Bringing Voice-Off to Life Through Digital Inking

Voice-Off is a reimagined version of an original lineart by Joe Mulvey, a professional comic writer and artist known for Scam, Mummy’s Always Right, and Wailing Blade. His bold, dynamic style and high-energy compositions inspired me to reinterpret this piece as part of my Inks & Colors collection.

Starting with Color to Build the Foundation

Unlike traditional inking workflows, I begin with the colored version first. This allows me to block off color shapes into separate layers, which gives me more flexibility when creating the black-and-white version later. This reverse approach ensures that my linework aligns with the underlying color structure and keeps everything clean and consistent.

For Voice-Off, I digitized the original line art, then layered flat colors to preserve the panel’s raw energy. Bright reds, solid blacks, and bold yellows helped accentuate the motion and chaos within the scene.

From Color to Clean Lines

After completing the full-color version, I created a black-and-white variant. This version strips the panel back to its essentials—just line, shape, and rhythm. Working in reverse like this gives me the opportunity to refine the contrast and ensure the inks read well even without color.

Here’s a comparison of the original line art from DeviantArt and the flat colors I did in Photoshop:

A Study in Motion and Contrast

This piece is part of a broader exercise in vector inking, visual clarity, and composition. Voice-Off was particularly satisfying to finish, with its strong silhouettes and kinetic poses.