Both amateur and professional artists have explored the computer as a creative tool. The creation of CAD (Computer Aided Design) software allows architects, engineers and 3D artists to visualize and manipulate the objects or spatial environment they are designing. Moreover, the program allows artists to skew virtual reality, realistic rendering, 3D and behavioral modeling elements to impact the perception of designs ranging from architectural blueprints to animation cels. The ability to create computer graphics and effects has changed the advertising, art, design and multimedia industry. Digitally created and enhanced images have altered the art gallery. Even on the newsstand we see evidence of how computers have affected the pictures we see, the words we read. Computers have changed our pop art as well, modifying the course of animation early on and more recently affecting the creation of another visual art form, the comic book.

A comic with a new dimension. © Digital Broome.

It's Not New
Shatter (June, 1985) was the first computer-generated comic book. Published by First Comics, Inc., it was created by Mike Seanz and Peter Gillis initially, with Charlie Athanas taking the artistic reins from issue 8 until its conclusion. "The artwork was created from the ground up on a MacPlus with 1MB of RAM and a couple of 3.5 floppy drives," states Charlie Athanas, artist and President Burning City, Inc., on his Web site (http://burningcity.com). "The pages were created in black and white, printed and then colored in the traditional manner. It was not until the last couple of issues that I was able to get a stylus and tablet. Prior to that, it was 28 pages of artwork, every two months, using a mouse to draw with."

A few years later, Pepe Moreno's Batman: Digital Justice was at the forefront of the movement to combine the art of comic books with computer technology. Created in 1990 using a Macintosh II, the book was created with the help of 3D modeling, Raster and Vector painting and drawing programs, page layout and story telling. The system it was produced on was an 8 bit/32 bit color board, a system palette of 16,000,000 possible colors, 8MB of RAM, a removable 45 MB hard disk drive and a Trinitron monitor.

Digital Broome helped create the richness of Image's Saffire issue 3. © Digital Broome.

"When I decided to pursue doing digital comic books, Batman Digital Justice is the book that stood out," says Mat Broome, artist and owner of Digital Broome Studios, San Diego (www.digitalbroome.com). "Not only did other efforts not include vector graphics, but there are so many dark tones to the book that gave it weight. I was amazed at what the artist, Pepe Moreno, could do then and I wonder what he would do with the technology we now have. There is some pretty amazing stuff out there."

A Way of Business
In today's computerized world, the machines that Pepe Moreno and Charlie Athanas worked on are akin to a fossil in a museum. Today's more powerful computers are not only stepping in with comics production but artists are working with sophisticated animation and modeling tools to draw both characters and backgrounds. This new digital artist is tasked with not only knowing how to draw, but also the ins and outs of digital technology.

Mat Broome worked with Jim Lee's Wildstorm studios in 1994 when he expressed an interest in learning the skills and acquiring the equipment in order to incorporate three-dimensional modeling tools into comic book creation. "Unfortunately they did not see the importance of it," explains Broome. "So I left and went to school on my own."