Colouring My Comic

As I had gotten to the stage where I had completed inking a good portion of my final pages , I decided that it was time to start thinking about how I was going to colour my images. 

As texture and linework are a crucial part to my work , I decided to do a varied amout of different experiments , looking at how I would colour my images and how to invoke some drama and movement 

into my lineart. 

I chose a passage from my comic and scanned in the simple lineart. I then began to colour it using different methods and use of colour.

the First experiment I did was fairly simple. with me using pen to create texture and depth into my panels.

These looked effective and brought the images to life a little more considering their plan linework to begin with, they now had texture in the hair and clothing and sense of light distribution and setting was added .

The second experiment involved me colouring the images in full colour using watercolour, copic markers and other traditional materials , but I found it did not have the same effect as the first experiment and was not as dramatic.
Around this time , I was beginning an experiment for my research project which involved me looking at Gothic elements in Noir and Silent films  where I was experimenting with greyscale and intense blocks of light to generate a sense of mood and drama within a few panels .

It was from there that I realised I could generate the same drama in my Comic using a limited colour palette and experimenting with shadow and light . I began colouring my images in grey scale , adding a little shading to them with copics and pen .

I felt like this was going in the right direction and when I showed this to one of my tutors, they suggested that I go even darker with it , showing extreme lighting and creating very dynamic compositions by using blocks of shadow and angling them .

 Overall I think this was the best option to go for as using full colour would not have achieved the same level of drama or mood into my images. by using grey scale, the images seem to depict the period and set the gothic mood of the comic a little better.

This is the colouring that I decided to use in my final images. combining the penwork texture that worked so well with the grey scale colour scheme and bold use to light and dark areas for shadow . 

I felt that it was best to use this colour scheme rather than full colour as by using the monochrome and greyscale colour scheme, I was able to invoke more dramatic imagery for my Comic and felt that it better represented the period and the works that inspired this comic . By doing this, it feels like my own homage to the Penny Dreadfuls and Illustrated newspapers that use this colour scheme, I felt this was particularly strong in some of the images where I took influences from older images such as the information spread on the Richmond Murder Case and Spring Heeled Jack

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