Developing printmaking

I've been developing my prints through adding text and playing with colour. The first thing I tried was adding lettering with the printing blocks. However it didn't really work that well because I was trying to print onto a photocopy and the ink didn't stick properly. I also tend to prefer a bolder appearance so I tried a different method of adding text later on (see below).

I then used the oil method to add colour to a black and white photocopy of my print. I don't really think this method is appropriate in this case as it gives very muted colours and I think this print would be complemented by more vibrant ones. So I tried other methods of adding colours.

I then played with collaging a background onto the original print. Although it gives an interesting effect I think it looks too fussy and doesn't look good with the very simple block shapes. As a result I decided to try adding a simple block colour background instead.

Here it is with the simple block colour. I think the selective colour palette works well. The design looks bold, simple and quite retro. I think it has a lot more impact.

I then tried adding simple line in pencil because I'd liked the combination of line and block shape on the stencil (see previous post). I also added text using paper cut outs. I really think the addition of text has added interest and vibrancy to the image as well as balancing the colour palette. I'm still undecided as to whether adding the lines has improved it. I want to do more different prints adding text to them to create a bit of a series.