A properly calibrated monitor is absolutely critical for anyone who’s really serious about publishing comics in the age of digital printing. If your monitor isn’t calibrated then the colors you are seeing on screen might be — and likely are — significantly different from the actual color values you are choosing when you color your images. If this is the case then the print you receive from us may look very different from what you’re seeing on your monitor.

You can’t leave it to chance and you can’t just assume that your monitor is giving you accurate color. Odds are it isn’t. If you’ve not calibrated within the past week then it is all but certain that what you are seeing on screen is NOT an accurate representation of the actual color values of your images.

If your monitor is not calibrated properly there is a very good chance that your colors when printed will appear darker or much more saturated than you intended. Overly dark and overly saturated colors tend to produce a “muddy” effect when printed — less contrast, less vibrance, etc.

The only way to insure that your printed colors will accurately reflect what you see on screen is to calibrate your monitor frequently.

We’ve talked up the Pantone Huey in the past, but is definitely worth bringing up again. This is an inexpensive (less than $100 online if you shop around) USB device that does a terrific job of keeping your monitor calibrated. We strongly endorse and recommend them. This YouTube video is a couple of years old, but shows off the device pretty well.