The original comics are all in black and white, who colored the TV anime?

Color design and color specification

After all the character modeling and mechanical modeling are designed, the director and modeling designers must finalize the color of the characters together with the color designer*** ( Hair, clothes for various occasions or the color of the robot shell...etc.). The color design must match the color of the entire work (the background and the personality of the work) to design the color of the characters. After the color draft is finalized, the color designator will specify more detailed color types. Years ago, before using computers for coloring (*3), watercolor paints were used to design colors on white paper (as shown on the left). Most of the colors of watercolor paints are not mixed by each production company, but are designed according to the color cards and ready-made color types provided by the paint company. The reason for not mixing the colors yourself is very simple, because after the color design, the colorists have to color it. If you mix the colors yourself, it will be very difficult for each colorist to mix the same color. Of course, if the director's requirements and funds allow, the production company can ask the paint company to produce the required colors and then bottle them and distribute them to the colorists. Because the types of colors were specified by the paint company prior to the color design process, color designers served as color specifiers for many years. And the colors of many animations also look the same. Today’s animation color design and color specification are all done using software (as shown on the right). Each company uses different software (the more popular animation-specific software in Japan is animo and RETAS!PRO), but any software that processes images can be used for color design. It should be noted that each software handles color differently, so the same software should be specified for coloring when delivering it to the colorist. Also due to the digitization of production methods and the freedom of color selection, the current range of color setting options has been expanded and more delicate and varied colors can be customized. Color designers and color specifiers both start as junior colorists. After one to two years (depending on personal qualifications), you will be promoted to a color designer or color specifier. The biggest difference between color designers and color specifiers is that color designers only need to set basic colors (colors under ordinary sunlight, as shown on the left). The colorist must also work with the assistant director to set up the colors required under other lights and for each episode (twilight, night, special light, etc.). Color design and color designation for animation require knowledge of image processing color. Because the image quality and color displayed by each photographic equipment are different, if you do not fully understand the design and specification, the color displayed on the TV screen will be very different from the effect on the computer screen, which will reduce the charm of the work. Therefore, it takes one to two years for colorists at the grassroots level to familiarize themselves with the actual work process before they can be promoted to color specifiers and then color designers.