Dot patterns that you refer to are called 'zipatone'. These were
invented very long ago and were a staple in American comics for a
long time before anyone in America ever saw any Manga. In fact,
these predate the creation of Manga. Another tonal approach of the
past was called 'duotone'. The Zipatone was a product name for a
sheet of dot and other patterns that came in sheets which you could
cut out and peel off and then paste on the art.These dot and other
patterns were a creation of necessity. Old printing and
photographic technology did not have the range or resolution or
variety of techniques that we have today. A 'stat' camera was used
to photograph the art for reproduction. Stat cameras 'see' only in
black and white. Since anything that is grey like a pencil tone or
a paint tone was invisible, artists had to have a way to place
tones in the comics that the stat camera could see. Small dots and
other line patterns of pure black and white were the answer.Wally
Wood was an artist who worked in the 40s 50s 60s and 70s. He was
famous for his abilities, including his use of tones via Zipatone
and Duotone.
All the tones here are Zipatones, carefully cut out and pasted
onto the black and white line art.
Before Zipatone was a product known by the name Ben Day, for
it's inventor, created in the late 1800s.Duotone was also popular
but a little different, this was a special kind of drawing board
which had two different dot patterns already printed onto the
paper. The trick was they were invisible. An artist would draw on
the Duotone board as normal, with pencil and india ink. Once the
black and white ink drawing was done, therewere two different clear
liquid 'developers' which would be applied like paint, with a
brush. The developers appear like water and go on just like water,
however when applied one of the two different dot or line patterns
would become visible, depending on which developer was used.
The above image was created using Duotone. Can you tell the
difference?
This page was by Russ Heath, another famous American comic
artist. In this case all the tones are painted with watered-down
india ink. The pages were shot with a regular camera, not a stat
camera. This reproduction technique was more expensive and was not
used much until the 1970s.I have used Duotone board and developers
before, it was quite fun. Iwish it was still available. However
both techniques have been discontinued for the most part since the
coming of photoshop. I think you can still buy Zipatone or
something just like it, but it is not used very often since
photoshop is easier andquicker.I don't know what Toren Smith says,
but the idea that American or European artists learned about these
kinds of tonal approaches from Japanese artists is patently false.
If anything it is the other way around.It is correct, however, to
say that American and other artists were heavily influenced by
Asian comics. Manga and Anime have had a serious impact on world
culture, not just American culture!Also true that Frank Miller
learned a lot from these forms. He was a big fan of Lone Wolf and
Cub.
above Frank Miller
above Lone Wolf and Cub