Printmaking

Mount Fuji, from the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, color woodcut by Katsushika Hokusai

"Melencolia I", engraving by Albrecht Dürer, one of the most important printmakers.

"The sleep of Reason creates monsters", etching and aquatint by Francisco Goya

Printmaking is the creation of a matrix, also known as a plate, inking that plate, and then transferring that inked image onto paper or another material. The matrix could be a wooden block, a piece of sheet linoleum, a metal plate, etc. This process produces multiple prints from a single image, unlike drawing or painting which only produces one.

Emphasis is an area in an artwork that visually stands out from the rest of the piece. Artists use center of interest to attract and hold a viewer’s attention The viewers eye often starts at a piece’s center of interest, moves around, and then ends back at the center of interest. Using what we have learned so far in class we can use our skills to create a focal point within our work.

Where is the Emphasis in each of these works of art?

We are going to use a form of block printing.

So where did printmaking start? The Chinese developed a printing technique called “woodcut” to print books of Chinese characters and images, around 100 AD.

Types of printmaking Printmaking techniques are generally divided into the following basic categories: Relief - where ink is applied to the raised surface of the matrix. Relief techniques include woodcut or woodblock as the Asian forms are usually known, wood engraving, linocut and metal cut. Intaglio - where ink is applied beneath the original surface of the matrix. Intaglio techniques include engraving, etching, mezzotint, aquatint. Stencil - where ink or paint is pressed through a prepared screen, including screen printing and stencil graffiti.

New Vocabulary to know. Block: the wooden/linoleum piece you carve Gouges: sharp tools used to carve out linoleum strips Print: an inked impression of your block, placed on paper (this is what you’ll turn in) Edition: lots of prints that all look exactly the same

So what are we doing? We are going to use foam to create an edition of 20 or so prints. Before you can start your 20 print editions, you will first need to make an Artist’s proof. We will then exchange 1 print each to everyone in the class. Then we will arrange the pages like a book, and bind them together.

We will be carving and pressing into foam to create a print. Things to consider. Your image will print backwards (mirror-imaged) There is no shading in linoleum cuts; only the color of the ink and the color of the paper. Your print is created by carving out lines It’s very difficult to put detail into a lino cut

Video on foam relief.

Our prints will based on Monsters A monster is any creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is often hideous and may produce fear or physical harm by its appearance and/or its actions. The word "monster" derives from Latin monstrum, an aberrant occurrence, usually biological, that was taken as a sign that something was wrong within the natural order.

We are going to be making monster prints. What you can do is draw up a monster and write a small story to accompany the picture so your monster has context. You can also make a monster up from a real fear you have. This would mean your monster is a living version of something that might scare you.

Examples of monsters in history. Japanese Oni (demon)

Ogre

Living dead (zombie)

There are so many more, if you know of any write them down. They may make great pictures to make prints from.

Today: What we are doing… We are going to start by filling out the sheet about monsters. This will help you find a monster or picture you want to work on. Start to sketch up ideas for you print. Draw on black paper with a white crayon to understand what your print will look like.