I’m happysad to announce that I’m looking for a new colorist for Evil Inc. I’m sad because Evil Inc’s original colourist, Ed Ryzowski, has been an integral part of my comic for seven years. His work has been nothing short of routinely amazing. I’m happy because Ed is moving on to do exciting, rewarding work — a creator-owned property (Season of the S.H.A.R.K.S.) that has tons of potential. And if working on Evil Inc helped to speed along that process, then I’m extremely proud to see him launch something like this. So, starting in January, I’m going to be looking for a new colorist for Evil Inc. If you’re interested, you can scroll down. But first, allow me a little nostalgia.

Ed Ryzowski

Our story starts in January 2008. During a recording of  Episode 22 of the Webcomics Weekly podcast, each of us expressed how we’d love to see our comics in color — although none of us felt we had the extra time (nor, in some cases, the expertise) to do it well. Shortly, after that episode aired, I recieved an e-mail from Ed Ryzowski offering to color the strips. He was looking to establish himself as a comics colorist, and working on a daily strip seemed like a good way to hone his skills quickly. We worked out a pay scale, and on February 18, 2008, Evil Inc appeared for the first time in color. [randcomic slug=new-evil-inc-hq size=large] Ed has been adding his masterful touch to my work every day ever since. And, after working on my strip for a while, he started to add other credits to his name — he became the colourist for The Gutters,  Looking for Group, Captain Ultimate and others. And this month, he clinched a successful Kickstarter for his own creator-owned title, Season of the S.H.A.R.K.S. My favorite thing about working with Ed? Besides his proficiency as a colourist and his overall professionalism, I’d have to say this: I never had to write the guy a note. He knew what had to be done, and he did it — expertly. I’d sneak a freaking deep-catalog mainstream comics cameo into a background and he’d catch it every time — nailing the colors perfectly. It wasn’t a test, mind you. Ed and I established a relationship early on in which I gave him complete ownership over the colors of my strip. (How complete? I found out that Desdemona had green hair after he colored her. And her hair’s been green ever since.) If he had chosen different colors for that background cameo, I’d have been just as happy. It was like an unspoken game that we played. And Ed never lost. Take this for example… [randcomic slug=with-this-ring-green-lantern-3 size=large] Anybody could have spotted Sinestro and Romat Ru (Tomar-Re’s fellow Xudarian). But Ed nailed the Lyssa Drak cameo in the background. That’s a sign of a dedicated comics colourist. Or a misspent childhood. Or both. 🙂 My only complain about Ed? I always run out of superlatives when I try to describe him.

The new Evil Inc colorist

I realize it’s short notice. And I’m perfectly comfortable with the fact that some (or all) of January’s strips may appear at first in black-and-white on the site. I didn’t want to announce this during Ed’s Kickstarter for fear of stealing the focus away from Ed’s new project. If you think you’re qualified to color Evil Inc, please get in touch. (You can also e-mail me using brad (at) evil-inc (dot) com.) My preference would be someone who is familiar with preparing images for print publication (since the comics appear in newspapers as well as the printed graphic novels). This is a paid position.