Blackwing Volume 64 Design

The Blackwing 64 is a tribute to comic books and the innovative minds that bring them to life. The pencil's design is a nod to the 64-color palette and printing technique sported by some of the earliest comic books.

During the "Golden Age of Comic Books" from the 1930s - 1950s, comic books began to gain widespread popularity outside of the Sunday newspaper where they had originated. Publishing companies started to circulate their own printed comics, employing teams of writers, artists, and colorists to create the origins of characters and series that are still celebrated to this day.

One of the early challenges that artists and colorists faced was the ability to translate the drawn images into printed materials using the methods available at the time. Printed materials relied on the printing press which utilized etched plates applied directly onto the paper. These plates were individually inked using the CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black) color model which divided color images into these 4 base colors used in color printing.

In order to print certain shades and details, comic book printers used a method known as "Ben-Day dots" or halftoning which separated each color into intricate dot patterns allowing them to emulate a wider range of colors and tones. Printers would also different pressures and angles with these inked plates to create different patterns such as lines and diagonals that gave them more control over the final printed image.

With these techniques, comic book artists implemented a palette that consisted of 64 unique colors and tints when drawing their panels. The Blackwing 64 pays homage to this color palette and the halftone CMYK pattern printing technique that ushered in the "Golden Age of Comic Books."

Pictured below are the expanded CMYK color layers and patterns that we used to create the design of the Blackwing 64 pencil.