I got a new tattoo and it is my first colored one. It was done too deep and became infected. Now the scabbing looks like dried up finger paint. Why is this?

Well, in addition to it being done too deep, it was probably also "chunked out" as it's known. This means that the person that was doing it most likely filled in the area in oppositional directions, left to right on one layer, and right to left on another and perhaps even side to side and then up and down. This quite literally is chunking flesh and resulting in massive trauma and ensures that the healed product will look horrible. The "dried up finger paint" is the pigment which has been most likely completely pushed out of the wound along with the layers of dead skin that are entwined with the flakes and scabs. It will look a little jacked when all is said and done, and getting it redone will be pretty painful due to the fact that you will be tattooing over scar tissue.