Accidental Prettiness

Panel in progress from Stickleback, for 2000AD
Stickleback was created by Ian Edginton and me, and is copyright © 2006 Rebellion/2000AD

Stickleback is a black & white strip, but I use colour as part of the production process. I draw everything in Adobe Illustrator in "pencil" first (mid-grey outlines), then add blocks of bright, solid colour behind the "pencil" lines. In Photoshop, I use these blocks of colour to create what are called selections - users of Photoshop or similar applications will be familiar with the concept, but for the uninitiated, these blocks of solid colour can be masked or "fenced off," so I can either fill them with textures or paint inside them without going outside the lines.

I hardly think about these "false colour" images - to me they're just a stage in the process, a means to an end - so it took my belovèd, the eagle-eyed Dr.F, to point out how pretty they can be in their own right. Since then, I've taken to doing them in colour combinations that please the eye, but it wasn't till today that I made one where I thought, "it's a shame this can't see print as it is."

But it can - here, at least.