Hey folks,
Next month marks the three year anniversary of my first published coloring gig! Time flies. Here are my page counts per year since then. (I think these are right!)
2011 - 37 pages
2012 - 42 pages
2013 - 144 pages
2014 (so far) - 258 pages
It was a slow burn to start! Haha...
I had a great time at Creative Con in Panama City on Saturday. I talked to some fans of the YouTube channel which was a lot of fun... actually the first time that's happened in "real life".
The coolest story of the weekend came from a student of my coloring course named Andrew who I met at the show. He was hired for his first coloring gig at Creative Con by one of the publishers there! He's been putting in a lot of hours working at improving, but I'm glad to have played a small part in helping to make that happen!
I'm so very proud of Andrew, and I'm glad he told me the story!
I didn't take many pictures, but here's a few shots I took after I set up and a few commissions.
Also, here's a picture of the BLAZING fast internet I had at the hotel Friday night... so much for getting some work done!
Eduardo is a student taking my coloring course. He shared this story with me, and it put a big grin on my face! I'm sharing on the blog here with his permission.
"I studied art when I was 12 years old back then in the days.
I learned to use real brushes like acrylic, watercolors oil, ink even some sculpting you name it. But for things of the destiny a moved out of my country and I stop practicing you know I got married raise kids and so on. Then at almost 50 my kids having their own life, I decided to retake my artistic side of me, and then I found almost everything is made in computer with different programs but still even thou it is challenging I wanted to learn this new way of making art, so I was looking for some one could teach me some coloring comic style.
looking on you tube some videos could give you some idea but there was something missing so that's when after so much research I found your website, after looking at your credentials
I gave you a chance and let me tell you, I'm really thankful of my decision because this is what I wanted, the way you're taking it step by step has taught me a lot. I really advise everybody to get your course, haven't gone through all of this but It is amazing. Thank you"
Check it out! Don't forget to check http://learn.comiccolor.com for my full coloring course.
Here's another quick vid on my layer setup. I'm basically making video answers to all my most common questions. :)
Lines by Mike Norton. Colors by me.
I'm very pleased to have moved my online coloring course right here to comiccolor.com! Thanks to my new friends at Thinkific for helping to make that happen.
It's still running at the introductory rate of $49. That's 15 comprehensive lessons with more coming soon at no additional cost. See the link above for details or visit learn.comiccolor.com for a free trial lesson on coloring with special effects!
I get the question more than any other, so I made a video to answer it!
Hey folks, I started a new series of tutorials on YouTube showcasing some tips and tricks or secrets or whatever you want to call them. Short videos... punchy... great for the YouTube attention span! Check them out here!
My online comic coloring course Coloring Comics with Photoshop has been online about six weeks now. The feedback so far has been great! I'll be adding some new videos to it soon (at no additional cost.) Check out some of the early reviews straight from some of my first students:
If you are looking for instruction on coloring comics, this is the course. Different techniques are discussed in depth and real world examples are given. Photoshop is the program used, but the techniques can be employed easily on other platforms, such as Painter or Manga Studio.
The course also has external links to other sources, such as more detailed videos on lighting, resources for practice, and where to find work as a colorist.
The lectures are very useful and informative. I plan to continue to reference them as I build my skills as a colorist.
If coloring comics is something you would like to do as a hobby or a profession, check out this course. - Jack J.
The instruction on these videos is great. Everything is explained clearly and demoed in real time. There is also downloads that go along with every lecture with things such as line art to color and pages to work on, but the one thing that has helped me out the most is the downloadable tool presets and the setup lesson for photoshop. I've been trying my hand at coloring for about 6 months and have been watching countless videos on Youtube trying to learn everything I can, but in the first 15 min of coloring after setting my photoshop up with the presets from this course everything finally made so much sense. I highly recommend this course - Andrew P.
This course was extremely helpful and informative. To anyone looking to improve their artwork in Photoshop (or a similar program) Give this course a try! - J. Christopher
No fluff, to the point. It teaches different rendering styles you see everyday in professional comics. I'm self taught photoshop artist and I guessed and had clues how to color comics. However is way different watching an experienced artist working and explaining his techniques. The course is very complete but not boring. - Erick S.
Loved the course! I learned a bit about this in my years of college but this was so much more in-depth. Truly what I was looking for :)
I will definitely be keeping an eye out for additional udemy courses by this instructor if he decides to make more, he's very well-spoken and I can tell he's got a lot more valuable information that's worth sharing :)! - Joel F.
So if you've enjoyed my tutorials on YouTube, or you've just stumbled in here and want to learn more about coloring, check out the course here: ColoringComics.com.
For more updated reviews, check out my more recent post here: http://www.comiccolor.com/blog/2015/7/9/survey-results-from-my-coloring-course
Talk soon!
K Michael Russell
Here's some shots from this week's show at 99 Issues in Mobile AL and Bombshell Comics in Hattiesburg MS!
I had a great time at the first SOPOCU Con! Looking forward to next year!
Black Mask has released the cover art for Critical Hit #1 and 2. The covers were drawn by my good friend Jonathan Brandon Sawyer, and colored by me!
Download it here! https://app.box.com/s/lhvbsik5300a7hicxn3q
www.previewsworld.com/Home/1/1/71/917?stockItemID=MAY140592
Ask your local shop to order it for you!
Here's a few sketches from this weekend's festivities! The Venom/Sonic sketch was drawn by Steven Butler and colored by me. Steven has drawn both characters' books in the past.
I'll have all of these for sale during Free Comic Book Day weekend!
Three Alarms Comics
Saturday, May 3
12pm to 6pm
15210 Lemoyne Blvd
Biloxi, MS 39532
and
99 Issues
Sunday, May 4
2pm to 6pm
5618 Old Shell Rd
Mobile, AL 36608
