Zipatone®

As I'm inking and shading in the latest issue of 1985, I'm noticing how different and relatively simple the process of shading is. Line art that was once shaded by hand, or, used the luxury of being printed full color, usually involved something called 'Zipatone'.

Basically, it was a refined graphic element in the form of dots or lines to apply graytones to a page. It came in big sticker sheets, and you'd cut out the area with an exactoknife and lay it onto the area. Painstakingly tedious it could be, and some regarded it as cheating, but I like the even tones you'd end up getting.