STEAL IT: Cliff Chiang's Catwoman: Lonely City

Don't actually steal it, but if you're an artist, here's what I recommend you imitate from this comic.

Hey, folks. Here’s a comic I picked up that’ll learn you something.

Cliff Chiang’s Catwoman: Lonely City features Selina Kyle being released from the clink in her mid-50s. She was there because people think she killed Batman in an event called “Fool’s Night” which also resulted in the deaths of Dick Grayson and the Joker.

A lot’s changed. A reformed Harvey Dent (albeit, still looking like Two-Face) is the mayor. A re(?)-disabled Barbara Gordon is running to unseat him. Killer Croc is an overweight barfly with bad knees.

Some other cool stuff going on here — each issue is 50-ish pages, and it’s printed in that wide-set European magazine style.

Cliff is also the writer, artist, inker, colorist, all of it. You can see why I resonate with that, maybe.

What to steal

Cliff is an elite talent. If you’re an artist, there’s a lot you can learn from this book.

But my primary recommendation? Color pick this bitch.

If you, like me, love vivid, simple color schemes and struggle with things like lighting, mood, and saturation, this book is a master class and I straight up advise you to steal the shit out of it.

The first book alone has tons of great, simple daytime and nighttime color schemes:

And, a good number of bold, dramatic color schemes for big moments:

And quiet moments…

Steal that shit!

How to do it

If you’re reading this book digitally, you should be able to use a simple Google Chrome color picker to assemble your palette.

If you’re having trouble picking the right color out of the subtle gradients or your scan has some pixelation issues, here’s a trick I recommend with Clip Studio Paint.

Open the scan as a JPG in CSP, select Layer, New Correction Layer, and Posterization.

That’ll break it up into color blobs that are easier to pick from.

Tweak it however you like. If you want it brighter, darker, more saturated, less, etc., you can always set another Correction Layer on top of the posterized layer.

We thank you Cliff Chiang for this glorious bounty and pledge to use these powers for the good of mankind.