I had a print made on some good quality watercolour paper. One of the issues I needed to resolve was getting the red right.
I bought a bottle of acrylic ink in what looked to be a suitable red tone. I squeezed the dropper-top to dispense a small amount onto my palette tray. There must have been a clot in the dropper. The red ink exploded into the palette well and splashed ---you guessed it--- onto the print I had been preparing to colour.
Since this print was now effectively ruined I was free to experiment without fear of screwing up further.
That doesn't mean that I didn't screw up further, though.
I wasn't happy with where this was going. I ended up soaking the print in the tub to leach all of the colour out of it and try again.
It's a testament to the quality of the paper and the tenacity of the black printer ink that they held up to the soaking. The red acrylic was the only colour that still remained, although somewhat faded. Except for the splotches which were as vibrant as ever.
Undeterred, I tried again... but this time I used a red watercolour paint from a tube.
This was looking better but still a little washed out and flat. I added more colour, contrast and some white highlights.
This version got the green light from Brian.
Now I just have to do it again, on the original ink drawing, using this as my colouring guide.
