Steve Oliff (born February 20, 1954) is an American

comic book artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...

who has worked as a

colorist In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates. Since the late 20th century it is ...

in the comics industry since 1978.

Biography

Oliff broke into professional comics by attending comic book conventions and meeting people. At one convention he met publisher

Byron Preiss Byron Preiss (April 11, 1953 – July 9, 2005)Byron Preiss
at the

. Preiss gave Oliff his first major coloring job (on a Shadowjack story in ''The Illustrated

Roger Zelazny Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American fantasy and science fiction writer known for his short stories and novels, best known for '' The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nominatio ...

''). More work with Preiss's publications followed, including a job on a

Howard Chaykin Howard Victor Chaykin (; born October 7, 1950) is an Americans, American comics artist, comic book artist and writer. Chaykin's influences include his one-time employer and mentor, Gil Kane, and the mid-20th century illustrators Robert Fawcett an ...

graphic novel, which in turn led to Oliff getting his first Marvel Comics' job, coloring

Bill Sienkiewicz Boleslav William Felix Robert Sienkiewicz ( ; ; born May 3, 1958) is an American artist known for his work in comic books—particularly for Marvel Comics' ''The New Mutants (comic book), The New Mutants'', ''Moon Knight,'' and ''Elektra: Assassi ...

's first ''

Moon Knight Moon Knight is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Doug Moench and artist Don Perlin, the character first appeared in ''Werewolf by Night'' #32 (August 1975). The son of a rabbi, Marc S ...

'' story in '' The Hulk!'' magazine. From there Oliff went on to color hundreds of titles in a variety of coloring formats.

Olyoptics and ''Akira''

His company, Olyoptics, was one of the first to use computers to do color separation. Although other companies at the time were experimenting with computers, Oliff and his crew were the first to blend the color guide artist with the separator Khoury, George. ''Image Comics: The Road To Independence'' (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2007). In 1987, the Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

'' Akira'' was in preparation to be translated and published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

Epic Comics Epic Comics (also known as the Epic Comics Group)Shooter, Jim. "Bullpen Bulletins: The Truth About the Epic Comics Group!" Marvel comics cover-dated November 1982. was an imprint of American publishing company Marvel Comics, active from 1982 to ...

line. Oliff was chosen as the colorist, and he convinced Marvel that it was time to try computer color. After the publication of ''Akira'' in 1988, computer coloring became increasingly prevalent in the comics industry. Oliff's work in Akira earned him an

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

in 1992.

Writing

In addition to coloring thousands of comic pages for all sorts of companies, Oliff has written two comic books, ''Armature'' and ''Armature: Darkpark and Lightworld'', and is currently writing the third in his series. The ''Armature'' character first appeared in ads in ''Spawn'' and ''Youngblood'' comics, and in a back-up story in issue 14 of ''

The Maxx ''The Maxx'' is an American comic book series created by Sam Kieth in 1993 and originally published monthly until 1998 by Image Comics for 35 issues, before being collected in trade paperback by DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint. The first appearanc ...

''. From 2003 to the present, ''Armature'' has been a weekly comic strip in Oliff's local newspaper, the '' Independent Coast Observer''. In 2005, Oliff collaborated with Cheri Carlstedt on a history of his hometown,

Point Arena, California Point Arena, formerly known as Punta Arena ( Spanish for "Sandy Point") is a small coastal city in Mendocino County, California, United States. Point Arena is located west of Hopland, at an elevation of . The population was 460 at the 2020 ce ...

. ''The Early Days of Point Arena: A Pictorial History of the City and Township'' was published by Olyoptics. He also edits the Mendocino County Historical Society newsletter.

Awards

Oliff won the "Best Colorist"

in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the "Best Colorist"

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be a successor to the Kirby Awards, which were ...

in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994 and 1995. He was awarded the

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at Comic-Con Internati ...

in 1991.Inkpot Award
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Notes

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliff, Steve People from Point Arena, California Living people Eisner Award winners for Best Coloring Harvey Award winners for Best Colorist 1954 births Comics colorists Inkpot Award winners