Boardwalk Showers part 30

Back to the Studio today to continue work on the latest print. I had originally thought that I would use the first proof to experiment with some color changes (based on thoughts since the critique this past week) but it occurred to me that it might be easier and better to try some new color studies on separate paper. The simple solution was to trace the print onto new paper. I have a pad of cheap 18" x 24" drawing paper in the Studio, so I took out two sheets and made two tracings of the first proof. Just clamped a blank sheet to the print and held it against the window of the building's front door, which let both the black ink lines and the color clearly show through. Sketched the basic contours of each color and a few key details, as shown above.

As for color choices, most people there at the crit generally agreed that making the backgrounds cool and/or neutral colors would let the figures stand out more, so that seemed a good place to start. Sometimes when I'm giving a lot of consideration to a particular topic, I can't escape it, and this week especially I kept coming across images of locker rooms and restrooms (which share similar interior design) without actively searching for them. Television shows, old movies, Sunday comic strips, etc. Made note of the color combinations in each. At this point I'm thinking of color schemes centering on blue or green.

Today was blue. I took one of my tracings and quickly filled in the established skin and hair tones. In this first experiment I put down washes of indigo, phthalo, and turquoise in various places, along with a buff color and a neutral gray- all hues found in previous boardwalk prints. I'll come back to this during the week, and either intensify these colors, or rearrange or replace them with new ones.