Work-in-Progress: Flora of Mughal India
I am working with Jai Prakash ji a miniature painter based in Delhi to make the illustrations "complete". Initially I was of the mind that he would take my 3-block illustration and add to it the highlights and nuances that it needed to make it come to life. As I worked with him and learned from him I discovered that this may not necessarily be the case.
This is the illustration after the first layer of colours laid down. This is a test print to test out different papers I was thinking of using for the book.
This is the print after three layers of ink laid down. You can see there is more detail. This is still a test print, so it is not registered as it would be in the final image, and the colours though close, are not what I choose for the final image. When I presented this image and the one above this to Jai Prakash ji, he chose the first, much to my surprise. The less detail, the more easily he could work the image. This one with more detail, meant more work for him because he would have to lay a foundation of paint in various areas to work off of.
A close-up of the third block that I carved with the details for my darkest and last layer of ink.
As much as his decision surprised me, I was glad for it. It made the workflow very clear, and it made our roles clearly defined too. I would be deciding the image of course, but also the colour values for the finishes illustration.
Meanwhile, the miniature painter would add in the details to the printed foundation layer and work as close to my original illustration as possible using it as a reference along with images of the actual plant.
We discussed what kind of foundation colours he would need for the rest of the images. I am in the process of carving them now.
