Speaking of Color Guides...

 

(click for larger image). In my last blog post, I tried to explain the difference between how Lynn Varley colored The Dark Knight Returns to create camera-ready art, versus the traditional "color guides" used for many years in the comic book industry.  Above is an example of one such "guide".  This is a photocopy of the original black and white art (withe lettering added somewhere along the way).  This was hand colored - usually with markers or watercolors (this one is watercolor).  The colorist would then indicate the name of the color to be used to make the color printing plate.  For example, the flesh color on Sue's leg here says "Y2R2", which is apparently a flesh tone.  If you want to learn all about how THAT works, check this out: https://tinyurl.com/mr3v4u2x.  But it should be noted - these color guides were not meant to be camera-ready, nor were they ever reproduced for production - completely unlike the method Varley used.  By the way - if you want to see the original art for this piece, click HERE.