Mr. Layton,

I don’t really have any questions for you. At least-- not yet.
But I just wanted to say how excited I am to hopefully meet you next month at the Tampa Comic and Toy Convention! I grew up reading Iron Man and Spider-Man as a kid and those two have always been a mainstay in my collections growing up. I have to admit though that I’ve never really been one to keep up with who drew what, or wrote which story. I’ve just enjoyed them--from front cover to back. I was in Read More Comics on Hwy 60 ( in Brandon, FL) and the guy there told me how you come in from time-to-time and he asked if I had heard of you. I told him I recognized your name but I really didn’t know who you were. I remembered seeing you listed on the conventions website. Of course I felt bad so I looked up your website and instantly recognized the artwork. Talk about feeling like a schmuck!

Hope you can forgive my oversight. Recently I’ve decided to try my hand at coloring comics and I’m learning a lot. So I guess this brings me around to having a question now. Who would you recommend I read up on for coloring? Also who has been your favorite colorist that you have worked with? I recently purchased “Hi-Fi Color for Comics” and I’ve learned a lot from that book. I agree with one of your letters you answered (June 08 archive) about how coloring should help a story not just be filled with all the glowing orbs and special effects. I have about 8 years left till I can officially retire from the Air Force and, in the meantime, I’m planning on going to the Art Institute here and getting my degree so I can get better and, hopefully, color or illustrate full-time when I get out. Thank you for your time and your awesome artwork! Respectfully,

Todd A. Raymond, SSgt, USAF

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Dear Todd,

That question, although it took a while to get to, is very easy to answer!
My three favorite colorists are Moose Baumann (Legacy of Doom #1), Mike Cavallaro (Iron Man: The End), and, of course Colony’s own Ian Sokoliwski. Rather than go into one of my rants about state of coloring in the comics industry, I’ll simply tell you why someone like Mike Cavallaro stands heads above the competition. He’s not a computer operator!
He’s an ARTIST! He understands storytelling and the priorities that a cartoonist must have like creating depth, defining planes and creating mood and texturing. Mike has his own website and has done a variety of great works since the days he worked as my head colorist at Valiant. You can check out Mike’s website at: http://www.66thousandmilesperhour.com/
Learn all that you can, Todd…but remember that telling a story with the color is your #1 priority. I’m looking forward to seeing how you progress once you get started.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the Tampa Con this month, since I be out in Tinselown making headway on my multimedia projects. I’m sure I’ll catch you on the next go-around. Good luck!

Bob