’ll at least follow through the first arc I think.

The art is mostly nice; the lines are great, I especially like how Pyro looks. But fucking hell, the colourist makes Ororo look as pale as Kitty in some panels and only slightly darker in others. Even with the ‘mood lighting,’ that is not how skin works!

Also real funny how so many characters have gone back to classic designs or callbacks of them and yet Kitty is still out here flat ironing her hair every morning, huh.

I know I said this already but... Emma’s suit. 🖤 Emma in general in this is good. The one thing I really did like about this “see, Kitty is all grown up” thing--which I’ll get to next--is their interaction with each other as two professional women with respect.

Detective Bishop is an interesting take, and would have easily enjoyed this whole issue being about whatever’s going on there.

Apparently an unpopular opinion, but here it is: I’m not sold on the direction that’s being taken with Kitty Pryde. I was concerned that we’d see her reduced to being more like a child, but instead it’s the complete opposite; the over-insistence that she’s grown up just makes it feel inauthentic to me. Kitty apparently overnight developing a drinking problem, Kitty threatening to beat up a little kid, Emma talking about how Kitty has “never once gave someone an extra shot in the ribs simply because they deserved it” and then her doing just that... I want to remain optimistic that this is just something she’s working through and not what to expect from the series ongoing, but as it stands I’m not thrilled.

This whole Kitty not being able to pass through Krakoa gates... I swear if this is the setup for a retcon of her not being a mutant (“If I can't use the gates--what am I?”) I will flip shit. There are few kinds of retcons I hate more than “whoa actually this character who’s identified as a mutant for like 40 years worth of comics and being a mutant has been a profound part of their story and characterization isn’t really a mutant!” I can think of a few other alternative answers; maybe her phasing power somehow doesn’t mesh with how the transport works, maybe there’s going to be a big reveal that after two unsuccessful attempts to get someone to do the job, Emma set it up so Kitty would be influenced to... Not a big fan of that last one but I sure as hell like it more than finding out that I guess the High Evolutionary actually kidnapped her as a child and experimented on her to make her only pass as a mutant, too. 🙄

I would have personally preferred Kat as a new nickname than Kate, if she really needed a new one. I knew two girls growing up named Katherine that went by Kat, plus it would still fit with the whole, well, cat thing. I think I could maybe get more on board with it if it was addressed or presented as like “my grandmother’s name was Kate, I want to honour her” but right now it feels more like just pulling from Days of Future Past for the sake of pulling from Days of Future Past.

Kitty at one point phases a gun through two guys’ legs and it was hardcore badass as fuck.

Pyro is indeed the original Pyro. I’m surprised by how excited this made me, honestly. It’s been such a long time that I’m interested in what we’re going to see with him. Also, he kind of reminded me of X-Men Evolution’s fun rendition.

Iceman returning to his speedo look is iconic. Adding flip-flops to that look is even more iconic. I will await the inevitable comment from Pyro calling them thongs.

I know this list is mostly about Kitty, but that’s because this whole issue is mostly about Kitty. Like, it’s practically a Kitty solo. I’m hoping this is just part of set-up and won’t be ongoing, because I’m so tired of solo books masquerading as team books.

I also know this has already been pointed out by plenty, but I’m gonna say it too: I’m high key suspicious about Kitty sailing around in a big tank boat with mounted guns invading countries on behalf of a US dominated corporation. (Yes, Krakoa is it’s own nation now, but lets not ignore the fact that the Hellfire Corporation is exclusively American run, so far as we’ve seen.) Unless we see the same shit right in the States with mutants needing to be rescued--you know, realistically--then it’s hard to shake off distrust over what message this is all sending.

One final thing... so much for “kill no man?” Unless you expect me to believe these guys survived this:

#marauders #dawn of x #marvel comics #meta #wednesday spoilers #alcohol tw

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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June 27th-July 3rd, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from June 27th, 2020 to July 3rd, 2020. The chat focused on the following question:

If you could do your webcomic for a living, how would that change things in regards to how you work on it (if at all)?

Deo101 [Millennium]

I'd definitely put out more content, cause I could focus on it fully every day of the week.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i would probably start hating it and get burnt out

Deo101 [Millennium]

thats why I would also have to start another comic or do short stories on the side or something, too.

I would probably keep individual comics update schedules the same, I'd just do more comics

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

If it became a part-time job, I don't think anything would change. It kind of feels like that already. If I were in a position where it became a full-time job, I do dread how my relationship with the work would change. I don't think I could ever make as much doing comics as I do in my day job (which isn't crazy, but is comfortable) so I don't know if I could ever 100% transition unless it was really, really worth it It's something I've thought about a lot, for sure.

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

In a way, my comic is my full-time job? I don't make very much money with it, but I do put over 40 hours a week into it, and I don't have another job. I am in the very fortunate position of having an SO who is able to support me financially while I try to get my footing with my passion. If I was depending on it for a paycheck though, the main thing that would change is my style would probably get simpler, because there is no way I can make enough pages a week otherwise.

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

It is really the dream to be able to do it! Right now I am unemployed, so I basically treat the comic as my fulltime job, until I find the next short project. I want to be able to work on it full time! In Denmark there are some cool possibilities to get funding from the government and I hope we can get enrolled with some of those programs with our comic.

I would also just love to do small videos, podcasts, animations etc. Small fun projects

Mitzi (Trophallaxis)

If I had to do it full time, I think i'd put a LOT more hours into learning how to paint, watching speedpaints, ect. It'd also make a huge difference in my living situation, as the first thing I'd honestly do with a full time at-home job is move to another city with cheaper rent. Another state, maybe! Oh, and I'd do a lot more promo work. posters and animations are fun, but they're not quite worth it with an audience consisting of two my writing partner's friends, and my older brother.

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

the biggest difference, I suppose, would be that I would make a lot more pages, a lot faster. But I like it that it's been pointed that the relationship with work changes when you have to do things full time, so there may be some unpredictable variables there

eliushi [Keyspace]

For a living for me can mean many different things: able to sustain living expenses vs full-time. There’s overlap but one gives financial security meaning an element of creative freedom. The opposite end will probably entail working on other comic projects with the current one as a passion story on the side (no change but probably might not want to draw so much after drawing for work!) If we’re discussing the ability to do the webcomic full time without financial worries then I do believe my output will increase but also I will be dedicating more time to the craft (studying story structures, art directions etc) as well as marketing/joining professional associations/pitching/connections. There are a lot of career options within the comic world and I’d love to explore everything before deciding what’s best for the current story. Ultimately if I were to do this as a living, I’d treat it like any other job: a routine, a strive for improvement, and wellness to recharge. I follow several artists not only for their art but also their schedule/workflow to see what worked for others. It’s very interesting!

In reality though, I might work on smaller scale projects on the side to build up the experience and platform needed to tell the story of Keyspace. As a full time comic creator, I’ll be seriously thinking to covert the seven novel series into a hug comic project. So TL;DR if full time, I make more pages

varethane

I'm in an odd place with my comic because.... well, I sort of had an opportunity to spend all of my time on it for a few months, when I was in between contracts at work. But I found that I wasnt getting it done all that much faster than I did when also working full time

To be fair, it's kind of hard to compare my speed between the three periods, because when I returned to work after a few months away, it was after work from home had started and now I no longer have a commute, so perhaps my ability to squeeze comic pages into my free time has expanded.... but I feel like my attention span caps out around 8 hours on any single task

So I didnt work that much faster. But... I'm also bad at keeping track. I could be wrong.

Yung Skrimp (Carefree)

8 hours is a long attention span

varethane

It's not all in one go, haha.

eliushi [Keyspace]

I definitely have to take breaks between pages, whether or not I have just a few minutes to a chunk of hours

It’s about finding a balance that works for you!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I don't think I could put more hours daily into my comic than I currently do. I have a chronic issue with my drawing shoulder, so my body won't be able to handle that much work. Probably wouldn't be great for my eyes, either. I also don't know if I want my livelihood to depend on how many people like my story. This story is a pair of custom-tailored skinny jeans for my heart (and I have an unusual body type, making it impossible to wear skinny jeans regardless of size). It's a story I want to read. It's meant to fit ME. I don't want to worry about how to also make it fit a bunch of other people.

That being said, some people do find themselves in a situation where they're making something they want to read, and a bunch of other people just happen to like it, too. I think that would be nice

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I physically can‘t draw for more than four, five hours a day, found that out the hard wayy

eliushi [Keyspace]

I most recently developed pain likely due to RSI and have made accommodations since then but yeah it was scary to think that I have a limit in drawing time. Gotta find ways to take care of yourself for the long run

cAPSLOCK (Tailslide)

I think if comics were my only job, I'd feel a lot more anxious about what I create, and would struggle to work consistently. Having another pursuit makes me feel like I have more freedom to experiment, learn, and make what I want to make.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

That's a really good point keii

Would drawing a comic for a living push me to change it to have more mass appeal?

I don't know but it is definitely possible and would be on my mind

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

It is the dream, if I could get a decent monthly wage on my comic, yes I will dedicate more time, work out a better schedule. Get an editor and colourist on board to help make a polished series. Altho I'm still doing this method to build good working habits But I agree with Eli's point, have to assign days for breaks for myself to prevent RSI. At present I have a trained mindset to work on schedules, but I may feel the pressure to produce as fast as I could.(edited)

Desnik

Well, for starters, my comic would actually be released somewhere, so it'd be nice if it made something back for me

Miranda

I’d actually release it. And work on it regularly, instead of sporadically like I have been! I’d definitely be more critical of what I was doing, and probably way more anxious every time I posted.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

You know, when I was only like 6 years old, I was like "I don't want to be an artist when I grow up. I love art too much, and I don't want to burn out and stop enjoying it. So I'm gonna be a singer instead." I have no idea how 6-year-old me knew about burnout, but I definitely remember saying that in response to an adult asking something like "what do you wanna be when you grow up"/ "wow, you're drawing all the time; do you want to become an artist?"

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

The more I do comics the more I think I want to do art stuff as part of my main career. I would love to make sequential art that's for science purposes

sagaholmgaard

Ah that would be the dream! I'd probably feel more secure in my ability to build up a backlog of pages, and be able to make more extra content for the PDF version! And more content for instagram and twitter as well

kayotics

If I were to be able to do comics full time I think it would completely change my current lifestyle. Not even money wise but I’d need to switch up a lot of things. Like make sure I get a good amount of exercise in. I’d probably add in another page a week, but then use the rest of my week to project manage the comic, and promote my work. I’d spend a lot of other time working on creating an online store, because I can’t see the comic working full time without some supplemental merch keeping me afloat. And I’d also use that time to create and work on another comic series I think.

Yung Skrimp (Carefree)

If I were to do comics full time I’d flex on everyone I know

Feather J. Fern

If I was able to do comics full time, be able to pay off debts, substain rent and food, and extra saved for small spluges, I will shove my comic in my family's face(I got a family who doesn't believe in me at all), dancing around screaming "I MADE IT IN LIFE" And then jump out the window because haha this can't be a reality because I don't think I will ever make it in comics. I will still keep my other job of working at a library and drawing on the side becuase I want working job insurance and also I am the type who wants to save all their money if possible(edited)

eliushi [Keyspace]

I was on board until jumping out the window

Yung Skrimp (Carefree)

I wasn't on board until jumping out the window

Now I am

Moral_Gutpunch

If I could do this for a living, I could do so much. I could afford to put my mother ina home, start my dream farm and start a bunch of conservation as well, I could help my husband fund his own sidegig, and I could afford to foster pets like I always wanted.

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Personally, if I was able to do it I would be a lot more invested in it. I would also make a lot less excuses as to why I'm not practicing as much; it took a pandemic to happen for me to dry taking it more seriously!

I think overall I might have been more happy.

On the other hand, there's also the danger of burnout, of constantly doing the same thing over and over again for me. I'm the type that needs constant change, so I think I'm more suited to having another occupation be my main profession while comics/art would be a secondary one, where I don't have as much pressure. Furthermore, it's also my backup plan in case anything happens to my main job.

Moral_Gutpunch

^ This. I'd be focusing so much more on comics. And I'd be expanding into more comics and writing more stories. I'd be happier I'm writing more, but more frustrated at writers block

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Man if I could do it full time, might be able to pull more page updates and actually get deep into doing some long term projects I had planned for years. I won't have much of an issue as long i can also do my zine projects on the side. also would be nice to have some job insurance too along with it lmao. the only danger that could take it away if I get incapacitated for no reason lmao

TaliePlume

If I could do comics as my full time job would be awesome! But all that focus would go only to the comic and nothing else which is bad because I would be neglecting a lot of things and not getting other things done.

AntiBunny

I'd finally be able to tell my whole story and start telling another. It drives me crazy that I have more ideas than I can pursue.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

In terms of my actual production, I'm not sure doing my comic as a living would change much lol. I already spend upwards of 40 hours a week on it, I seriously doubt there's more I could be doing. So, earning a living off my comic would just be... one less thing to worry about.

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #comic tea party #ctp #creator interview #comic creator interview #creator babble

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andyctwrites · 4 years

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Selling Your Story – Peaks and Pitfalls of Publishing Contracts

Points to consider when deciding if a Publisher is the right fit for you.

Landing a publishing contract is the Holy Grail for many creators who set their sights on “breaking in” to comics, and it’s understandable as to why this is the case…

It’s a big ego bump for starters. Someone external, has recognised your work as good enough to be associated with, promote and sell. In terms of logistics, publishers have established distribution and promotional tools at their disposal and should have a bigger voice than you alone to share your creation with their customer base. As an independent creator, associating yourself with something bigger can also boost your profile – Like a more positive version of joining a gang in prison (I’d imagine).

The subject of publisher relations with creators, differential deals and the fairness of agreements became the subject of debate across comics twitter recently. Voices of creators and collaborators I have a great deal of respect for came out to talk about their views on several publishers with messages of both condemnation and support. Wider spread trends led to a number of freelance workers actively sharing what they had been paid for projects. While there’s no need to pick through a debate which is easily searched, I’ve been thinking a great deal on the subject of publisher contracts. Specifically, how an independent creator can review and consider what publishers are offering more critically in the hope they secure favourable terms, or at very least don’t feel regrets down the line as items not considered at the time of signing come home to roost.

I’ve sat to write this piece in the hope it sparks more discussion and helps those working in the small press scene, which I love, ask the right questions and considering offerings from publishers who show interest in their work. Hopefully I’ve made it accessible and not hideously dull.

Before we take a step further, let’s cover a few notes and caveats here:

Who is this guy? – I’m Andy Conduit-Turner a writer and extremely small name, in all but letter count, in UK indie comic publishing. The chances are, that if we’ve not met, you’ve not heard of me.

My comics contracting experience is primarily limited to drafting my own commissioning contracts to engage with collaborators for comics I have written, and in licencing short stories which I’ve written to appear in anthologies and other mediums produced by others. At the time of writing, I have neither signed with, or been rejected by any major (or minor) comics publisher and am not providing comment on any observed content which may or may not appear in a publishing agreement from any given company.

I am, neither a qualified legal professional or literary agent. In the event any contract you ever receive for any purpose is of extreme importance, investing in the support of a qualified person with greater industry experience is of far greater value than anything you’ll read here.

Outside of comics, my professional career and other personal projects over the last decade have seen me review, interpret, question, edit and respond to countless legal agreements for a variety of purposes. This has left me with a wealth of experience in considering longer term impacts for both the purchasing and suppling parties of service agreements – I’ve spent a great deal of time having both commercial and capability-based discussions prior to contracts being signed.

This is by no means an anti-publisher piece – Regardless of where you stand on recent publishing discussions, I’ve no desire to create an Us (Creators) vs Them (Publishers) sentiment here. There are countless publishers who are passionate about sharing creator’s stories, invest significantly and add a great deal of value to both individual projects and the industry as a whole. No reputable publisher is out to trick creators or deliberately give them a raw deal. That said, as with many transactions, a publisher is a business with an end goal of limiting liability and generating revenue in both the short and long term – Depending on your ideological feelings, this isn’t necessarily an inherently evil objective, and it’s how publishers remain in business.

Your publishing contract is equally not a formality, a magnanimous offer from a friend with nothing to gain from the arrangement, and your unconditional ticket to success and acclaim. Different deals will work for different creators – A good deal to one will be an unacceptable deal for someone else and there are few terms which would be universally perfect or awful for everyone. I’d hope through these pages I can maybe help you consider your offers, ask necessary questions and make decisions you’re comfortable with for your own circumstances.

Negotiation carries risks – Especially within the sphere of indie publishing, there are a couple of truths we need to reflect on.

1. Comics are an attractive and exciting creative medium for people to get into. Especially if a publisher is welcome to unsolicited submissions, they are likely to have no shortage of people interested in publishing with them.

2. Many publishers aren’t huge organisations. In the event a member of their core team is not already a legal professional, it’s unlikely they will have a legal department on their staff to directly manage adjustments to legal documents and agreements.

What this boils down to is that, many publishers may simply not have the resources or interest in negotiating or adjusting a contract with you – There’s every chance that the offer made to you is non-negotiable. While I’d argue that the withdrawal of an offer in response to a question asked or statement challenged in good faith is indicative of the professionalism of the organisation in question, you should be prepared for the fact that being the squeaky wheel may not land you the deal you want, and may take the one you have off the table.

A Note on NDAs and Market Norms

NDAs, or Non-Disclosure Agreements are very common, as part of, or prior to contracting in many industries. They are typically used to protect (in this case publishers’) private or proprietary information concerning their business practises, contracting terms, project pipeline and pay rates private and confidential. They are a routine consideration and not indicative of any sinister goings on. In keeping with professional conduct, if you sign an NDA you should, of course, respect its conditions though here are a few considerations and questions you may ask or confirm however.

1: Is the NDA mutually beneficial – While you are agreeing not to share the details of a publisher’s business and offer outside involved parties, does the signed NDA bind the publisher to offer you the same regardless as to whether the end result is a signed publishing agreement?

Are there stated commitments to your work remaining confidential and not circulated to other outside parties during your negotiations? What commitments are made to the return / disposal of any project details or materials shared should an agreement not be finalised.

Additionally, can you expect details on deals you accept in terms of up front remuneration, percentage splits on profits and additional contract terms to remain confidential?

2: Pitch exclusivity – Are there any expectations, formal or otherwise that you should not pitch your comic elsewhere until negotiations have been concluded?

3: Your right to advice – No NDA should prevent you taking appropriate professional advice before signing any final agreement.

Rules on business competition internationally, already provide a great deal of legislation to ensure businesses to remain competitive and prevent illegal practises such as price fixing and market sharing. While market norms may dictate and guide the offers you’re likely to receive competing businesses should not mutually agree to adhere to set fees or conditions. At this point I’ll pause and note that I don’t hold the market specific professional knowledge to apply Anti-Trust and similar business competition legislation to publishing contracts – These should be forefront of a publisher’s mind when managing confidentiality of contract content.

So…With all of that now said (in painstaking detail) let’s get into this shall we

What’s in this for you?

So, you’ve pitched your book to a publisher and they’re interested in working with you? Great news! Now comes the time when you need to consider what you want to get from your potential partner, and consider, realistically, what you’ll accept. For many creators your wants and expectations may include:

Contribution to production costs. Particularly for writer led teams, an ability to appropriately pay artists, colourists, letterers, editors and other professionals make up the bulk of comic production costs even before downstream logistics such as printing, marketing and distribution come into play. Many publishers may state up front whether this is a model they can support. Initial production costs add to the overall risk and increase the volume needed to sell before profits are realised. Consider – Landing a publisher may not relieve you of the need to raise personal funds or take to Kickstarter.

Upfront royalty payments. A noble dream for some, though likely only realised by more established creators. Belief in your project will need to be high to warrant an upfront payment to the creator for a book prior to a single copy being sold Consider – Manage your expectations here, how promising is your pitch? Do you have a track record of success that offsets the risk of an upfront pay out?

Percentage Profits – This is likely to be a long-term arrangement of any publishing deal whereby the creator and the publisher acting a licence holder take an agreed % split of future profit revenue generated from the project – Profits from what exactly we’ll come to later. Consider – There’s no way around this, any additional step in the process here are going to reduce the by unit revenue you receive per each sale. By working with a publisher, the benefit to you is that they support you in, ideally, selling more copies than you would alone.

Production and logistical support – Sure, you know writing, art or whichever your creative field may be, but there’s every chance that your publisher is more familiar with the processes involved with getting your book into people’s hands. With established relationships with suppliers and retailers your publisher may also be able to optimise the per unit profit on your book sales, in addition to increasing your potential audience through supply networks and wider convention attendance.

In some cases, your publisher may also take a creative role in the process, appointing an editor, or suggesting changes to make a book more marketable in their experience – We’ll also return to this point later.

Comic Financials - Hypothetical example – Comic X

Working without a publisher

You as creator spend £2000 on the production of your comic (Art, letters, colour, whatever!) Print volumes allow you to obtain copies of your book at £2 per copy

You price your book at £5 per copy Let’s then also assume a modest spend of £200 on website, and attending some local cons, and you break even on Postage and Packing. Under this model you’ll see a profit on your creation once you sell your 734th copy of Comic X. This assumes you sell exactly all of your stock and are left with no additional copies which you’ve paid to have printed, but not yet sold. Let’s make this a tiny bit more complex and suggest that you diversify from selling physical copies online and at cons alone. You begin selling digital copies via an established digital store front at £3. You also connect with local comic retailers who agree to carry copies of your comics in store. To keep this simple and not lose the remaining 3 people this dive into maths hasn’t lost already let’s assume that your sales across all avenues equal out to 1/3 each, and once again all copies you produce will sell. The digital sales have no print cost but the digital storefront takes 50% of the sale price

The stores agree to purchase copies of your book from you for £4, creating a 33% share on profit after print costs.

Under this scenario, Comic X will officially be profitable after around 245 direct physical sales, 489 digital sales and 367 sales via stores.

Working with a publisher

Under this model, we’ll assume that you as a creator invested the same £2000 in production costs but nothing further, leaving the publisher to manage the printing along with costs for attending conventions etc.

Outside of the numbers here, your publisher is also the party taking the risk regarding the volume produced if any copies go unsold. The trade off is that your publisher will take a percentage of any profits before they reach you. For this example, let’s say you agree on 50% revenue share and receive no contribution to production costs or any upfront payment.

For argument sake, let’s assume your publisher secures the same unit costs and margins (though you’d hope they may be able to negotiate better through volume purchasing). Understanding a publisher’s direct cost with con attendance, and marketing when applied to a single book is a level of hypothetical we won’t attempt here.

Focussing on you as a creator, under the same sales methods used in the non-publisher model you would begin to see profit on your production investment of £2000 from publisher paid royalties after 445 direct sales, 889 digital sales and 667 in store sales.

After all this talk of money, the first thing to recognise is that it isn’t everything to all creators. Many will consider the long-term goals of building an audience as a pathway to bigger and better things, or simply an investment in their creative hobby. Those with realistic aspirations will likely not expect to anything resembling a profit from their early books (save perhaps for those with the skills to produce a comic entirely alone or with collaborators satisfied with payment purely from sale revenue). For many creators, having a partner who ensures copies of their books get into people’s hands, minimising their own administrative efforts is the goal.

What is critical is to do your own calculations, consider your goals along with level of financial investment and energy you have to invest in selling your own book. In this simplified example, we’ve not considered the accuracy of print orders vs sales, tax applications or eligible rebates or potential publisher costs deducted from profits to account for their operational expenses, but it should give you a loose model to consider your own investment against.

Potential Questions – Depending on your financial and creative motivations

What sales numbers does the publisher consider to be a success? Assuming the publisher will set sale price – What margin do they consider acceptable vs costs? What sales avenues does the publisher use? Does the publisher have established relationships with distributors and retailers with agreements to carry their stock? If so, what regions and countries do they have distribution networks within? Which electronic store fronts does the publisher make books available via? What volume of conventions, in which locations, does the publisher typically attend? Are they willing to share any statistics on which platforms generate the strongest sales? How, if at all, are publisher overhead costs factored into overall sale profits for division between publisher and creator? Does the agreement permit the creator to obtain copies of the publication at cost, or discounted rates for either personal use or onward sale? What marketing methods do the publisher deploy to promote new and existing content? Does the agreement, place any expectations or limitations on the actions of the creator to promote the comic? Does the agreement commit the publisher to any minimum volume of books to be produced for sale, or resources allocated to promote the publication?

What’s in this for them?

Now we come to the other half of the deal. In working with a publisher, you grant your partner certain rights in potentially both the short and long term. Understanding the rights, you’re happy to sign away and the long-term implications can be key points in your decision-making process.

Your potential publisher may request some of the following:

Percentage Profits on book sales – This is a given and how your publisher will make the most immediate return on backing your comic and investing in its production or distribution

Editorial and creative direction – While some publishers may primarily take on completed projects, others may provide editorial input. For many creators, this may be beneficial professional, input to improve the project overall. Consider – When you engage an editor privately as a self-published creator, the final decision on how you incorporate your editor’s feedback is your own. A publisher driven edit may take the final creative control out of your own hands. As with many aspects in this section this can be a positive, but it is something you should consider and make peace with before you agree to your publishing deal.

Revenue on sale of promotional and licensed goods – As part of your agreement, your publisher may gain rights to produce and sell a variety of goods associated with your comic. For a small press projects, this could be as simple as prints, postcards and pins made available as add on purchases, but an agreement could equally account for additional 3rd party licensing. Consider – From a financial perspective do you retain a share of the profits from the sale of promotional or licensed goods? Is the rate in line with the percentage you earn from book sales? Depending on the answer to these questions, if your book is successful and lends itself to popular merchandise, you’ll potentially see a larger return on your production investment more quickly, in time you may even see more royalties from the tasteful sets of commemorative glassware your story has produced than the book itself. From a creative standpoint, you need to consider that you are likely giving up a degree of control here. If you’ve strong feelings that series logo should never appear on a tote bag, this is potentially something your deal may remove your option to veto in the future.

Adaptation rights – In licensing your comic for publication, your publisher may request rights concerning the adaptation of your comic into other mediums. These rights may extend to written and audio productions, stage, television and film versions and interactive media such as video games. The requested rights may be inclusive of both financial benefits of licensing for alternative mediums and overall creative control in the adaptation for other media. Consider – If you’re a creative person with hands in other media, be it a keen filmmaker or an apprentice of coding, you may wish to seek to retain your own rights to pursue alternative interpretations of your story. Particularly in fields you have interest in. This may also be the time to consider how you would feel about any alternative take on your work with which you may have no creative involvement or influence over.

Sequel / Spin-off Rights – In agreeing to publish your project your publisher may also requests rights relating to production of related projects, both in comics or other media (as detailed above). These rights may include first review and option to license the new publication prior to it being offered to other publishers, the right to engage the creative team professionally to actively work on a related publication, or potentially engaging a separate creative team. Consider – As with the above point, your decision on agreeing with these terms will depend on your overall attachments to the project and your own long-term plans for ongoing related stories. If the idea of having limited or no control on how your original story grows into future projects gives you cold sweats, this is a right you’ll need to consider your comfort with, before you sign. How important is having ongoing control to you?

Potential Questions – Depending on your financial and creative motivations

What history does the publisher have with facilitating adaptation of comics to other media? Does the agreement, obligate or limit the creator in efforts to adapt the publication for other media? Does the publisher actively seek opportunities for property adaptations, or is this handled ad hoc as interested parties approach the publisher as licence holder? Does the publisher’s right to financial share in adaptation driven revenue differ in the event that the publisher take no active role in adapting or pitching the an adaptation of the property? What rights do the publisher hold regarding the sale or transition of publishing or ongoing licensing rights to a third party?

Overall, considering the ongoing rights and control a creator or creative team is willing to hand over to a publisher will be a critical point for many in making a decision before signing an agreement. How you perceive the value of publisher input, a potential reduction in creative control and your confidence in the long-term potential of your story will be key points in influencing what you’re comfortable in conceding in exchange for the benefits your publisher brings to the table.

The Finer Details

With the main points of your agreement carefully reviewed, it’s time to consider the ifs and buts, concerning the terms and limitations of your agreement.

Time – How long does your agreement grant the stated rights to your publisher? A set period? A set period with right to extend or first refusal to negotiate extension on similar terms or terms related to performance? Indefinite? Location – Are publication rights granted internationally or only in certain territories? Does your selected publisher have capabilities to market and distribute in all stated territories? If not, do they actively seek third party partners to distribute successful publications in additional territories?

Obligations – Are there stated timings for release, efforts to market, volumes sold, or stock made available for purchase a publisher must maintain to retain the license to your comic? Remuneration and Reporting – How frequently are royalties calculated and paid to the creator or creative team? Are there lower and upper limits to disbursement amounts? What reporting does your publisher provide to indicate gross profits leading to creator revenue share? Specifically, when it comes to matters of accounting. If you intend to maintain a financial interest in the performance of your work, appropriate transparency of accounting may be essential to understand your publisher’s level of investment and gross earnings before final profits are divided? Most organisations should permit you a right to audit, but be mindful of the conditions applied. Permitting a deep audit via the appointment of an official accountant able to review documentation on a publisher’s premises may fulfil legal obligations but creates an immediate pay wall for you as an independent creator, whose initial earnings on a single book may not warrant the investment.

If your potential publisher is able to provide sample reporting, you can accommodate yourself with the level of detail prior to signature and assure yourself that the level of transparency meets your level of interest.

Legal obligations – In addition to any submission conditions when you pitched your book, signing a publishing agreement will almost certainly involve your further verification that the work is your own and indemnify your publisher from any obligation or responsibility should this statement prove inaccurate in the future. In addition to the obligations on the creator, take note of any commitments made by the publisher to protect the IP you are licensing to them, and potential indemnity from any actions arising from material changes to the work or subsequent adaptation upon which the publisher, or their representative exercises creative control.

Limitations and release – Tied to the any limitations relating to time or location stated in your contract, it’s also worth noting any other terms which would lead to overall rights being returned back to the original creator or creative team. The most commonly anticipated reason for this would be publisher insolvency, though in some cases a struggling publisher with the appropriate rights could look to sell on any held licensing rights to a third party to raise capital prior to this occurring (assuming your agreement permits this). Clauses that benefit the creator in this area could speak to the minimum level of production or service provided to promote your comic, which if not met over an extended period results in the rights returning to the creator to pitch elsewhere or develop further with no further obligation to the publisher, thus holding your publisher to a higher degree of accountability for your book’s ongoing performance. Another alternative may represent a defined buy out clause, permitting the creative team to release themselves or further obligation to a publisher by either ensuring a pre-defined return on the publisher’s initial investment or a sum equal relevant to the book’s performance. The latter examples, I’d anticipate would be less frequent in their appearance within standard contract language, however these may be some of the most essential inclusions for a creator who is invested in the long-term management and performance of their work.

For an example, we’ll return to Comic X…

Worst case scenario…

Joe Creator, writer of Comic X, signs a publisher agreement granting licencing rights, inclusive of, merchandise, sequel and adaptation control and financial rights irrevocably to a publisher.

Joe’s agreement sees the creator receive 50% of Net profits from book sales but nothing from any additional licensing or merchandising unless directly engaged by the publisher to work on this new content under a separate agreement. The publisher will manage distribution and printing costs but does not contribute to the initial creation cost for artwork and associated tasks.

The rights will return to Joe only should the publisher file bankruptcy or should they fail to produce any volumes of the work within a defined period following initial project completion.

With no minimum term of service, the publisher fulfils their obligation to Joe through a short production run of 50 copies of their book, which are not directly marketed by the publisher but organically sells 30 copies through their inclusion on the publisher’s stand at conventions. The remaining 20 copies are sold at stock clearance reduction prices and do not recoup their print costs. The book is not listed digitally or marketed to any retailers. In the end of his first year since publication, the royalties owed to Joe from the profit share fall well below the minimum payment threshold and no payment is made.

In the five years that follow, the book remains listed on the publisher’s store front as “Out of Stock” and based on performance no further print runs are ordered.

Meanwhile, Joe continues to build career momentum through well received subsequent releases, published independently and interest in obtaining adaptation rights for Joe Creator properties hits public consciousness. Having secured irrevocable licencing rights the publisher secures a lucrative 3 series deal with Netflix adapting Joe’s original Comic X series. Netflix opts to use their own writing team, whose agents ensure they are recognised as lead creatives. A credit listing “Based on Comic X by Joe Creator” appears at the end of the opening credits, but everyone skips these.

With the Netflix series differing significantly from the original Comic X, rather than reprint the original, the publisher opts to engage a different creative team to spin off a new ongoing series based more closely on the aesthetic and themes of the new Netflix creation. The financial impact to Joe from creating the original work remains fundamentally minus £2000 as the £35 owed to Joe in previous revenue falls below the minimum payment threshold. This is an extreme example, played up for the sake of hyperbole, but hopefully it illustrates the point Consider your conditions carefully, what you gain, what you give away, and the level of effort your publisher commits to you. and finally.

Know who you’re dealing with - Know your own worth

Throughout previous sections, I’ve encouraged creators to consider what they want from a publisher, what they are happy to give in exchange and the finer details of agreements.

I’ll leave you with a (mercifully) briefer point by encouraging both research and self-reflection. Your research on a publisher should not begin and end with “Who is accepting pitches?”

Consider the fit of your project within their body of work.

Meet and connect with other creators who’ve worked with them and politely request their feedback.

Look at publisher’s company performance and makeup with resources such a Companies house or Endole. Do they appear financially stable? How large is their team? What other interests to their leadership team have?

Look at publisher’s websites and social media platforms, how are they marketing? How large is their reach? How much interaction do you see with their posts? How large is their portfolio?

Measure your own, time, resources, and reach against your potential publishers and consider objectively and, in quantifiable terms wherever you can, how you measure up. If you’re brining a sizable or active existing audience with you to a publisher this may enhance your ability to negotiate.

To wrap up I’ll say, that I hope the last, almost 5000 words *Jeez* have been of some value, whatever your experience of creating or publishing to date. I by no means consider myself an authority on anything so would be delighted if this sparks further conversation and discussion from others who may add more specific examples and considerations which may help others chasing the goal of having published work out in the wild.

I’ll return to one of my opening points that there are some fantastic publishers doing incredible work in the indie comic scene and making books possible that would otherwise never see the light of day. For indie creators, whether a publishing deal is a Holy Grail or a Poison Chalice will likely remain up to the individual and determined by how circumstances play out. If this helps just one person, take pause, consider their options and make an informed choice it will have been worth the effort.

#comics #comic books #smallpress #indie comics #publishing

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thecomicsnexus · 5 years

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TOP 10 INK AND COLOR ARTISTS OF 2019′S REVIEWS

This year I felt the need to also do this list. Why? Well, when I was going through the most prominent artists with a 10 score, I noticed that some names were in almost all of them, but they weren’t the main artists. These artists are mostly inkers and colorists, and they are industry professionals, that usually worked for the publisher directly. This is the main reason they were involved in most of the art teams. Some of these were working for hire though. But you will also notice that unlike the writers and pencillers lists, this one is a lot more diverse.

NUMBER TEN JOHN HIGGINS (1949 - PRESENT)

John Higgins (born 1949) is an English comic book artist and writer. He did significant work for 2000 AD, and he has frequently worked with writer Alan Moore, most notably as colorist for Watchmen.

John Higgins was born in Walton, Liverpool. After leaving school when he was 15, he joined the army and, on leaving, spent some time in a commune in Wiltshire. He returned to Liverpool and, in 1971, resumed his studies at Wallasey College of Art. There, in 1974 he qualified in technical illustration, which allowed him to get a job as a medical illustrator at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

After getting his first comic book art published in Brainstorm in 1975, he drew the cover for 2000 AD No. 43 in 1977 and decided to go freelance in 1978, with an eye on becoming a comic artist. In 1981 he started getting regular work at 2000 AD, one of his early projects being the art for a Tharg's Future Shocks by Alan Moore, as well as doing covers for Marvel UK.

After this he worked steadily at 2000 AD and joined the British Invasion in the mid-eighties—notably doing the colouring on Moore's Watchmen and Batman: The Killing Joke, a job he got through colouring Steve Dillon's art on Moore's ABC Warriors story. This led to more work in the American market, although he has kept working on British titles too especially with Judge Dredd over 20 years.

He provided the art for Greysuit with Pat Mills, as well as working with Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti on The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning and Jonah Hex No. 28.

Higgins is also a writer. He wrote and drew his first Future Shock at 2000 AD and did the same for Razorjack, a comic book mini-series from Com.x, which was reprinted in 2009.

Higgins has worked in a number of different areas providing artwork for animation, film and book covers like The Cabinet of Light and The Morgaine Stories. In 2012, Higgins worked on the Before Watchmen project, drawing the serialised feature "Curse of the Crimson Corsair" which was initially written by Len Wein. Higgins later became the writer of the feature as well.

In 2016 he provided the art for six stamps commemorating the Great Fire of London, illustrating them in the style of a comic strip.

In 2017 a collection of his artwork was exhibited at the Victoria Gallery & Museum in Liverpool, in an exhibition called Beyond Dredd & Watchmen: The Art of John Higgins.

Higgins made it into the list thanks to his work on “Batman: The Killing Joke” and “Watchmen”.

NUMBER NINE ROMEO TANGHAL (1943 - PRESENT)

Romeo Tanghal (born 1943) is a Filipino comics artist who has worked primarily as an inker. He became well known in the industry in the 1980s for his work on DC Comics' The New Teen Titans.

Romeo Tanghal was born and raised in the Philippines. A self–taught artist, he started doing comics illustrations after graduating high school. He briefly worked with various local publications before emigrating to the United States in 1976. His first published work in the U.S. was "If There Were No Batman... I Would Have to Invent Him" in Batman #284 (Feb. 1977) for DC Comics. He then drew short stories for House of Mystery, House of Secrets, and Weird War Tales. He later became the inker on such features as Super Friends, "Scalphunter" in Weird Western Tales, and "Gravedigger" in Men of War. In 1980, Tanghal became the inker of George Pérez's penciled artwork on The New Teen Titans. Tanghal drew two origin stories for DC's digest line during this time, a ten-page short story in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #5 (Nov.–Dec. 1980) featuring Zatara and Zatanna and the origin of the Penguin in The Best of DC #10 (March 1981). Tanghal began working for Marvel Comics as well in 1986. He inked the comics adaptations of such films as Labyrinth, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and Willow. Tanghal did character design and storyboards for Sunbow Entertainment from 1985 to 1987.

Tanghal received an Inkpot Award in 2013.

I usually think of Romeo when I think about the team of Wolfman and Pérez. Their work on New Teen Titans is the main reason he made it into this list.

NUMBER EIGHT LYNN VARLEY (1958 - PRESENT)

Lynn Varley is an award-winning American comic book colorist, notable for her collaborations with her then-husband, comic book writer/artist Frank Miller.

Varley grew up in Livonia, Michigan. Moving to New York City, she found work at Neal Adams' Continuity Associates. She debuted as a comic book colorist on Batman Annual # 8 (1982), written by Mike W. Barr and penciled by her then partner Trevor Von Eeden. Around the same time, she became professionally involved with Upstart Associates, a shared studio space on West 29th Street formed by Walter Simonson, Howard Chaykin, Val Mayerik, and Jim Starlin. Varley colored the first two issues of Chaykin's American Flagg! Frank Miller later became part of Upstart.

Varley provided the coloring for Miller's Ronin (1984), an experimental six-issue series from DC Comics that proved that comics in unusual formats could be commercially successful; and The Dark Knight Returns (1986), a four issue mini-series that went on to become an outstanding commercial and critical success. Miller also noted that Varley helped create the futuristic slang that Carrie Kelley and other characters use.

Subsequently, Varley colored other Miller books, including The Dark Knight Strikes Again, 300, Elektra Lives Again, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (with Geoff Darrow), as well as a number of covers for the U.S. editions of the Lone Wolf and Cub series. She also colored the backgrounds for the 300 movie (2007), produced by Miller.

Varley has only worked sporadically in the comics industry since 2005.

Varley and Miller were married from 1986 to 2005. They moved from New York City to Los Angeles in the late 1980s and moved back to New York shortly before the September 11 attacks.

Because of her collaborations with Miller, Lynn made it into this list thanks to her work on “Ronin”, “The Dark Knight Returns” and “Wolverine”.

NUMBER SEVEN GLYNIS “WEIN” OLIVER (1949 - PRESENT)

Glynis Oliver, also credited as Glynis Wein is an artist who has worked as a colorist in the comics industry. For several years, she was married to Len Wein. She returned to her maiden name in 1985. She was born in England.

She has been recognized for her work in the industry with a Shazam Award for Best Colorist in 1973.

Glynis has an extensive career in comics, but the reason she made it into this list was her work on “Uncanny X-Men”, more specifically “the Dark Pheonix Saga” and the “Wolverine” mini-series.

NUMBER SIX BRAD ANDERSON

Not to mistake with the creator of Marmaduke.

Brad Anderson is a cartoonist and comic book colourist. He began his career in 1998 working for DC Comics in 1998 on the title Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. Ever since he has worked on countless comics for different publishers including Dark Horse Comics and Marvel Comics

Most recently, he has been working on titles like Batman Eternal, Green Lantern, Justice League and Convergence.

Little is known about Brad’s life (odd considering the popularity of the material he is part of). He made it into this list thanks to his work on the “Witching Hour” crossover and also on the Shazam Origin that run on the Justice League book.

NUMBER FIVE ANTHONY TOLLIN (1952 - PRESENT)

Anthony Tollin is a professional comic book colourist. Tollin started working for DC Comics in the early 70s as an assistant to Tatjana Wood in the coloring department. In the early 80s, he became the main colourist for DC, doing almost all of the covers of the publications of the company at the time. Tollin worked for DC until the early 90s, when he started working for other publishers.

He is in this list thanks to his work on “Vigilante”, “Ambush Bug” and “Crisis on Infinite Earths”.

NUMBER FOUR ADRIENNE ROY (1953 - 2010)

Adrienne Roy (June 28, 1953 – December 14, 2010) was a comic book color artist who worked mostly for DC Comics. She was largely responsible for coloring the Batman line (Batman and Detective Comics) throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

Roy attended an art school in Wayne, New Jersey, where she studied painting techniques. Her first contact with comics was through collecting Marvel Comics' Tomb of Dracula, The Sub-Mariner and Conan the Barbarian. Roy's first work as a comics colorist was assisting her husband Anthony Tollin, who worked for DC Comics at the times. But it was long-time colorist Jack Adler who would give her the first job at DC: the cover of DC Special Series #8 (featuring the Batman, Deadman and Sgt. Rock team-up). Adler and Sol Harrison (who was also a colorist) were considered by Roy herself as her mentors and both trained her on coloring during her first years at DC.

Roy was also responsible for the coloring on many other titles during that time period: The New Teen Titans, The Warlord, Weird War Tales and Madame Xanadu. Nevertheless, she is predominantly known for her work on the Batman books: Batman, Detective Comics, Batman: Shadow of the Bat, Batman: Gotham Knights, and Robin.

When computerized colors arrived to comics, the assignments to classic colorists decreased a lot. By 2000 Roy was largely out of work, despite training herself on the computer. Roy spent her last days battling cancer and died in Austin, Texas, at age 57 on December 14, 2010.

Adrienne Roy illustrated most of the comics of my childhood, and her “fuchsia” skies are pretty much her trademark on many Batman comics. She made it into this list thanks to her work on “New Teen Titans”, “Batman and the Outsiders”, Tales of the Teen Titans”, “The Judas Contract”, “Batman” and “Detective Comics”.

NUMBER THREE TERRY AUSTIN (1952 - PRESENT)

Terry Kevin Austin (born August 23, 1952) is an American comics artist, working primarily as an inker. He is best known for his work embellishing John Byrne's pencils on Uncanny X-Men from 1977 to 1981.

Austin grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and attended Wayne State University. He started inking comics as an assistant to Dick Giordano and Neal Adams, doing "Crusty Bunker" work for Adams' Continuity Associates. Austin came to prominence in 1976–1977, inking Marshall Rogers' pencils on a celebrated run of Batman stories for DC Comics' Detective Comics collaborating with writer Steve Englehart. During this same period, Austin inked Michael Netzer (Nasser) on DC's Martian Manhunter in Adventure Comics and Green Arrow/Black Canary in World's Finest Comics, as well as Al Milgrom on Marvel Comics' Captain Marvel. He later teamed with Rogers again on Marvel's Doctor Strange.

In 1977, Austin and penciler John Byrne became the new art team on Uncanny X-Men. With writer Chris Claremont they produced a series of stories — particularly "The Dark Phoenix Saga" — which elevated the title into the top-selling American comic book.

Austin resides near Poughkeepsie, New York, where he plays volleyball and gets together often with fellow comics veteran Fred Hembeck.

Terry is a very popular inker that has almost no presence online (only through Fred Hembeck). He made it into this list mostly for his work on “Camelot 3000″ and “Uncanny X-Men”, most specifically, “The Dark Phoenix” saga.

NUMBER TWO DICK GIORDANO (1932 - 2010)

Richard Joseph "Dick" Giordano (July 20, 1932 – March 27, 2010) was an American comics artist and editor whose career included introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes and serving as executive editor of DC Comics.

Dick Giordano, an only child, was born in New York City on July 20, 1932, in the borough of Manhattan to Josephine Labruzzi and Graziano "Jack" Giordano. He attended the School of Industrial Art.

Beginning as a freelance artist at Charlton Comics in 1952, Giordano contributed artwork to dozens of the company's comics, including such Western titles as Annie Oakley, Billy the Kid, and Wyatt Earp, the war comic Fightin' Army, and scores of covers.

Giordano's artwork from Charlton's Strange Suspense Stories was used as inspiration for artist Roy Lichtenstein's 1965/1966 Brushstroke series, including Brushstroke, Big Painting No. 6, Little Big Painting and Yellow and Green Brushstrokes.

By the mid-1960s a Charlton veteran, Giordano rose to executive editor, succeeding Pat Masulli, by 1965. As an editor, he made his first mark in the industry, overseeing Charlton's revamping of its few existing superheroes and having his artists and writers create new such characters for what he called the company's "Action Hero" line. Many of these artists included new talent Giordano brought on board, including Jim Aparo, Dennis O'Neil, and Steve Skeates.

DC Comics vice president Irwin Donenfeld hired Giordano as an editor in April 1968, at the suggestion of Steve Ditko, with Giordano bringing over to DC some of the creators he had nurtured at Charlton. Giordano was given several titles such as Teen Titans, Aquaman and Young Love, but none of DC's major series. He launched the horror comics series The Witching Hour in March 1969, and the Western series All-Star Western vol. 2 in September 1970.

He continued to freelance for DC as a penciler and inker. As an artist, Giordano was best known as an inker. His inking was particularly associated with the pencils of Neal Adams, for their run in the early 1970s on the titles Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Comics historian Les Daniels observed that "The influential Adams style moved comics closer to illustration than cartooning, and he brought a menacing mood to Batman's adventures that was augmented by Dick Giordano's dark, brooding inks."

By 1971, frustrated by what he felt was a lack of editorial opportunities, Giordano had left DC to partner with fellow artist Neal Adams for their Continuity Associates studios, which served as an art packager for comic book publishers, including such companies as Giordano's former employer Charlton Comics, Marvel Comics, and the one-shot Big Apple Comix. Several comics artists began their careers at Continuity and many were mentored by Giordano during their time there.

He had a brief run as penciler of the Wonder Woman series which included a two-issue story in issues #202–203 (October and December 1972) written by science-fiction author Samuel R. Delany. Giordano drew several backup stories in Action Comics featuring the Human Target character as well as the martial arts feature "Sons of the Tiger" in Marvel's black-and-white comics magazine The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. He was a frequent artist on Batman and Detective Comics and he and writer Denny O'Neil created the Batman supporting character Leslie Thompkins in the story "There Is No Hope in Crime Alley" in Detective Comics #457 (March 1976). Giordano inked the large-format, first DC/Marvel intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man (1976), over the pencils of Ross Andru. Giordano inked Adams on the one-shot Superman vs. Muhammad Ali in 1978. Throughout the late 1970s and the early 1980s, Ross Andru and Giordano were DC's primary cover artists, providing cover artwork for the Superman titles as well as covers for many of the other comics in the DC line at that time.

In 1980, DC publisher Jenette Kahn brought Giordano back to DC. Initially the editor of the Batman titles, Giordano was named the company's new managing editor in 1981, and promoted to vice president/executive editor in 1983, a position he held until 1993. DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz observed in 2010 that "Giordano held the respect of talent as one of their own, and kept their affection with his reassuring calm and warmth."

Giordano provided art for several anniversary issues of key DC titles. He and television writer Alan Brennert crafted the story "To Kill a Legend" in Detective Comics #500 (March 1981). Giordano was one of the artists on the double-sized Justice League of America #200 (March 1982) as well as Wonder Woman #300 (Feb. 1983) He was promoted to Vice-President/Executive Editor in 1984, and with Kahn and Levitz, oversaw the relaunch of all of DC's major characters with the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series in 1985. This was followed by Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen in 1986. Giordano inked several major projects during this time such as George Pérez's pencils on Crisis on Infinite Earths and John Byrne's pencils on The Man of Steel and Action Comics, though during this period he always employed assistants for inking backgrounds, filling in large black areas, and making final erasures.

From 1983 to 1987, Giordano wrote a monthly column published in DC titles called "Meanwhile..." which much like Marvel's "Bullpen Bulletins" featured news and information about the company and its creators. Unlike "Bullpen Bulletins," which was characterized by an ironic, over-hyped tone, Giordano's columns ". . . were written in a relatively sober, absolutely friendly voice, like a friend of your father's you particularly liked and didn't mind sitting down to listen to." Giordano closed each "Meanwhile..." column with the characteristic words, "Thank you and good afternoon."

The Vertigo imprint was launched in early 1993 built upon the success several titles edited by Karen Berger including Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Sandman, Doom Patrol, Animal Man, and Shade, the Changing Man. Giordano inked six issues of The Sandman in 1991-1993.

Beginning in 1987, Giordano was in the middle of an industry-wide debate about the comics industry, ratings systems, and creators' rights. Veteran writers Mike Friedrich, Steven Grant, and Roger Slifer all cited Giordano in particular for his hard-line stance on behalf of DC. This debate led in part to the 1988 drafting of the Creator's Bill of Rights.

Giordano left DC in 1993, and still did the occasional inking job, but later returned to freelancing full-time. In 1994 Giordano illustrated a graphic novel adaptation of the novel Modesty Blaise released by DC Comics, with creator/writer Peter O'Donnell. He was one of the many artists who contributed to the Superman: The Wedding Album one-shot in 1996 wherein the title character married Lois Lane.

In 2002, Giordano launched the short-lived Future Comics with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton. Since 2002, Giordano had drawn several issues of The Phantom published in Europe and Australia. In 2004, Giordano and writer Roy Thomas completed an adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula novel. They had begun the project in 1974 but the cancellation of many of Marvel's black and white magazines put it into limbo. The finished story was collected into a hardcover edition in 2005 and a colorized hardcover edition in 2010. In 2005, F+W Publications Inc. published the instructional art book Drawing Comics with Dick Giordano, which he wrote and illustrated. His last mainstream work appeared in Jonah Hex vol. 2, #51 (March 2010) for which he drew the interior art and the cover. His last comics work was pencilling and editing Baron Five, published by Hound Comics.

Giordano married the former Marie Trapani, sister of fellow comics artist Sal Trapani, on April 17, 1955. She died from complications of her second stomach cancer surgery in February 1993. They had three children together; Lisa, Dawn, and Richard Jr. Marie's death, combined with Giordano's increasing hearing loss, hastened his decision to retire from DC. Following the death of his wife, Giordano split time between homes in Florida and Connecticut. In 1995, he moved to Palm Coast, Florida, where he continued to work full-time freelancing, until his death. Giordano had suffered from lymphoma and later from leukemia, secondary to the chemotherapy. He died on March 27, 2010 due to complications of pneumonia.

Giordano served as mentor or inspiration to a generation of inkers, including Terry Austin, Mike DeCarlo, and Bob Layton.

Shortly after Giordano's death in 2010, The Hero Initiative created "The Dick Giordano Humanitarian of the Year Award", which debuted at the 2010 Harvey Awards ceremony held at the Baltimore Comic-Con. The award recognizes one person in comics each year who demonstrates particular generosity and integrity in support of the overall comic book community.

Giordano received recognition in the industry for his work, including the Alley Award for Best Editor in 1969. He won the Shazam Award for Best Inker (Dramatic Division) in 1970 (for Green Lantern), 1971, 1973 (for Justice League of America), and 1974. He won the 1971 Goethe Award for "Favorite Pro Editor." Giordano received an Inkpot Award in 1981. In 2009 he was awarded the Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award.

My favorite anecdote of Dick Giordano, is from Karen Berger (from the book “The British Invasion: Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison”) about Grant Morrison’s thick Glaswegian accent.

“When I first met Grant, I was with Dick Giordano and Jenette Khan. I had set up appointments pretty much every hour with different writers and artists in this suite that we had rented to meet people, and Grant was the last person we saw on one of the days. And Dick Giordano was very hard of hearing... he wore two hearing aids and when Grant came in, Grant started talking and [Giordano] just took off his hearing aids and left the room. He couldn’t even read his lips.”

Dick Giordano is a legend, but he is in this list because of his work on “Camelot 3000″, “Tales of the Teen Titans”, “Vigilante” and “Crisis on Infinite Earths”.

NUMBER ONE TATJANA WOOD (1926 - PRESENT)

Tatjana Wood (née Tatjana Weintraub, in Darmstadt, Germany) is an American artist and comic book colorist.

Tatjana's father was Jewish, and her mother was Christian. During World War II, she and her brother, Karl Joachim Weintraub, were sent to an international Quaker boarding school in the Netherlands. Gaining Dutch citizenship was not easy, so after World War II, the Quakers arranged for the two to travel to New York City in 1947. Karl went on to the University of Chicago, while Tatjana stayed in New York, attending the Traphagen School of Fashion. In 1949, she met Wally Wood, and they married August 28, 1950.

During the 1950s and 1960s, she sometimes made uncredited contributions to Wood's artwork. One of the stories she worked on was "Carl Akeley" in EC Comics' Two-Fisted Tales #41 (February–March 1955). She did a number of animal drawings for that story.

Later, beginning in 1969, she did extensive work for DC Comics as a comic book colorist. She was the main colorist for DC's covers from 1973 through the mid-1980s. Wood did coloring work on the interiors of comics as well, including Grant Morrison's acclaimed run on Animal Man, Alan Moore's issues of Swamp Thing, and Camelot 3000. She won the Shazam Award for Best Colorist in 1971 and 1974. Tatjana has had no significant credits in the comics industry since 2003.

She is also a skilled dressmaker and weaver, who has crafted theatrical costumes and pictorial loom tapestries.

Tatjana's brother Karl died March 25, 2004. He was a distinguished scholar at the University of Chicago and the author of two books, Visions of Culture: Voltaire-Guizot-Burckhardt-Lamprecht-Huizinga-Ortega y Gassett (1966) and The Value of the Individual: Self and Circumstance in Autobiography (1978).

Tatjana Wood has been mostly uncredited for most of her career. It is only thanks to interviews and reprints that we know of her work on many essential books, like the original Swamp Thing volume.

She made it into this list because of her work on “Swamp Thing” and “Camelot 3000″.

There were more artists that didn’t make it to the top 10, but were considered: Bob Oksner, Bruce D. Patterson, Tom Ziuko, Tom McCraw, Alfredo Alcala, Mike DeCarlo, Joe Rubinstein, Klaus Janson, Malcolm Jones III, Norm Breyfogle (for both lists) and Steve Oliff.

Being an inker or a colorist in comics can be an ungrateful job. But they mean a lot to certain artists. It is not the same to be inked by Romeo Tanghal or by Mike Royer. And because most of these artists had permanent contracts with their publishers, they ended up growing up in the industry. To all of them, thanks for the comics!

#2019 #artists #inker #colorist #comics #review #tatjana wood #dick giordano #terry austin #adrienne roy #anthony tollin #brad anderson #glynis wein #glynis oliver #lynn varley #romeo tanghal #john higgins

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primary-colour-hair · 6 years

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Academy Director, Educator, Assessor, Master Colourist, Hairdresser & Photographer, these are some of the accolades of SRH & Master Craftsman Loretta O’Connell who has been a State Registered Hairdresser for over 15 years and a qualified stylist for 30 years. Despite living & working overseas for half of her career she actively maintains her Wella Master Colour Expert status and State Registered Hairdresser & Master Craftsman status. She is an advocate for continuing education, mandatory licensing & registration for the hairdressing & barbering industry.

During her extensive career she has grown her skills & knowledge internationally working as a stylist & educator in Bermuda for over 7 years and is currently The Education & Academy Director at the prestigious ARROJO Academy & ARROJO Cosmetology schools owned by celebrity stylist Nick Arrojo in NYC where she has lived for over 10 years.

ARROJO Cosmetology School recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary early 2019 and Loretta shared these snippets & photos with us.

Congratulations on 10 years of ARROJO Cosmetology School, how was the party?

Thanks! The party was amazing, it was a full house of staff, graduates, students, friends and hairstylists past, present & future. The energy was fantastic and the graduate presentation was inspiring; for many of them it was their first time presenting on stage so there was lot of love in the room for them. Nick gave a speech and got several key staff up on the stage to say a few words including me.

Tell us, how did you manage to get such a great job in NYC?

I always wanted to live in New York City since I first visited in 1995. I did tons of research and visited several times a year while living in Bermuda (1996-2003) and spoke to many salon owners, product companies and educators to gather knowledge and find the best companies around. Nick’s name kept coming up and everyone had such good things to say about him and the brand so I applied.

Timing is everything and he was already very focused on education as part of the brand and was looking to start a Cosmetology School where students could come to learn their craft and become licensed (qualified) I had teaching experience and my eagerness came across in my lengthy application and supporting documentation, plus we both come from the North of England and have a similar background so it seemed like a good fit for both.

I owe my greatest success to Nick for taking a chance on me to create and grow his school & education culture and trusting me to run with it, thankfully it worked out very well for both of us!

Did you write the programs for the school?

I got the school licensed & accredited, wrote all of the Cosmetology & Barbering fundamental & advanced curriculums in cutting, colouring, styling & American Wave, hired & trained all of the staff and created all of the systems. As this was a first for the brand I had to research outside sources & organisations to build myself a team of mentors to guide, help and support me as I am responsible for every aspect of the school to the outside sources that allow the school to open & operate. Nick has a very clear vision on where he wants his school to go, how it should run and standards to uphold so it gave me a blueprint to work from. It was and continues to be the biggest learning experience of my life and I am amazed at the snippets of information I have filed away over the last 10 years.

What do you love most about New York?

I love the vibrancy & energy generated by NYC plus it is the epic centre of fashion, beauty and creativity so there is no better place to be involved in the hair industry than here. I am also a photographer so it is the perfect backdrop for capturing inspiring shots and wandering aimlessly during weekends.

Bermuda, wow how was that?

It was an amazing experience. I made some of my best friends there who are still great friends today. Hairdressing is completely different there due to the semi tropical climate and intense heat. Products react differently in high humidity so less is more, most colour services are colour correction due to the sun and the first question I asked my clients was “do you ride a bike?” (moped) as the hair needed to be either short enough to sit under the helmet or long enough to tie up, no in-between lengths! I learned to work with different hair types & textures and the true meaning of running out of colour when there was none to be found on the island!

10 years is quite an achievement, looking back how was it?

I cannot believe it has been 10 years as at times it still feels brand new but then I look at how much the school has grown and the successes of the graduates and I can’t imagine it ever not being there. I have learned so much about topics I had no idea I needed to know about.

The graduates are my proudest moments and every day I am thankful for the amazing students who have come through the doors and trusted us for their education. I see many graduates daily as they are now part of the ARROJO Studio team (ARROJO Studio has 3 salons in NYC offering professional services for over 18 years) and to see them progress from assistant to stylist and eventually educator is truly a testament to an intense fundamentals education and working immersed in a strong education culture with structure, growth & opportunity

It didn’t happen by chance though and my strong education background meant I knew there had to be rules, regulations and discipline to create a structure for progression, growth, accountability & success. Maintaining standardization as the team & facilities grown ensures I have to continuously find new ways to connect with my team, inspire & educate them and provide opportunities for growth while holding them accountable professionally.

The school started off with a team of 2 including me and is now a 2 school facility with over 20 full time talented, enthusiastic staff & access and support from over 100 licensed stylists in 3 salons. We are proud to offer employment to so many staff in a variety of roles, have 3 fantastic salons to offer consideration for employment options to high achieving graduates plus a network of over 500+ salons as a career option for graduates depending upon what they are looking for.

You won an Award recently, tell us about that?

I was awarded the Women Making Waves Award for my contribution to the industry and my photograph is displayed in the ARROJO Tribeca Heroes Hallway alongside Nick’s industry Heroes & Mentors such as Vidal Sassoon, Horst Rechelbacher, Vivienne Mackinder, Annie Humphries and more, it is a huge honour and I am eternally grateful for the amazing opportunities my career has allowed me and proud to play such a pivotal role at ARROJO.

How different is American hairdressing education than British?

American hairdressers need a license to practice and work towards a final state board written & practical exam upon graduation whereas British hairdressers work towards a qualification through continuous assessment.

Every state has different requirements for topics taught, guided learning hours to be clocked and criteria for completion. In New York a Cosmetology student must clock 1000 hours of learning (8 months) covering 13 different topics and pass a written & practical exam to obtain a license to work as a hairdresser. A salon is not allowed to employ anyone to touch the hair without a license therefore even shampoo assistants need to be licensed.

I worked in a local, well-known salon from the age of 16 and went to college for 2 years when I was training and felt like a “real hairdresser” when I was qualified. I then worked as an assistant for a further 12 months before being full time on the salon floor by the age of 19. I worked there for a total of 10 years and am ever Thankful for aspiring to work at quality salons that value ongoing training.

I believe that the status of being qualified (or licensed) gives a stylist a level of quality to continually aspire to meet and exceed which is why I believe in mandatory registration to uphold & maintain standards and for quality assurance.

What is next for the ARROJO Brand?

ARROJO has been around as a brand for almost 20 years and is well known & respected throughout North America as an education brand, product company, quality brand salon and for extensive skills in razor cutting. Since I joined the team over 10 years ago the number of salons has tripled from 1 to 3, the team has more than doubled in size, there are 3 product lines within the brand and plans for growth across all aspects. Safe to say there is never a dull moment, always something happening and always opportunity for growth.

And what is next for you?

I am working on training up a team of Directors to manage all aspects of running 2 schools and expanding the team to meet the demands of a growing school facility with teaching & support team to allow me to focus on other educational aspects of the brand.

The Advanced Education market is changing with the popularity of online education plus ARROJO now has multiple distributors who service the 500+ ARROJO Ambassador accounts across the USA to provide product & education. Currently the ARROJO Studio salon staff education team travel to multiple states on a weekly basis to teach InSalon classes & events, we are in the process of also growing an Art team from our Ambassador Salons to offer more opportunities, more local education and brand growth while maintaining quality and standards.

Personally I am also growing my photography brand to supply images to independent consumers and local businesses.

www.picturethisphotographynyc.com

Thanks for chatting today Loretta, Congrats again, here’s to the next 10 years!

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beautytipsdubai · 3 years

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15 Easy Summer Beauty Tips for Women living in Dubai

In Summer your eyeshadow becomes a greasy pool in your eyelid creases, your hair falls flat or frizzes to a crisp, and your hair color features a bent to look like mud against your tan.

But have no fear, there are fixes to all or any or any of your summer beauty woes. to remain looking your best, add these tricks to your summer beauty arsenal.

It's All About the Skin.

Don't plan to take an excessive amount of makeup. Any makeup artist will tell you the key to flawless beauty isn't about the "perfect eye" or the "perfect lip," it's all about even skin tone. this is often often very true within the nice and cozy summer months once you naturally want to wear less makeup.

Get your skin in shape and you'll find you'd like less makeup. Here are some tips:

If your skin is uneven, blotchy, or pimply, get thee to the dermatologist and figure it out. Don't plan to solve your skin problems yourself. Lasers are wonderful. they're going to fix red lines and completely, totally rejuvenate your skin. Keep your face shielded from the sun. this means SPF of a minimum of 40, preferably higher. And wear a hat when at the pool or the beach. Reapply often. Pick the right Self-Tanner I once saw the gorgeous model Helena Christensen within the West Village. First I assumed , "Oh look, there's Helena! we are an equivalent height!" Then I assumed , "Oh my. Helena's a victim of the orange, splotchy, bad self-tanner legs." I've seen quite few orange women wandering around lately , a shame considering there are numerous great self-tanners on the market that look super natural.

Keep Your Makeup From Melting Off Your Skin For years I watched helplessly as my eyeshadow melted into my eyelid crease by the middle of the day. Then I discovered primers, which may keep eye makeup in place for hours, including through workouts, days at the beach, and humid, summer nights.

One other tip: skip the pencil eyeliners for summer and opt instead for a liquid liner, which won't budge because the day wears on. As for mascara, waterproof mascara could also be an excellent bet.

The Four Makeup Items to Embrace Summer days means you'll escape with less makeup. For the freshest, most natural-looking face, embrace these four beauty items:

Fake eyelashes. There's nothing quite so alluring as a natural face destitute of makeup, but with long lashes and lip gloss. Skip the mascara which can run and inspect fake lashes instead. Either get them done professionally or apply your own with strips or individual lashes. Ardell 301s are the proper fake lashes. A light, pink lip gloss. plump up lips with slightly of color and gloss. the only because of do this is to urge tinted gloss. Bronzer. Since you're keeping your face out of the sun, you'll add a touch little bit of color with bronzers. Brush bronzer on where the sun would naturally hit: your forehead, cheeks, and nose. BB cream. an honest BB cream provides everything you'd like in one dollop of product: sunscreen, tint, and anti-aging properties. What you'll Skip in Summer You likely have your beauty routine that you've got had forever. But there are some changes you'll make in summer. Here are a few of of them:

Don't over exfoliate as you'd possibly in winter. Exfoliating removes the very best layers of the skin, making it extra susceptible to sunburn. Try to not shampoo daily. Instead, use a dry shampoo to require in any extra oils. Your hair goes to be healthier. No need for a crucial moisturiser in summer. a light-weight one will do one better. Instead of tanning your face, use bronzer. Your 50-year-old self will many thanks a few of years down the road. Don't Be frightened of Shine Dewy skin is gorgeous. Don't over-powder your face because you're afraid it's a grease pit. Instead, try blotting papers.

Foundation Is Out, Tinted Moisturiser Is In If you refuse to travel bare in summer and can't imagine life without your foundation, consider putting away your foundation for the season and trying a tinted moisturiser. I'm warning you, you'll never return to your old foundation.

Lighter than foundation, tinted moisturiser still covers flaws but feels less "cakey." And while foundations can feel as if they're melting off your face, tinted moisturizers won't.

Most women are darker in summer, so if you enforce using your foundation, consider one shade for summer and a lighter one for winter. My favourite tinted moisturiser is Laura Mercier, which contains SPF.

Go for a Bold nail polish If you're flaunting your toes everywhere this summer, then consider painting your nails a fun, bright color. Bold colors like hot pink or bright orange are especially popular this summer and appear great on most skin types.

When choosing your summer shade, consider your sandals. I plan to stick with my light pink -- anything brighter clashes with my favourite summer shoes. Sigh.

Wax Your Bikini Line Wax, don't shave, your bikini line. Shaving can cause razor bumps and annoying red rashes, whereas waxing gets the hair off and keeps it off for for much longer . It's simply a cleaner and easier look for summer.

Keep Your Thighs From Chafing With Antiperspirant Try this trick. i actually wish to stop your thighs from chafing: apply antiperspirant to your inner thighs. this might keep your thighs from sweating and causing a red rash. you'll also use a sports glide product on your thighs.

Embrace, Don't Fight, the weather Humidity can wreak havoc on curly and straight hair. But instead of fighting the weather this summer, plan to embrace them. Curly hair is usually gorgeous in summer. Slather on the leave-in conditioner and pull curls back during a loose bun. prevent the frizz with a product like PhytoPlage Protective Sun Veil after a shower or swim. Your curls are getting to be protected, but they're going to not frizz up.

If you've straight hair, put away your flat iron. Super-straight hair "doesn't say summer," says stylist Mark Townsend in Harper's Bazaar magazine. Instead, let hair dry naturally. Most hair has some wave in it, and beachy waves like these never leave favour .

If you're near an ocean, get in it. Salt water has wonderful effects on all hair types. You'll love the planning once your hair has dried.

Colored Hair Needs Protecting The sun, salt, and chlorine will turn colored hair all types of untamed colors. Protect your investment by rinsing hair with water before going into chlorinated water or salt water. The dry cuticle will absorb water, but if it's wet, it won't, thus protecting hair from the salt and chlorine.

Protect hair from the sun by wearing a hat or coating hair with a protector like Fekkai Sun Shine Shield Spray. You can get Home Beauty Services as well.

Blah Hair? Get Thee to the Colourist Nothing shows off a tan better than highlights. Plus, colour can add body to fine, limp hair.

When choosing a summer colour, persist with natural colours. The sun will naturally lighten hair, so you are doing not want to visit an extreme.

Got black or brown hair? Consider caramel highlights or choose an all-over hair colour a shade or two lighter than your current colour. I suggest getting hair professionally coloured or doing it yourself with a store-bought box. But beware the old juice trick you almost certainly did in junior high: juice will naturally lighten hair, but it is also wickedly drying.

Pull Hair Off Your Face Keep reducing your neck with headbands, ballerina bands, ponytails, loose buns or even kerchiefs. All are gorgeous looks for summer.

Don't Forget to protect Your Other Parts Studies show while most women know to put sunscreen on their faces, they skip their chests, hands and necks. Their faces age well, but nothing else does. Who wants to possess 80-year-old hands and a 60-year-old face? My advice: once you apply sunscreen, take a couple of minutes to slather it on your check and neck. Use whatever's leftover on your hands.

It's important to use sunscreen a couple of times throughout the day. One application within the morning won't necessarily last a full 12 hours.

#beauty #beautytips #dubainight #dubai #makeup #home salon #beauty salon

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realtimecollaborativeeditingogkb · 4 years

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Most Popular Post Production Editing Software 2018

Who does what in pre-production?

The editor should make their own notes about each shot, regardless of the notes in the camera log. This can describe capturing from a solid state (SSD)media card and may involve transcoding a proprietary codec to another format that is more palatable and easier to work with.

Eva Contis is a New Orleans-based filmmaker and a Commercial Director at WAFilms with over 13 years of industry experience. Before long she became an Assistant Editor, then a Post-production Supervisor. That makes such a production even more multi-layered and complex to plan and execute.

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Are movies getting longer?

Part (but not all) of the reason why top-grossing movies have a longer average run time is that there is a great number of extremely long outliers. 10% of top-grossing movies are longer than 140 minutes, compared with just 96% of all movies in cinemas.

The downside to working natively, is that even with a fast machine, performance can be sluggish. This is magnified when dealing with a large quantity of footage, such as a feature film or other long-form projects. The native clips in your editing project are encumbered by the overhead of 4K compressed camera files. We had been pretty clean – editing on mostly video track 1 throughout – but we had alternative shots and some checkerboarding of video tracks, as well as matchframe cuts.

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The metadata, which is the shot/take number, size of the shot, will be checked. Production sound is synced, script supervisors notes recorded using software such as Continuity. Assistant editors need to be precise and methodical when working with the amount of data generated from a feature film, the file systems and rigorous backing up requires close attention to detail. Members of the post-production team (including post producers, editors, sound designers, colourist and the VFX supervisor) are engaged to some extent in pre-production. Post-production supervisors work in close collaboration with the film's producers, production/line manager and VFX supervisor if that is a component, they take the reins from the production office a few weeks post production workflow adobe after wrap.

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It is intended for internal scrutiny and not for general release. Often color correction will need to be performed for the release print.

What is post production script?

This includes tasks such as the editing of raw footage to cut scenes, insert transition effects, working with voice and sound actors, and dubbing, to name a few of the many pre-production tasks. Post-production is the third and final step in film creation. It follows the pre-production and production phases.

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By choosing a rough music track early on, you can edit the piece to work with the musical selection. allowing sharing so other team members have access to the editing project if needed. This approach organizes the process of improving dialogue in your film and makes sure that actors’ time is maximized while they’re recording. Organizing footage early on helps ensure that your project will be delivered on time. The film’s editor has to understand your vision in order to accurately organize the footage you share with them.

So it is just a small little film and I was just like that was really, really cool I was able to do that, but that trailer was being seen and gaining the interest so keep it, take it very seriously about shooting or about editing a trailer. Hire a professional trailer a trailer editor who understands how to sell movies if you have the money hire a trailer producer and have them actually write a script for the trailer. Enjoyed Post Production Process – Understand It or Suffer the Consequences? If you need help with understandingpost-production workflowor need toconsult a professional post supervisorclick here. After the preparation of the edited movie, there is a need to improve the sound quality.

Who is involved in post production?

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filmpostproductionworkflowxeun87 · 4 years

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The major difference is that, when an editorial team is working together in the same office, they work off of a single set of shared files. The assistants need to be able to see what the editor has been working on, and vice versa. In a traditional workflow, if schedules are tight, the editor may have two separate in-person meetings, one with the director and another with the producer, who may give conflicting feedback. With asynchronous feedback, different reviewers can leave their comments project manager at different times, which is often even more important than distributed feedback. Many teams use Frame.io for review and feedback even though the editors and reviewers are in the same building.

What is pre and post production?

â€œThat's a wrap!â€ When a movie director makes the call, cameras stop rolling, and a film is ready to move into its final phase: postproduction. This the final step in taking a story from script to screen, and the stage when a film comes to life.

Start doing a rough cut and put all your selected clips in the timeline ; try not to digress from your script at this time. If you are unable to decide the shots put all angles right now in the time line. 5.Create Bins in the project fileStart ingesting footage into the project and appropriate bins and label footage. Do not use import function in Premiere use the media browser function on the project panel.

Description of Film Post-Production Jobs

This is why a clear workflow can help teams keep projects on track. There is no room for excuses such as â€œI didnâ€™t know it was my responsibilityâ€ or â€œThatâ€™s not my jobâ€ â€“ things Iâ€™ve heard many times when working with clients. With a defined workflow, everyone who helps plan, create, and publish the content knows the process and how their individual tasks fit into it. While this is mostly just a glib line, it does reflect a wider belief in the industry that longer movies cost more to make than short ones. This stands to reason because for each minute of screentime you need to have the script written, sets built, costumes made, cast/crew hired, enough film stock / hard drives, editing time, etc.

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â€ Everyoneâ€™s time is valuable and what kind of effort and dedication would I get by asking for freebies from these talented individuals. I like to take my time and do this manually so nothing funky happensâ€¦which is always possible with automated processes.

Sound design, sound effects, ADR, foley, and music, culminating in a process known as sound re-recording or mixing with professional audio equipment. Introduction to the Video Production Workflow is an activity-based syllabus that teaches project management, design, and technical skills for video production using Adobe tools.

Is editing post production?

In the industry of film, videography, and photography, post production editing, or simply post-production, is the third and final step in creating a film. It follows pre-production and production and refers to the work, usually editing, that needs to be completed after shooting the film.

Joined by our primary VFX supervisor Ben Kadie, we developed a plan to address the impact of VFX on 100-plus shots in our film.

Any number of workspaces can be created and can be assigned to individuals or entire teams.

But you will have the ability to leave time-stamped feedback, which makes it much easier for video professionals to interpret and implement requested changes.

Since they are the final stage of production, they are under huge pressure to make deadlines on time. Therefore, this can be a very stressful job and many may have to work nights or weekends close to deadlines. If you work as a post producer, you may spend significant amounts of time working on the computer in a dark room.

Lastly, the way that you transfer files from one location to another can take the form of traditional FTP, web-based transfer services, P2P (peer-to-peer) applications, or dedicated accelerated transfer utilities. If your film is to be shown at a film festival with 5.1 surround sound as well as online, you may want to request a separate mix for each. In addition, while film festivals may offer 5.1 surround, they rarely require it.

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What are the 8 elements of film?

Post-Production is the stage after production when the filming is wrapped and the editing of the visual and audio materials begins. Post-Production refers to all of the tasks associated with cutting raw footage, assembling that footage, adding music, dubbing, sound effects, just to name a few.

The footfall and cup clinking the sound assistant and trainee worked so hard to prevent during production are replaced in post under controlled conditions, so that dialogue can remain clean. SFX (sound effects) will work in conjunction with VFX to accentuate any of the creations, explosions or animation they produce, bringing it to life on the screen. The colourists complete the all-important grade, also known as the colour correction process.

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Many editors will argue that you should edit a piece without music first, and only add the music in at the very end. This advice usually comes from editors who have backgrounds in narrative filmmaking. However, in science and natural history programming, unlike fiction filmmaking, most scenes are built by the mood â€“ a combination of the music and the visuals.

When working on your CV check it through (or ask someone else to) to see it reads well and is correctly formatted. Correct spelling and grammar are crucial; you have to stand out from the hundreds of other people applying for the role so silly errors will mean your CV automatically gets disregarded. Post-production companies are always looking for keen new entrants to take on the role of runner. If you look at the larger companies, the turnover of staff can be very high, not because people drop out but because progression can be quick for the right candidate. However, you should know if your dream job is working in production then working in post production isnâ€™t for you.

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But if the audio isnâ€™t up to snuff, the whole project can be negatively affected. Therefore, itâ€™s very important to pass the video file along to an audio professional after youâ€™ve approved the final cut.

Good understanding of color and sound processes, roundtripping for color and soundmix. With these best practices and this workflow to start from, you should be well-equipped to perform in the present and adapt to whatever future may come. The final step in this video production workflow is to drag your captions file into Premiere Pro and position it over the video.

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