Bondage Bounce...

I'm a year and a half late to the party, but I gave this quite a bit of thought so I figured I might chime in. You're probably seeing this pop out of nowhere in your inbox, so let me refresh your memory on what's going on. You asked us : "I'm really liking the Black and White pics as I can tone much faster than color. Also color...I really struggle with it. How do you guys like the Black and White/Greyscale look?" Well, I joined you Patreon after reading 4 chapters worth of your Greyscale art. I'm certainly not going to tell you I dislike it. However, it got me thinking about what it is I like or dislike about it. At first I was going to comment on how you don't really use lighting but upon looking back, you do in fact use it. There are shadows and highlights. In Chapter 2 p. 6, we can even see the beam of light from Meg's lamp, and the side of her face away from the lamp is darker, so you're definitely keeping track of where the sources of light are, and how your objects/characters are impacted by them. I came to the conclusion I hadn't noticed it before because your work is very low contrast. As a result, your lighting and shading is very subtle. On the other hand, it grants your pages a uniform and harmonious feel. I'm more used to black and white comics than greyscale ones, so of course I'll be more accustomed to a high contrast environment. One of the first black and white comics I read was Frank Miller's Sin City, which is nothing but contrast. It's on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Just look at this: https://images.app.goo.gl/WARdpMQteXrE3MQM7 or this: https://images.app.goo.gl/5KavtvGJvNhN7wTK8 or this: https://images.app.goo.gl/iK2o5qpDd4F6ySYD7 However, I don't think that would suit you well. At least not with Black Label. The story is one of awkward but caring characters discovering and coming to terms with their taboo. It's lighthearted, delicate, sensitive. It makes sense to have a low contrast that gives a sense of peace and harmony. Sin City is again on the other end of the spectrum. It's the story of bad people doing bad things to other bad people in a desperate attempt to make their hell a little less shitty. It's violent, dark, dramatic. It's pessimistic where yours is optimistic. It takes place in the dark where yours takes place in the light. It makes sense for it to have sharp and violent contrast. all in all, I don't think you need more contrast. When something needs to stand out, you have other tools than contrast to make them pop, so it works. I don't think you need to change anything, but I think you could, if you wanted to. Here are a few thoughts to that effect. I can still see ways for you to include high contrast pages or panels, if that's something you'd like to experiment with. For instance, let's say one of the subs is just coming back to their senses after a powerful orgasm, or waking up in the morning after the first night with their new lover... You could have a "PoV" shot of them, seeing their partner leaning over them, a completely black silhouette against the bright white background. Another excuse for high contrast would be, say, they're doing a scene during a thunderstorm (never underestimate the power of weather over the atmosphere of a scene, I haven't seen you use that much either but then again, your action is usually indoors), and as the mistress is finishing up the knots (panel 1), the power goes out (panel 2: classic completely black panel with just the eyes of the characters, with a perplexed expression) panel 3 would be a lightning bolt as seen through the window and then panel 4: low diving angle of the mistress, a sadistic grin on her face. (or skip panel 3 and just have a sound effect on 4) Use black and white instead of the usual greyscale just to reflect the sudden, intense brightness. There is another form of contrast that doesn't involve light and sets a page in contrast with the rest of the book, drawing attention to the idea it's trying to convey. You use it a bit already but not much. I'm talking about having a page contain a single main panel only (a single idea/event) with max 2 small ones as transitions in and out. I've seen you do things like that 4 times: chapter 1 page 3, chapter 2 page 3, chapter 4, page 2, and kinda sorta chapter 3 page 2-3. And I would argue those are your most striking pages. I don't know if you don't do this more often because they're difficult on a technical point of view, or if you feel pressured to move the plot forward week after week and you feel pages like this slow down too much... I could see it happen more often (admittedly not too often, otherwise it looses its power...). Take page 7 from chapter 2. You could enlarge panel 2 so it takes the whole page. Keep panel 1 where it is as a sort of insert to give us an idea of time and space. On panel 2, keep Ellie the same size relative to the whole page, but move her towards the center of the page. Complete the rest of the bed, but leave the rest of the room dark. That gives us Ellie just floating in the void, zoning out. It conveys the idea that it's the evening, she just got back from work, she's exhausted, her bed is her entire universe and she needs to wind down. Then, bottom right, another insert: a close up of her phone going *ting* transitions us towards the next page, where you have the rest of the panels. You said you felt that page was too cluttered... well, that's one way to unclutter it ;-) You get a very meditative page that gives us a breath of fresh air, followed by a page where Meg offers Ellie what we now know deep down is exactly what she needs. The emptiness of the previous page having cleared our brain, we're ready to handle the text back and forth. Your question was originally about using color and you struggling with it... A year and a half later, is that still true? If so, remember your pages don't need to be 100% color. Here are two exemples of what I mean, both taken from "Through the Woods" by Emily Carroll (an amazing book, especially for someone who enjoys Creepy Pasta! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18659623-through-the-woods) https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81MbVvlfluL.jpg https://theslingsandarrows.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/through-the-woods-9781442465954.in08.jpg I saw you play a bit with this when you made a commission for the albino sleuth and her red eyes. I though it was particularly good one. This is yet another way to add contrast (I know, my disk is skipping :P), this time to draw attention to something or someone. So far you've used other tools to successfully draw our attention where you wanted, so I don't think you need to start doing this, but it might be a good way for you to practice a bit more with color. With all this being said (geez this has turned into a wall of text... sorry -_-') Your question gave me subtle undertones like you were asking us what we want you to do. I'm not sure if I'm reading subtext that isn't there, but in case it is, I wanna urge you to create art for you first, not for us. I think it's way more healthy for you to do what you like than to bend over backwards to give us what we want. I would much rather you tell us "this is my goal, but I'm not sure how to get there; any suggestions?", and I'm quite sure many here would be just as happy to answer that. Cheers :-)

PulpFiction

I think that can be arranged. 👍

Stereoscope Comics

Greyscale is always good.

bySeronita

Great work on this and I agree with Michael. It's your style and we like it. I will say though the fact that this is straight, through me off a bit. Nothing wrong with it, just unexpected. So use to lady loving her. Glad to see she's having a good time 💙 Was also wondering if we'll get a copy of this and the Sam and val kiss?

kou32

Cool. I know I like it but I am a bit strange.

Stereoscope Comics

Never had a problem with your greyscale work. I kind of think of it as a part of your distinctive style

Michael

I remember those. Ah Tumblr...

Stereoscope Comics

I love the greyscale. It reminds me of those 'artistic porn' tumblr gifs.

Kalia Grey

Jiggle physics! Also black and white is nice. Don’t see it often.

Especially love the outfit.

Brad Kitts

It works especially well with that style of outfit!

Rayearth

The black and white looks great to me.

James Tallant