Mark Manley: Restoring and Colouring a Rupert story from 1964
Although it seems unbelievable, it is however a sad fact that there are some Rupert stories in existence who have never appeared in book form. These stories by Alfred Bestall were originally published as strips in the Daily Express, and as such only appeared in the Express. Therefore most of them only have appeared once, in their original run. One of those stories is; 'Rupert and the Weather Man' from 1964.
Artist and illustrator Mark Manley has spent the past year restoring this story digitally, only with the use of original, hand-cut pieces of the newspapers from 1964. A very painstaking matter which consumes a lot of time, patience and pencils. After that he coloured the whole story. The story was never coloured by Bestall or a other artist, because it didn't need to at the time. The newspapers didn't printed Rupert in colour at the time like they do these days. Mark coloured every story digitally on his IPad and based the colors on the era in which the comic was published (1960s). Another painstaking thing to do in which he used various techniques to capture the spirit of the times and create depth.
On the Followers Fun and AGM day at Warwick University on the 2nd of September 2023, Mark gave a talk and presentation about his work on restoring and colouring this comic. How he did it and what he had to do. Also he talked about the discoveries he made about techniques Alfred Bestall used all those years ago and about future projectes. The restored comic will be exclusively available for members of the Followers of Rupert from October 2023 and they will either recieve by post or they can buy it from the members shop on the Followers website.
Filmed and edited by: Jordy Schaap (the website manager). If you wish to use this film, please contact him by e-mail: jordy.schaap@rupertbear.co.uk
