Santa Carla Video City - Inktober! 2021-2023

I decided to use Inktober 2021 as an excuse to create more assets for my video store project. Using my collection of Copic and Posca markers I managed a dozen new images that I turned into VHS covers. I was fairly happy with the designs, however I struggled to get sufficient pop and contrast into the illustrations despite my best inking efforts. In the end I graded and manipulated the scans in Photoshop to get them closer to what I wanted.

So for Inktober 2022 I decided to try using negative coloured ink which would then be inverted in post to reveal the final result. Armed with my trusty colour wheel I experimented to see if this technique would work, and to my pleasant surprise it did! After a good amount of trial and error the images had a lot more contrast and depth simply because the natural white of the paper would allow for some very deep blacks in the illustration. Also being selective about where to ink darker allowed me to create some punchy lighting effects. I only managed five new VHS covers but it is definitely a technique I'd like to explore and develop further.