* translated editions and additional information *
from Piet Wijn and Thom Roep
Bermudillo, Timpe Tampert, Daniel Dudek, Gammelpot, Dusty Dabbert, Teobald, Nicky Bommel, Danny Doodle, Bobo Pak Janggut ..... and Barbie, published by the United Arab Emirates
In my collection I have some fine blueprints ✔. Jewels. .... Directly below is a page from Donald Duck showing the process of coloring, plastic sheet and by layering the two together came the final image.
Further down this page are two blueprints of two Douwe Dabbert album covers.
At the very bottom is a description of the blueprinting process.
Douwe Dabbert - Colored blueprint - 1
✔in Donald Duck #11-1986 page 31
Douwe Dabbert - Colored blueprint - 2
✔in Donald Duck #11-1986 page 31
Douwe Dabbert - Colored blueprint - 3
✔in Donald Duck #11-1986 page 31
Douwe Dabbert - Colored blueprint - 1
✔in Donald Duck #9-1990 page 34
Douwe Dabbert - Colored blueprint - 2
✔in Donald Duck #9-1990 page 34
Douwe Dabbert - Colored blueprint - 3
✔in Donald Duck #9-1990 page 34
Blueprint cover
✔The witches of the day before yesterday - 1
Coloring: Mary de Jongh
Blueprint cover
✔The witches of the day before yesterday - 2
Coloring: Mary de Jongh
Blueprint cover
✔The Ship of Ice - 1
Coloring: Mary de Jongh
Blueprint cover
✔The ship of Ice - 2
Coloring: Mary de Jongh
In the mid-1960s, people switched to hand-coloring of so-called blueprints. The cartoon illustration was photographed and a positive was made from the photonegative; the so-called line film. This was a sheet of “plastic” on which the entire page was visible and readable. Compare 't with a black line drawing made on a completely transparent sheet. This positive line film was then placed on blueprint paper. This was a sheet of thin aluminum that, specially manufactured by Schoellershammer paper mill, was covered on both sides with paper. Then one side was smeared with a special light-sensitive liquid, the line film was laid on and, thanks to UV light, a print of the comic page appeared on the paper. Then the coloring with gouache could begin. Neatly between the lines...
With the transparent line film over it, one could then see exactly how the comic would appear in print. That aluminum layer, by the way, was to prevent the paper from shrinking or expanding when there was a change in temperature. Then the line film came off, it would serve as the black tint (K) a little later during the printing process, and the colored-in blueprint was scanned to the three main tints: M, C and Y, after which a separate plastic film was made of each main color. These films were then transferred to cylinders by a lithographer, through which the paper was guided during printing.
So to print a strip in color you had to make 4 of these printing plates, 1 for each base color. To do this, the cartoonist made the black drawing on drawing paper which was photographically transferred to film in size, usually without a grid. The coloring was then done on a blue print, which was a print in blue especially for coloring because this kind of light blue was not picked up by the photogravure. That coloring was then photographically converted to the 3 printing plates. The print in pure black provided a clear outline of the strip that we still know today. This blueprint technique was still widely used until 2000.
