Steve Oliff (born February 20, 1954) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

comic book artist 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

Shadowjack story in ''The Illustrated

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

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

Howard Chaykin Howard Victor Chaykin (; born October 7, 1950) is an American 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 and Al Parker. Early life ...

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' ''New Mutants'', '' Moon Knight,'' and '' Elektra: Assassin''. Sienkiewicz's work in the 198 ...

's first '' Moon Knight'' 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 Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) 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 prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

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

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

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 Marvel Comics from 1982 to 1996. A spin-off of the publisher's ...

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 prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

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 appearance ...

''. 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 cens ...

. ''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 the successor to the Kirby Awards that were ...

in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994 and 1995.1995 Harvey Award Nominees and Winners
Comic Book Awards Almanac

Notes

References

* *

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