Isabelle Merlet: “A good coloring is one that cannot be seen”

“You could say it’s black, but it’s not black” : at the exhibition “Colours! “, presented at the Vaisseau Moebius during the Angoulême International Comics Festival, Isabelle Merlet opens your eyes to the boards of “Cats of the Louvre” by Taiyô Matsumoto (Futuropolis, 2017). The colorist, who has been practicing since 1992, explains that she chose to convert the black lines to ultramarine violet, because in this way ” something is happening “. “When you open your eyes in the morning, you only see patches of color. There is no black line that identifies the objects. Introducing color in this way creates a fair harmonic that doesn’t seem to mess up a drawing that works without color. » A technique also experienced in “the Wolf”, drawn with a wide and bold line by Jean-Marc Rochette (Casterman, 2019). “When he saw what I had done, he said: “It feels like a movie”. With this purple, it’s more realistic, more natural. »

With Jean-Marc Rochette, in his mountain refuge: “What’s happening down there doesn’t interest me anymore”

Ask comic book lovers to name a colorist, and often they will only know Isabelle Merlet. At 55, this great professional, based in the Dordogne, has colored around a hundred albums, including those of Catherine Meurisse, Blutch, Laureline Matt