Something Wicked- Inks and colour

As promised, here's the inked and coloured version of the Something Wicked back cover illo I posted a couple of entries back.

As you've probably noticed, I've flipped and rotated the original pencil for the final version. This was a last minute decision after colouring, as I thought the original concept (guy falling into gaping mouth of monster) was getting a bit stale. I'm not sure if it's because I'd spent the last few days looking at it while inking and colouring but when I flipped it, it seemed a lot fresher and the flow and design worked better for me. Yeah I know, the guy's now falling up. But is he falling now or flying? Is he a victim or the hero? The ambiguous meaning of the piece and the fact that turning it upside down drastically changed the look of the creature, are two big pluses for me. Also now you can clearly see the hidden face I snuck in to the left of the open mouth. Anyway let me know what you think, which one you think works better etc.

This was inked pretty fast (A3, brushpen and 0.4 felt tip, about 2hrs...well, that's fast for me anyway), and i'm very happy with the spontaneity of the fast brushwork. Colours were a bit tougher. Originally it began as just a red monotone colour scheme, then to a fully rendered greeny-bluey colour, then a combination of the two which is pretty much what this version is, with a bit of extra tweaking. The blackness of the linework was a bit overpowering, so I lightened it slightly to a dark reddish purple.

Also here are some detail shots.