Boardwalk Tattoo part 25

Put in several hours in the Studio this afternoon, continuing the coloring of the first proof. I went on to the cool colors today, finishing the tattoo designs on the far left, the dragon, water, and bubbles on the right, the boardwalk and beach, then the two main figures. Changed that pink flower, too. Everything according to plan, but I wasn't satisfied. The biggest issue I saw was a significant imbalance between the two halves, the right side so much darker and heavier. (see first photo) As an experiment I made a few changes (seen in the second photo), the color of the table and the customer's jeans, and darkening the background a little more in the left panel. A little better. The first print in this series was a scene spread across 2 panels, but with the color added this one seems to be more two individual prints bridged by the prone figure of the customer. I included images of the individual panels as they looked at days end.

If nothing else, the first one was a learning experience. Much of what I did here will remain the same for the next proof. I probably won't need to darken the negative space in the left panel, since the Okawara paper is already that dark. I may push the colors a little more in some of the tattoo designs on that side, however. On the right, I'll keep the same colors for the dragon, but just make them much lighter. The large flowers will probably at least start all the same orange-yellow color seen in the largest one, and the water and bubble colors will also be applied lighter. All easy changes, since I can always go over them and make them darker if I need to.

More radical possibilities- Right now two significant colors are unbalanced between the two panels. Much more blue/indigo on the left, much more green on the right. One way to resolve that is to change the color of something big, such as make the dragon blue (not uncommon in dragon tattoos) or make the customer's pants green. Then there's the table. Logically it should be the same color all the way across, but would it be too strange if it was different shades or colors in the two panels if it would help with color and value balance? I'll give these ideas some thought, and maybe I'll play with some of these ideas on this first proof over the next few days.