Bromoil printing and bromoil transfer

by Emil Mayer

At first pictures should be chosen which contain large areas of uniform coloration, and as few colors as possible should be used. If you are not perfectly familiar with the print, it is necessary to have a proof as a guide, so as not to overstep the outlines of the different parts of the image which are to be individually colored.

The best way of setting to work is as follows: first select the color necessary for one or more of the larger areas of the picture, for instance green for the foliage, and work up these areas completely, until they have acquired the requisite vigor and detail. Such parts of the outlines as are adjacent to lighter, and hence more strongly swollen parts of the print, need be given no special attention, for color that does not belong on them may easily be removed again with the damp cloth, as previously mentioned. On the other hand it is well to work carefully with every outline which lies next to a darker part of the picture which is finally to be of another color. Here it is best not to apply the ink right up to the boundary, but to complete the inking with a small brush only after the adjacent parts are coated with their own color. If, however, such outlines are overstepped and the adjacent parts are colored with an ink that should not be applied to them, this should be removed with a very wet cloth, twisted to a fine point, by gentle rubbing. During this the print should remain on the pad. If the incorrectly inked portions are small in area the ink may be removed with art-gum.

When the first large areas are finished, the print should be again soaked in water, as it will probably have dried somewhat, then dried off, and another part of the picture dealt with, with a fresh color. If the adjacent colors are properly chosen, the result, with objects which have no sharp outlines but merge into one another, will be that the adjacent parts will spontaneously blend into a harmonious transition of color. Parts of the picture which have the same basic color must not be done throughout in one and the same shade; thus large stretches of vegetation, which extend into the distance, should be executed in front in a yellowish green, and should be shaded back into a bluish green and insensibly into blue in the distance; such transitions can be effected without difficulty. If in the shadows there are small parts which require another color, they should be inked with a very bright color, which is then reduced by going over the whole surface at one time.

If it is found that a mistake has been made in any color, that part of the print may be cleared of ink as described on [page 72], and the work repeated. If it should finally appear that individual colors are too glaring or that the whole color scheme is too harsh, it is possible to go over individual parts or the whole print with some suitable color, so that the colors already applied are improved by a slight admixture of this covering color.

Such a procedure shows most emphatically what advantages there are in the possibility of mixing and toning down the colors on the print itself. As a rule, to tone down too bright colors, these portions or even the whole print are gone over with black ink, but if necessary other colors may be used for the same purpose.

Thus, for instance, a picture in which there are brown roofs, yellowish-green foliage, a sky of a pronounced blue shade and water of another blue, can be made harmonious by going over the whole print very lightly with the blue of the sky. Thus the vegetation will lose some of its yellowish tone, and all other colors, without losing their own characteristics, will acquire a certain unity. If the sky parts of a picture are swollen too much, their uniform inking is not easy. Then it is advisable to ink up the sky only on the dry print, as is suggested on [page 112].

Because the tonality of any color, which has already been applied, can be altered with the brush, polychrome bromoil printing affords very great possibilities. Obviously good taste and a sound color sense are indispensable requisites, for without them there is danger of producing the undesirable effects characteristic of certain colored postcards. It may also be remarked that the colors, after defatting, have a somewhat less pronounced brilliancy, as they lose their gloss.

In polychrome bromoil printing, the choice of too small sizes is not to be recommended. The larger the picture is, the larger also are the areas which may be uniformly treated and, therefore, the easier it is to keep within the outlines.

Within the limits of this chapter, it is not possible to teach polychrome bromoil printing, only to outline its fundamentals. The unlimited freedom which it offers will certainly in the course of time produce many excesses in color. For this, however, we should condemn, not the process itself, but those who have abused it. In general it will be as well not to approach too closely the actual colors of the objects represented, but to work for the attainment of artistic effects. We must, however, in any case avoid even the most remote imitation of the painter; we cannot arrive at the solution of the problem of natural colors on paper by the polychrome bromoil process.