| Laura Martin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Laura DePuy (1975-09-15)15 September 1975 (age 49) Bogotá,Colombia |
| Nationality | Colombian-American |
| Area(s) | Colourist |
| Pseudonym(s) | Laura DuPuy Martin[citation needed] |
| Awards | Comics Buyer's Guide Favorite Colorist, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. Eisner Award for Best Colorist, 2000 and 2002. |
| Spouse(s) | |
| www | |
Laura DePuy (credited later in her career asLaura Martin, having married Randy Martin in 2001) is a colorist who has produced work for several of the major comics companies, includingDC Comics,Marvel Comics andCrossGen.
A sometimes comics reader as a child, she attended agraphic design program at theUniversity of Central Florida, and, while "work[ing] the night shift atKinko's... met [comics/Jim Lee fan]Ian Hannin, who... got me hooked on comics, and started me thinking about a possible career." Hannin later went on to work for Lee'sWildStorm Studios, so when DePuy graduated, she "...went to visit him, and took my portfolio (now filled with comic-related coloring and artwork)... [and was] hired on several months later."[1]
DePuy/Martin has worked in comics professionally since 1995,[2] and after being hired in 1995, served for five years as a "staff colorist and assistant supervisor," and "[o]ccasional designer" for Jim Lee'sWildStorm Studios, then an integral part ofImage Comics.[3] Among her earliest works was the collaboratively-colored Marvel/Image(WildStorm) two-issue mini-seriesBacklash/Spider-Man (Jul-Oct 1996), after which she co-colored issues ofDivine Right andStormWatch.[4]
In 1999, after the sale of WildStorm to DC Comics, DePuy became sole colorist onWarren Ellis andJohn Cassaday'sPlanetary series, as well as Ellis andBryan Hitch'sAuthority. Much of her work since then has involved coloring the artwork of both Cassaday and Hitch, who rarely work with other colorists.
DePuy colored theJLA: Earth 2 graphic novel byGrant Morrison andFrank Quitely in 1999, before, in late 2000, she also began coloringDougie Braithwaite's art on theAlex Ross/Jim Krueger Marvel seriesUniverse X, and in November joined Bryan Hitch onMark Waid'sJLA, coloring issues #47 - 58, following in tone the oversize volumeJLA: Heaven's Ladder.[4]
From November 2001'sRuse #1, Martin worked on a handful of non-CrossGen comics (occasional issues ofPlanetary) until summer 2004. In addition toRuse, she also coloredEdge as well as occasional issues ofMeridian,Negation andSojourn, before the companies ultimate collapse.
Martin summarizes this time philosophically, writing:
"CrossGen was a good idea with a lot of talent behind it, that just didn't work out. The reasons are too many to list. But for my personal experience there, let me put it this way: I got to return home to Florida and be near my family. I got to work with some of the best talents in the industry. And I came out of the experience older, wiser, and with many more friends than I had going in. I can't beat that.[1]
Between 2001 and 2003, DePuy/Martin worked as "Assistant art director and Colorist" forCrossGen comics, ultimately moving to the companies base in Florida.[3] During 2001, while coloring issues ofCrossGen Chronicles, she was able to continue to color issues ofUniverse X,Planetary,JLA and Ellis &Chris Weston'sMinistry of Space (Image), as well as working on sections of theOni Press Color Special 2001 andDark Horse Maverick 2001, before theCrossGen exclusivity began, and she worked for Mark Alessi alone throughout the entirety of 2002 and 2003.
Post-CrossGen, Martin again worked with Cassaday on the English-language version of his andFabien Nury'sHumanoids Publishing titleI Am Legion, before moving (with Cassaday and Hitch) to work primarily for Marvel Comics.
In July 2004, she colored the first issue ofJoss Whedon & Cassaday's acclaimed version of the X-Men,Astonishing X-Men, and in February 2005 she worked with Bryan Hitch onMark Millar'sUltimates 2 #1. In July of the same year, she worked on the Whedon/Brett Matthews & Will Conrad comics version of Whedon'sSerenity, theDark Horse-releasedSerenity: Those Left Behind.
She has worked on a number of odd issues and covers for comics released by a plethora of companies, including covers for theInfinite Crisis lead-inlimited seriesVillains United, for which she colored the art ofJ. G. Jones. In the summer of 2006, she colored the main parts ofPaul Jenkins'Civil War: Front Line for Marvel's "Civil War" event, and in September 2007 began work onJoseph Michael Straczynski andOlivier Coipel'sThor.
She is also Art Director for the comics websiteSequential Tart, a "webzine published by an eclectic band of women."[2] To produce her work, she utilizesPhotoshop and a "Wacom Intuos."[1]
In December 2007, she helped color the first issue ofVirgin Comics'Tall Tales of Vishnu Sharma: Panchatantra, while continuing to work onThor andAstonishing X-Men. May 2008 saw her joinGarth Ennis andHoward Chaykin on theMarvel MAX seriesWar Is Hell: The First Flight of thePhantom Eagle, while June 2008 saw her debut on the main feature of a Marvel Comics event, coloring the artwork ofLeinil Francis Yu on theBrian Michael Bendis-writtenSecret Invasion limited series.
She continued as colorist onSecret Invasion andWar is Hell, having relinquished duties onAstonishing X-Men to new artistSimone Bianchi (with new writer Warren Ellis).
At the 2009San Diego Comic Con it was announced that she had signed an exclusive contract with Marvel.[5][6] In 2010, she became the regular colorist on the second ongoing volume ofNew Avengers.
In June 2008, at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC, it was announced that she had become a member ofGaijin Studios.[7]
At the 2010Baltimore Comic Con she created and donated "The Wrong Frog" to auction to benefit theHero Initiative.[citation needed]
In October 2016, avariant cover she created for the first issue of theImage ComicsMillarworld seriesReborn was published.
She has been recognized for her work with sixEagle Awards (2000–2001, 2005–2008) as well as winning twoEisner Awards for Best Colorist (2000) and (2002), and theHarvey Award between the Eisners in 2001.[3] She was given the 2005Wizard Fan Award for Favorite Colorist (forAstonishing X-Men).[8]
In August 2014, she was namedInkwell Awards Ambassador, an appointment she holds to the present.[9]
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