Fightin’ Flatsmen bio’s
It wasn’t long after we started preparation on The Uniques that we realized there was no way to do the book on our own. The biggest job we couldn’t do were the color separations or ‘Flats.’ Flats are the process of separating areas of color from each other in simple, flat tones. It separates hair from skin from clothing, shirts from pants from jackets, and so on. Having flats allows us as colorists to quickly and efficiently select each section of the page to color digitally. It is a time consuming process, but absolutely essential to the creation of the book.
If we had to do flats on our own, it would easily have added a month or more to every issue, and that just wasn’t acceptable. We needed help, and we needed it bad… but we were making this book out of pocket, with the only financing we had consumed entirely by our living expenses. We could pay for rent, but we couldn’t hire people to help with the comic. So, the call went out through the internet seeking folks to lend a hand, and the following brave souls answered the call.
Here’s a lesser-known secret: all coloring companies use people to do color separations. When you see the credits for a comic and they list one person’s name or a company’s title, what you don’t get to see are the names of the people who work diligently month in and out to get the flats done. We feel that’s a travesty! These people worked hard for us and made this comic possible, and are worthy of recognition. Say hello to our Fighting Flatsmen!
Joel Bartlett
(Issue #1, 3, 4)Joel is a student of ours and comes over every Saturday night to work with us while we teach him about anatomy, layout, sequential storytelling and the like. He has a huge love for the medium of comics has been a big fan of The Uniques ever since he met us a few years back. He took some time out to help us with the book and did a really nice job, making us so proud. With any luck he’ll be at college with scholarship money in his pocket this time next year - and he won’t have any time at all to work on our little comic because he’ll be so engrossed with his own stuff. Joel’s got a deviantART page, and it’s well worth a look. He’s a good kid.
doomedmarshmallow.deviantart.com
Johnny Bourlett
(Issue #1)We met Johnny at Wizard World Chicago in ‘07. He is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and to prove that he volunteered to help us with our flats. He’s a real pro, working for people like ATP where he’s also a flatter - and has a couple of books he’s written coming out: The Haggis, a comedic tale about a self indulgent quasi-hero, and Seven Swords, a fantasy story about seven unlikely companions who are forced to work together for their own survival. He, his wife, and six (that’s right, six!) kids live in southern California, and we hope to be able to see him at another convention sometime soon so we can thank him personally for being so good to us and helping us so much.
Damian Davis
(Issue #2, 3, 4)Damian is another person we met through Deviant Art. He’s been into comics since as long as he can remember. And he’s a huge fan of the artwork and the creativities of the comic world. He and a friend of his started to color back in 1999 and he’s been working to find the time to get better ever since then. And for him the process of doing color and separating flats is very relaxing and enjoyable. It’s his way of escaping the problems and stress around him. Comics have been a big part of his life and coloring makes him feel like he’s a part of that world. He’s the nicest sweetest guy and we are so thankful that he’s been able to help us so much! You can see Damian’s artwork at davisjes.deviantart.com
M. Jessica Hunsberger
(Issue #1, 2)Jessica is an honest-to-goodness professional Flatsman, who does color separation work for way professional people from independent publishers to the bigwigs on books like Ultimate Fantastic 4 and G.I. Joe. She’s primarily a stay-at-home mom (4 kids between ages 2 and 10 years, wow!) who loves the challenge of ironing out her skills and loves to see the progression of the piece from lines to final color. She’s done an amazing job for us and we are terribly happy to have her on-board.
Will Jones
(Issue #1, 2, 3, 4)Will is yet another of our students, and a member of our Private Lesson squad that comes over on Saturday. He’s is quite the talented young man and could go anywhere if he puts his mind to it. He was one of the people who read over the book for us early on, and liked Quake and Singe so much that we let him handle flatting their debut in issue 1. He’s got a lovely deviantART gallery that has an awesome picture of Singe he did for us in it, so get over there and see what’s what.
razarik.deviantart.com
Ron Kieser
(Issue #1, 2, 3, 4)Ron had never really done flats before working on The Uniques, but once he got the hang of it, he powered through like a pro! He’s a young guy, 22 years old, and lives out in Beaverton, Oregon with his fiancée Kim and his two cats, James and Toby. He’s loved comic books since he was little and his excitement and enthusiasm for The Uniques was a joy to us.
Ron owns a small Oregon-based game design company called Ronime Studios, and they are working hard towards their first game release, "dollhouse",” along with other projects such as "Exodus: Faded Spirits"” and "Draconis".” He’s got a deviantART page as well and we encourage you all to go pay him a visit and see his artwork.
ronime.deviantart.com
Frank Rapoza
(Issue #1, 2)Frank’s flats are crazy detailed. He always goes the extra mile, breaking our flats down to a level that makes our job a breeze. He’s got tenacity and humility that endeared him to us right away. He and his wife, Susie, have two boys Kimo & Keoni and live out in the land of Las Vagas where he works creating designs for Video Slot Machines. His art can be seen in many TV shows and Movies such as Las Vegas, The Sopranos and National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation among others. It’s all so fancy we wonder why the man takes time out from his busy schedule to help us out… but that’s just the kind of guy Frank is. Awesome. He’s got a few links, so make sure to go check out his work - it’s quite nice.
johnnyqwest.deviantart.com
www.comicspace.com/johnnyqwest
www.myspace.com/johnnyqwest
Krista Schuman
(Issue #1, 2, 3, 4)We met Krista waaaaay back when she first started taking art classes with us when she was a wee 12 years old. She’s now all of 18 and was responsible for the lion’s share of the pages in the first issue of The Uniques. She’s fun, sweet, and an amazing colorist herself. Go check out her deviantART gallery to see her stuff
kurisutachan.deviantart.com