"Handcoloured" prints...?

Chrissy Dwyer · Joined: 12 Jan 2006 Posts: 849 Location: Cairns

I have seen alot artists who have done prints be it etchings, drypoint, or lino (more specially lino) that details they have been "handcoloured".

Can someone tell me more about that? I before hav tried to colour my black ink collagraphs with goauche, however they didnt turn out very 'nice' looking. Also using watercolour and goauche can make the paper buckle. So do you do it while the paper is still damp to get an even tone? (That would be hard for lino prints as you dont dampen the paper first).

Do you use acrylic? How do you get it so it looks like you have done seperate coloured prints?

belle · Joined: 01 Oct 2006 Posts: 1017 Location: Newcastle

I think anything goes, watercolour, gouache, acrylic. I have painted onto plate to get colours. Usually I had to print it twice so the colours were softer.

lizapaizis · Joined: 19 Sep 2007 Posts: 2 Location: Katoomba

Hi Chrissy

I do quite alot of handcoloured etchings and solar plate etchings.
What I do is handcolour them with watercolour or gouache, but make sure it is done in a light and subtle way not using too much water which buckles the paper, and too much paint and can look muddy.
It's always good to try to leave the print in it's original form as much as possible and only add a little colour, if you want to add more it's probably best to do it after or while inking up the plate with different colours but not too many again- this can be time consuming and hard, but the colour can come out quite beautifully mixed up on the plate....

hope this helps!

Liza Paizis