As with the previous aesthetic that I have began to develop I wanted to incorporate this into a continuous design throughout the pages, without the darkness and density of the black being too overpowering.
In the first progress image I decided to build upon the black to see how this would work working this way around. In comparison, this makes it look extremely overpowering, though it could work for this page as it is further on in the book so it fits with the theme and ever-darkening aesthetic. The design, obviously staying with the nautical theme because of the underwater setting, was illustrated with more of an aesthetic that suited the dark theme to essentially look ‘creepier’ while continuing to be suitable for the young target demographic. The blue broke this up, and as this was only the beginning of the page I knew that there was still a lot more to do with the juxtaposition of the colour palette as well as elements to make the page flow and have a distinctive design.
As I developed the design I realised that maybe the blue was too distinctive against the black and I didn’t like the contrast against these two bold colours. Thus, by lowering the opacity and developing it into more of a darker shade of grey with hints of green and grey it complements the black better. However, I wasn’t happy with how the illustration was developing because I thought that it looked slightly boring and didn’t suit the previous style of the book. The first page has a completely new design that encompasses an illustration that almost looks cave-like. I really liked how this looked because at this stage of the narrative Nessie is extremely lonely and wants somebody to accept her, while also thinking that she, herself, is a monster. By having this as a silhouette that blends into the background the design seems more sleek and suits the continuation of the visuals. On top of this, with the smaller background layer to add depth makes it more visual and, hopefully, more interesting for the audience (though, I understand that at the moment it is very dull for the audience in terms of colour and illustrations as it is a work in progress).
With the previous development I changed the colour palette to work in harmony together, but in the above on I have quickly experimented by altering the background layers to have a subtler black to fade. I love how this works on the first page because it adds further depth, while working with the aesthetic (though still looking dull). On the second page I continued to continue the development of the fade to black, but as I was doing it I realised that he illustrations (at least most of them) on this page didn’t suit what I was trying to achieve. When I first glance at the page it reminds me of trees or a forest whereas I am looking to achieve an underwater scene that looks eerie and lonely. Thus, by coming to this conclusion I have decided to develop this page’s illustrations so that it is suitable and continuing with the style that I have developed so far.