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Course: The Museum of Modern Art > Unit 1
Lesson 1: PrintmakingRelief process
Relief printmaking, a hands-on art form, uses tools like a baren to transfer ink from a block to paper. Artists often use wood or linoleum blocks, each offering unique effects. The choice between white line and black line techniques can create depth and dimensionality. This affordable, accessible method allows artists to easily replicate their designs. Created by The Museum of Modern Art.
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- 5:56the video shows prints that use multiple colors. since the block must first be inked, this seems difficult. How is this achieved?(31 votes)
- One way this is achieved is by creating your image in stages and moving from lighter to darker colors. For example, if you want to create an image in red, white and black and are using white paper, you start by carving out the areas you want to remain white. When this is done you ink the raised area of the block with red and run it through a printer. You then clean the block and carve out the areas you want to remain red. You then ink the block in black, carefully align the block and your paper with the red and white lines already on it and run it through the printer again. You now have a white, red and black image.(40 votes)
- could you use this process for comics or manga drawing?(7 votes)
- You could make anything, as long as you were prepared to carve a relief (i.e. reversed, carving the parts you wanted to remain white, as opposed to regular drawing where you draw the dark lines) version of your comic/manga. It would be quite time-consuming, since you would have to keep in mind that any text would have to be carved backwards, since printing reverses the image.
I believe most commercial comic artists draw first using a pencil, then scan the images in a computer to ink the lines and add colour digitally. Then they can print off as many copies as they like.(9 votes)
- is drawing on paper harder or is it harder to carve on wood? Is it easy to write backwards?(3 votes)
- :) It depends on how much you practice each skill. With time and practice, everything gets easier.(6 votes)
- At6:28,6:29and various other places I love the use of African art prints. Does anyone else feel that the use of multiculturalism in art helps the viewers relate better to what they are seeing and that sometimes the lack of representation in art excludes some people?(4 votes)
- Yes, and that is a very good point for you to make. : )(3 votes)
- At0:25, what is the name of the small object used to press the paper? A baron?(3 votes)
- He had already inked the block - is there anything special for this process, or basically just slather ink over it?
edit: I see later he used a roller - what method is there to make sure you get enough ink, but not too much?(3 votes)- There is not a specific method, artists just know from experience and estimate how much ink is needed.(3 votes)
- What are iron oxide / carbon transfers? Are they like carbon paper used for documents?(2 votes)
- You can buy carbon transfer paper at your local craft store. I tend to make my own transfer paper by just rolling some soft vine charcoal on one side of a thin sheet of paper.(5 votes)
- Do professional artists who print use other ink colors than black?(3 votes)
- What type of "thin" paper would be good to use for printing by hand?(2 votes)
- Rice paper would be great to use for printing by hand.(3 votes)
- How are prints with dozens or even hundreds of different colours, tones, and shades made?(2 votes)
- For every base color, a different piece of wood or linoleum is cut. Paint is usually semitransparent, so you can achieve three colors with two blocks. You make a lino for the red and orange parts of the image, another for the yellow and orange parts. Where the two blocks overlap, the red and yellow paint will appear orange. If you use three blocks, you can achieve seven colors, and the more blocks you add, the number of possible colors goes up.
In Japan, they sometimes blended two or three colors into a gradient on the same block of wood, to create the color of the sky for example.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-94EtPjSu5fs/UEdZXBF-llI/AAAAAAAAEAs/jZPZm10am7k/s1600/9753-620x-hiroshige.jpg
I doubt that hundreds of different shades are found in these kinds of prints though.(3 votes)
Video transcript
Relief print making origins
started in hand-printing meaning no press was required. You are able as an artist
or a commercial printer printing text able to transfer the image by hand by use of a
baren. A baren is a small object that allows you
to apply even pressure larger than that of your hand. In this case the block has been inked, and a thin sheet of paper is
laid over top of the block. With gentle pressure, apply to the block. You can transfer the ink
to the sheet of paper. A baren is typically used
on thin sheets of paper. The heavier weight papers
that most artist use today are too thick for hand to be
able to apply pressure all the way through that sheet for an
even transfer of the image. You can check the impression to
ensure you got a cool even pull. Wood cuts use a flat piece
of wood in a case that we'll demonstrate today. There
will be a cabinet grade plywood which is extremely
dimensionally stable, but still has a beautiful grain. The grain of the wood and
wood cut is one reason that artists utilize the material. The grain provides a different
effect, in the black areas of the print. Contrast to something like linoleum cuts, where the black ares are totally flat. A wood cut, the grain will
affect just how heavily black the black areas of the print can be printed. The grain has a visual effect that can
often be used to an artist advantage. When cutting on a wood block,
you use a different set of tools much similar to
that of a wood carver or a a cabinet maker. These tools provide the
artist and the opportunity to have a variety of marks, widths, and depths from which to work with. In relief print making a wood
cut block is prepared first by toning the block with
an Indian ink wash or a wash of a jet black film ink. This provides a black
ground on the surface from which to easily see to removed areas of wood, to reveal the
drawing in a way that allows the artist to
understand what is happening, and where their drawing is going. Once the block has been stained or toned, the drawing can be
transferred through with the aid of an iron oxide
or carbon paper transfer. Once that paper transfer has been made, the artist now has the
choice of deciding which form of white line or
black line composition to utilize. White line is revealing
the image through thin white lines in a black
field. That would be cutting away those white
lines to leave the upper area or black field to take ink. The opposite way of
approaching the image area is what we call black
line. Which is removing the majority of the
information or wood to reveal thin raised black lines
to accept the ink for transfer to paper. It is the balance of
white line and black line that creates a sense of depth
or three-dimensionality. Often an artist will have
a shift of white line to black line to be able to reveal a more representational or dimensional space. Once the image has been
cut into the block, the block is prepared for printing. Ink is rolled over the
surface of the block, placed on the press, and
past through transferring ink to paper. Linoleum block printing
or a liner cut is a form of relief print making. It relies on linoleum very much similar
to what would be in someones home. A linoleum
tile, as being a very flat consistent surface,
that you can gouge away the non-image area. Linoleum block prints provide a very specific
look, which would be something that has a flat black area. The type of linoleum block
print making that we do today is very affordable and accessible. The materials are easy to
use and easy for people to begin understanding
the basic concept of print making. Because of it's
affordability and ease of use, it can be used
by a variety of different people all across the
world. To have a very quick transfer of an idea to
a block that can then be replicated to print making. Approaching a linoleum
block print has very similar to that in
approaching of a wood cut. The material in itself
can be toned just like a wood block is toned, to
provide a black ground. It makes it easier to see
what it is your cutting. Linoleum in of itself, in a
material,does not necessarily need that, because it's
fairly easy to see what it is that your doing. You can lay out your drawing ahead of time with a marker, or also
a carving, or iron-oxide transfer. In this case I
will approach the block with the material blank and
develop the image as I go. Also like a wood cut, if I remove
material, I can not be replace. Whatever I cut away will be white. Whatever remains will be black. The tools we use for linoleum
cuts are very similar to those of a wood cut.
The difference is the type of metal that's
used. Linoleum is a much softer material and
does not dull the tools nearly as quickly as wood dulls the tools. A high carving steel is
not necessarily required for doing linoleum cut.
You can see the different shapes here. A V gouge
and U tip. Very similar to that of a wood cut. These are the tools that
we use for linoleum cuts, and the tools that we
have for wood cut are very specific. Anything
that can remove material is a tool that can be
used. An artist may use a crowbar, screwdriver, a nail, and all of these things that mark or
[mar 05:53] the surface will provide image area. Once you drawn a basic
image on the linoleum block you can begin cutting. In this case I've used some simple
text but remembering that this will be printed in
reverse. Everything on the block must be backwards. So for printing a relief
block, that's a linoleum cut, it's the same approach
as to printing a wood cut. We want an even
application and anchor across the entire block. In this
case, because the surface of the linoleum will print a flat black. We're insuring that we make a very even application with no texture.