100 Watercolors #27 - Foreign

I am very careful when I buy ink to make sure it is marked "waterproof" so that if I want to slap some watercolors over the top of it, my inks will not budge.  For some reason, my latest batch of ink is not working though, and I ran into some trouble on this week's theme.  As I started to paint, the ink bled into the color, even after letting the inks dry for a day and a half!  Luckily, I was able to blot away the offending mix of watercolor and ink with my trusty paper towel before it all set.  Still, those stork legs are a bit darker than I would have liked...

I'll have to paint more carefully from now on, but that is a hack at best.  If I want to print these files eventually, I'll never be able to get a true, black for my lineart because everything is being scanned all at once.  The real way to get nice crisp lineart, is to keep the black lineart and watercolors on separate layers in photoshop.  "But Alec," I hear you ask, "How do I do that?"

Well, luckily, my old pal Aaron Renier posted an awesome watercolor tutorial on his blog last week.  He goes step by step through the proper process and also follows up with a lot of helpful tips in the comments section.  If you are working on watercolor for print projects, you should definitely give it a read!

Next week's theme: Sorrow!