Taking it to the next step

I decided to take this illustration to the next step by adding some color. I generally use colored pencil with my pen and ink drawings. I am often not satisfied with the result the first time around and to avoid wrecking the drawing that I have spent so much time on I printed it out on heavy card stock. It's a good thing, too, because I was NOT satisfied with my first attempt and adding color and started over.

One of the things I am finding with my printer and the card stock that we have is the black does not print out as black as I would like and certainly not as black as the original pen drawings. In the partially colored picture below I have adjusted the contrast and mid-tones to match the original as much as possible.

This image shows the drawing partially colored. I have used several different shades of green to achieve the proper combination of shadow and sun on the leaves. You have to be patient and layer on the color just like the directions tell you with spray paint. If you try to get the final color immediately you will be disappointed.