I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore.

Dear Convention whose name will be spared,

Refusal of professional colorists to be listed as guests at your convention is extremely ignorant.

Your archaic view of creatives is part of what keeps jobs of this industry undervalued. Congratulations, you’ve officially locked out a great percentage of talented, friendly, hard working creatives who would originally have had great interest in attending your convention.

Your one sentence, “this is not a colorists thing”, was surely the most pigheaded and dismissive thing I’ve been told since I began professional coloring. This is a seriously small-minded view of the way things work. Let me explain why:

Colorists make or break a book: Colorists are extremely essential to the medium of colored comics. I don’t think I need to explain to most any fan, the value of a colorist like Laura Martin or Dave Stewart. Colorists create form for figures and their environments, mood, tone and “Effects” like, blurring, flares, glows, color holds, etc. If any of this is done badly or doesn’t give clarity to an artist’s work, the artwork fails.

Colorists are the unknown amazing backup singer who makes every track awesome BUT-Colorists are not compensated nearly as much as artists: Colorists, while paid in some instances very fairly, are never compensated even half of what the artist on the title is generally making. Colorists work because they love COMICS.

Colorists have no way to sell artwork or originals: On top of being paid less than an artist, colorists usually have no way to sell any of their original work they’ve done, making con appearances an important area of their self promotion where they get to see fans, sign comics, sell color sketches and possibly sell prints of their own work or paintings.

Colorists work hard to help get comic books in on time: Without colorists, comics wouldn’t get done, plain and simple. Artists, I hate to break it to you, run late. Colorists are forced to pick up their slack and if they take any pride in what they do, they’ll make sure it looks great and worth reading anyways with no fault or consequence usually delivered to the artist in anyway, because this is how comics work.

Every single person who works in comics: editors, any bullpen members, letterers, colorists, artists, writers -put a lot of hours in the work chair. They deserve to be recognized and at the very least, acknowledged as professionals and given the same respect and courtesy as other professionals.

Making a general sweep that NO colorist deserves to be at your show is a fine line you’ve drawn in the sand there. We’re happy to go to other shows, amazing shows like, Thought Bubble, Heroes, NYCC, ECCC, D.I.C.E where they not only appreciate colorists and simply list their name on a website but have also comped tables, included colorists, editors, letterers on panels and workshops and very warmly welcomed them to a con that appreciates comics.

Your personal thoughts and ideas about creatives will probably never change but you should, for the sake of your con, update your standards and include the whole of any professional in the industry to further promote, respect and appreciate the value of comics.