Dry point is basic print process that belongs to the Intaglio family of printmaking. By creating a burr in different materials we can achieve the most basic of print forms. The beauty of this print process is it accessibility, being cheap and relatively easy to do.
The Idea of Dry point is to etch into the surface, in this case using a thick acetate, depending on the depth, direction or shape of the cut enables different affects.
After adding a simple mix of ink and binder to the etched side of acetate we need to remove all the ink, accept the ink in the burrs of the design.
(For best results in the process use newsprint or blue roll.)
This press is ideal for the transfer of pressure onto the design but wet paper helps the transfer become more effective.(however the use of a boss clamp would gain the same result). Adding the acetate to the press face up and applying the wet paper, roll the design through the press. (twice for best results). Remove the paper and quickly go through the process again, as the line more defined after the second print.
This image outlines the different techniques the are possible using, stroke, depth of cut direction, and angle.
At first the Ideas do not come easily but by referencing other artists and looking at how they use the line helped a lot.Toppi, Garth Ennis and Jeff Lemire, comic artists use intricate lines using direction to imply tone and shape.
As my design has bold lines and simple shape, considering how to create an interesting Drypoint process was an enjoyable experience for me. I used a multitude of different lines to create different simple effects to bring my idea to life.
Using deeper lines on the outside of the design gave contrast between the shape and texture. The most difficult aspect of the image during this process was the type. If doing this process again using a strong san serif type like 'Helvetica' is not a good idea, as the nature of the process means defined straight lines are very difficult. Also remembering that tranfering type means it needs to be mirrored. Although I have used Photoshop to flip my image my original prints are backwards.
Using a different product like 90g card produced completely different effects all together. The ink did not tranfer aswell but the texture of the card broke done the card in a really interesting way by disecting lines.
No comments:
Post a Comment