What did I experiment with?
To get something close to primary colors and make it easier to create more variations, I mixed curry with water and paprika with water. This gave me a dark yellow and a light red. Together with the blue from the algae ink, I managed to create a basic primary color palette.
With this limited palette, I could explore color mixing in a more intuitive way and create different tones and variations. Later, a darker red made by a classmate using beetroot juice was added, which expanded the range of colors.
During the process, I also noticed how these natural materials behave differently from regular inks, especially in terms of texture, opacity, and unpredictability, which became an important part of the final result.
The first one was the most difficult to complete, as I was not familiar with the concept. I also had issues with depth, since I couldn’t manage to make the drawing not look flat.
- I tried to use the blue color as inspiration and left some areas unblended to give it more prominence.
- This is where I started to understand how to create depth in the drawing and how to integrate everything much better.
In this one, the drawings came more quickly, although I experienced the same issue with depth. In this case, the drawings are more surreal and, in my opinion, better integrated, as I applied everything I learned from the previous one.
- In this drawing, I tried creating scenes instead of just isolated drawings, so I could connect different places rather than only individual elements.
- I also experimented more with color blending, using it to differentiate shapes and create intermediate colors.
This piece was much more experimental and loose, and also the only one in a horizontal format. I started with stains rather than defined drawings. Then, once I had made the ink wash marks with Chinese ink, I began to shape them. This makes it much more organic than the others.
- With the shapes I was creating, unconsciously, I formed different monsters in different settings
- I created a “marine environment,” where I saw the shape of something resembling a mermaid.
Conclusion
This project explored how algae ink interacts with other natural pigments to expand its color range and apply it to a surreal illustration. By experimenting with curry, paprika, and beetroot juice, a basic primary palette was approximated, allowing for more variation in the final composition.
The process highlighted both the possibilities and limitations of natural inks, whose unpredictability contributed to a more intuitive and expressive result.
What should the next KP be about in the fall?
I will not actually have the opportunity to take part in the KP offered in autumn, and I also do not fully understand the limitations of the courses here or what can really be taught. However, your project reminded me of something similar we did at my home university, which you might find interesting.
It was a “photographic printing” project using natural inks. We made inks from plants, vegetables, and spices, and applied them onto different materials. Once they had dried, we placed photographic negatives or words on top and exposed them to sunlight, experimenting to see which produced the best results.
Later, the project expanded even further and we used leaves from different trees as a support, as well as cyanotype. The aim was to create different images on different surfaces.
