The Colorful Mr. Balke

Posted at 9:15 p.m. - Wednesday, July 8

Jeff Balke is a local artist who has pioneered the technique of 'sketch coloring', a process that has made him a popular fellow in artists' alley at comic conventions.  Jeff took some time to explain what 'sketch coloring' is, where the idea came from and what's involved in creating these unique covers:

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Geek To Me: Ok Jeff, tell me, what exactly are "Sketch Colorings"?



Jeff Balke: Well, let me give you an example.  If someone were to bring me the Green Lantern #36 (sketch cover) and they wanted only the Red Lantern colored on the cover, I would color just the Red Lantern.  Or I would color whatever pops in my mind (which is usually the case) to make that cover stand out.  This is my way of creating a “sketch”.

Geek To Me: How did you come up with this idea?

Jeff Balke: At Wizard World Chicago (2008) I had a young fan approach me at my table and ask for a sketch.  No problem.  But then he wanted it colored (he saw I’m a colorist).  I looked at my markers around me and I only had the black and silver Sharpies for signing and sketching.  He was ok with that, but I felt bad.  So I was playing with a comic book sketch cover at my table I picked up at the convention and started coloring black and silver shadows and highlights on the cover of the actual book.  This is when I thought of "Sketch Coloring" but didn’t come up with the name yet at this point.

It’s something different, something unique.  The fans can bring me any sketch cover of any book and get it colored by me right on the spot!  Then they can take home that “Sketch Coloring” and say they have an ORIGINAL!  Original because no 2 will ever be the same (even if I colored the same cover 200 times).

Geek To Me: When did you create your first “Sketch Coloring”?

Jeff Balke: When I had a little down time at the (Wizard World) show, I walked around and checked out some sketch covers of comics (Secret Invasion was big then) and picked some up for myself.  I think I picked up 4-5.  So when I got home, I took the few Prisma Color markers I had and started coloring on the actual covers.  The first issue I colored on was Secret Invasion #2 (sketch cover variant).  Luckily I had all the colors for that character I colored.  After I saw what the cover looked like after it was “Sketch Colored”, I loved it!  I only colored one of the characters (Hawkeye) on the cover out of 2 of them.  This made the cover STAND OUT and really POP!

Geek To Me: What's next?

Jeff Balke: I was asked to color an 8 page “dream sequence” in a comic.  That’s AWESOME!!  This will be the debut of Sketch Colorings in a comic!  There's more info to come on the comic.

Since Wizard World Chicago '08, I’ve been creating all kinds of different Sketch Colorings for fans all over the country and even the world!  They first debuted at a convention at Wizard World Texas 2008!  That weekend I created 109 Sketch Colorings.  That was great!!  Even Max Brooks (author of Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z) approached me and liked the Sketch Coloring I did on the preview book of Zombie Survival Guide (I created a couple different versions for him).

I'll be at Wizard World Chicago 2009 too!  Come visit me and I'll create a sketch coloring for you too!

Geek To Me: Where can people see more examples of your work?

Jeff Balke: To check out some of the Sketch Coloring I’ve created for myself and fans, I have them posted on Myspace, my website and FaceBook (including a FAN GROUP on FaceBook).  So it’s pretty safe to say I’ll be creating these from now on anywhere I go.  And THANK YOU to everyone who made this happen.

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Jeff will be appearing at Graham Cracker Comics on Wednesday, July 15th to help promote the DC Comics event 'Blackest Night' from 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm.