Yellow Sun in Comics

[Rob Klein]

I promise to stay completely on topic.

There is on aspect we forgot to bring up regarding the use in comics of yellow 
sun.  That is the human instinct that makes the "warm" colours provide us with 
an "impression", and even, in some cases, a physical "feeling" of warmth. It is 
this quality that is necessary for the artist to provide a particular mood for 
his/her story. As the societal cliche and "general impression" of many people 
is that the sun appears yellow; that belief is employed by the artist. White 
cannot be used to provide that warm feeling of a sunny day, as it is a neutral 
colour, when it comes to relative temperature.  It is also the colour of snow - 
which could be used to imply cold. Comic art is representational-not a 
photograph or film of "real" existing conditions.  For that reason, details 
should be exaggerated to make one's point, or produce a feeling or mood.  A 
yellow sun is necessary for a warm feeling of a sunny day. If it need be hot, 
the artist can augment it with ray lines protruding outward.  If he wants to 
show it even hotter, he can make those lines wavy, also show wavy steam lines 
eminating from the ground.  But, most of all, he would show the animals and 
people sweating and otherwise suffering from that heat. If he wants to show a 
cooler sun, he would be best served by covering it, altogether with clouds. 
Exaggeration to set the mood is key.

An artist cannot place his readers in the real World. Sometimes it is more 
effective to use devices which take advantage of readers' beliefs and 
instincts. Sometimes this involves "cheating"-as artists do when using a false
(inaccurate) perspective to provide a desired "feeling". We need yellow to 
imply the sun's warmth for the pleasant or hot feeling of a sunny day. If we 
don't want that feeling, we need not show the sun, at all.  A red sun can only 
be used in sunsets or forest or rangefire situations, or sandstorms, (e.g. 
normal conditions that people recognise as producing a red sun).

Rob
Klein

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