A Three Color Lithograph

The Primary Image
The artist started with a basic black & white image. It could have been a crayon drawing on a litho stone, or it might have been a line art image photgraphic image burned onto a plate. After considering the options, the artist decides to use this image as the primary plate in a 3 color print.

The Key Drawing
In order to assure that all of the colorplates will be properly alligned when printed, the artist creates a key drawing. The key drawing is produced by tracing the original image (i.e., those of its parts which need to line up with each color) onto a paper or plastic substrate. The substrate is the same size as the editioning paper because it is also the guide for placing the registration marks. In this case, the "Bar and T" method of registration is being used.

The Colorplates

With the primary plate already executed, the artist next executes the secondary plates that will be printed as the first and second colors. The pertinent areas of the key drawing are transferred to the other two colorplates, indicating where the images must be renderred. The images below illustrate the colorplates as renderred and below them, how they look printed at each stage.
Colorplate #1 on the plate or stone
Colorplate #2 on the plate or stone
Colorplate #3 (i.e., the originally drawn image) on the plate or stone
The printed image with Colorplate #1 printed in red-orange.
The image with its second color (i.e., Colorplate #2) printed in beige.
The image showing the third color and final Colorplate printed in brown.