Friday 24 October 2014

Lino Cuts- Illustration - Level 5


Here are a handful of linocuts that have been printed over the past couple of weeks by our  illustrators.

Alex Firmin Brooks

Joe Parker

 Jordan Baines

 Livy Nelson
Rachael Brain

If you would like to try your hand at lino talk to one of our technicians.


What artists do all day- Norman Ackroyd

For any of you interested in etching this half hour documentary is well worth a watch. The documentary is filmed in the London warehouse studio of Norman Ackroyd, one of the countries most celebrated landscape artists, as he creates his latest work. It is a lovely insight into some of the processes used to make his stunning prints.










Wednesday 22 October 2014

Printroom late-opening times.

*phew*, said he, wiping the sweat from his brow, heck its been busy down here lately. So busy in fact that we haven't had time to bring you much bloggy updates lately - no worries, one of us will get on that just as soon as a spare five minutes presents itself. For now, though, we'd just like to inform you that we, being agreeable folks, have decided to keep the print rooms open slightly longer over the next few days, as we know there are plenty of people wanting to come down here and do work.

Thursday 23rd Oct, we shall be open until 6-ish pm in the evening, Friday 24th Oct., we shall stay open til 5.00pm, and on Monday 27th we'll again be open until 6.00pm.

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Photo Etching - Jordan Baines

Last week Jordan Baines (Illustration Level 6) experimented with the photo etching process, A process fairly untested in our print room.  Photo etching involves exposing a positive on to an etching plate. It is a great way to create an etching from a digitally created image.

Here are a few photographs from the process.

Jordan degreased his plate and rolled on a photo sensitive emulsion and left it to harden in a dry dark place.

Jordan had printed his image on acetate in preparation for making up the plate. Once the plate was dry he placed it over his positive and exposed it on the light box; much like you would when screen printing. The image has now been transferred on to the plate and the soft emulsion can be wiped away with methylated spirits. Jordan added some additional marks by hand before covering the reverse with sticky back plastic and placing it in the acid.

The plate was removed from the acid and inked in the same way as a regular etching plate.The results were accurate and Jordan is looking forward to exploring the possibilities of this process further through out his final major project.

If you would like to know more about the process and how it could work with your design contact Christian in the print room.

Thursday 9 October 2014

Inspiration - Dan Speight and The Soft City

How on earth we could think of having a blog, where we like bring you inspirational work that we want to share, without introducing this man, I don't know. Dan Speight used to occupy the hallowed position of Printmaking Technician down in these parts, and we are really chuffed to be able to show you what he has gone on to achieve - proving that really top-quality silkscreen printing doesn't necessarily have to be on a flat sheet of paper! 








Find him here...http://thesoftcity.co.uk

Etching

The Etching studio has been packed to the rafters this week!

Last Thursday and Friday we had inductions for Level Four Illustration students. Here are a few examples from the induction. The students got a real feel for the process and we hope to see them back down very soon.


We have seen a wave of Level 5 Illustration students experimenting with etching this week for their project on sequential illustration.

Work by: Alex Firmin-Brooks

Work by: Livy Nelson

Work by: Aggie Davies

Work by: Joe Parker


Even Illustration lecturer Louis Netter was down printing a plate of his.


If you want to try your hand at Etching but haven't had an induction or can't remember the process pop down the print room and see one of our technicians. Don't be shy!

Linocut printmaking - the Reduction process

As the title suggests, this post concerns the reduction process used in relief printmaking, be it Linocut or Woodcut. We hope this simple tutorial will be helpful in understanding the process, and will inspire you to come down, raid our stock of lino, and get cutting!


http://nataliamoroz.com/reductionmethod.html

Reduction method is a printmaking technique when a multicolored print is made with the use of a single block. Through a series of progressive cuttings, inkings, and printings, the image slowly emerges while the actual block is destroyed. A reduction print can therefore never be reprinted. The main advantage of reduction method is perfect registration.


Reduction method can be tricky, but planning ahead makes it much easier. I always start with a detailed tonal value drawing (preferably in color). Usually, reductions are printed from light to dark. 

Here are step by step images of my recent 5-colors linocut "Breaking Waves". Carved from unmounted Golden-Cut linoleum. The image size 8"x12". Printed on Rising Stonehenge paper with Daniel Smith oil based printing ink. 




The drawing was transfered to the linoleum block. I started with carving away all areas that shall remain white in the final print (white clouds and foam). The plate was printed in pale yellowish green ink. 
Tip: When printing a linocut with more than one layer of inks, I remove extra ink from paper by pressing a clean sheet of plain paper against a freshly printed image. It illuminates unwanted shine and improves the coverage of subsequent layers. 




After the first layer of ink dried, I carved the plate some more and removed the areas that had to be left in the pale yellowish green (parts of the sky and waves). At this state, the plate was printed in teal colour.




Then the plate was carved some more. Everything that need to be left in teal color (dark clouds and most of the ocean surface) is cut away. Then the plate was printed in light blue.



Everything that had to be left light blue is cut away (rocks on the foreground and background). Then the plate was printed in muted violet ink.



Finally, I carved away everything that had to be left dull violet. The plate was printed in dark blue. The print is completed. Since the paper has already accepted five layers of inks, it usually takes the last layer much longer to dry. Breaking Waves linocut is a part of Earth and Sea series.


Tuesday 7 October 2014

Petting Zoo - silkscreen prints from a master of the art...

Down here at Printmaking HQ, we like to give you the nod towards stuff that we find, that we love, and that we hope will provide you good folks with a healthy dose of inspiration, and nothing is more pleasing then than to be able to introduce you to work done by people we know. In this instance, the man Spence, AKA Petting Zoo, is an old and valued chum of ours, as well as being an alumni of this place from some time too long ago now...
 
Petting Zoo is someone we regard as a master when it comes to using 'textural mapping'; importing textural layers often created just using old prints or random artefacts found laying around and a scanner, which he uses to great effect by overlaying, thus allowing other colours to come through.
If you want to follow Petting Zoo - a recommended past-time -  you can find him here… www.easypz.co.uk
Take a look and give your eyeballs a treat...

Tuesday 30 September 2014

Wesley Merritt - Coningsby Gallery

In addition to showing you different printmaking techniques and what our students are up to in the print room, we would like to use this blog to post work by inspirational printmakers, illustrators, designers and artists.
Illustrator Wesley Merritt is currently showing work at Coningsby Gallery (Tottenham Street, London) between 29/09/14 & 04/10/14. 
In the print room we really love Wesley's style, his use of colour and half tone in his work is simple but extremely effective. Although Wesley's work is not been presented as screen prints, Matt and I both agree that it easily could be.
Click here for more information on Wesley Merritt's Exhibition.


We also feel it would also be worth checking out some of the screen prints in the gallery shop for inspiration and to see how contemporary illustrators and graphic designers are using texture, halftones and colour in their work. https://www.coningsbygallery.com/shop/screen-prints
Prints by 'Heretic'




Monday 29 September 2014

The Winston Churchill Design Competition- Jack MacRae (Graphic Design Level 6)


Jack Macrae(Level 6 Graphic Design) was down in the print room today printing this lovely concertina book.
Jack produced this book for this years Winston Churchill design competition, run through ArtsThread. The brief was to 'capture the essence of Churchill's unique style and personality, and present it for a modern audience.'
   Jack focussed on "exploring the many the many aspects of Winston Churchill's Persona through the clothes and  accessories he wore in famous photographs." Jack says the piece "aimed to show not only the style with which he carried himself, but also the personality and substance of the man." 


We wish Jack the best of luck with his competition entry. If you would like to see more of Jacks work visit his blog at, www.jackmacrae.tumblr.com .

Thursday 25 September 2014

Mono Printing - Wyman Babbage (Illustration Level 5)

After seeing the mono printing with textured wallpaper post on the blog earlier in the week,
Wyman Babbage (Level 5 Illustration) decided to apply this technique to some experimental work for his new project. Wyman has begun to research the lunar cycle and wanted to play around with illustrating some of the stages of this cycle using this technique.

Wyman experimented printing with black ink on black stock to illustrate a 'new moon' and we think it worked really well.
We are looking forward to see if and how this idea will develop over the course of the project.

Tuesday 23 September 2014

Screen Print Inductions (Graphic Design Level 5)

A busy day in the print rooms!
Our Level 5 Graphic Design students began their screen print inductions today. Guided through the basics of making a screen,mixing colours, printing and registering a print by our technician Matt Dixon. The students created a two layer print of a penguin classic book cover.



We are looking forward to how they will embrace this print method in their book cover designs in the coming weeks.


If you have any questions regarding screen printing, come and talk to Matt in the print rooms.

Monday 22 September 2014

Experimenting with Ink washes and Letterpress

Todays experiments began by diluting some etching ink with white spirit. By pushing the ink around a plate and mixing certain areas with the white spirit more so than others I was able to create these washes. 

They printed really well and were full of texture and detail. It seemed a shame to leave them as they were, I decided to develop the idea further.



I applied the same technique to some of the large wooden type in the letterpress studio.


I was pleasantly surprised with the results and decided to combine both of my experiments together.


If you like the look of this technique and would like to have a go for yourself, get down the print room and see Christian.


Friday 19 September 2014

Friday 19th September

We had a great day in the print room today!

Wyman Babbage (Illustration level 5) tried his hand at reduction Lino printing.
 Wyman was pleasantly surprised with his out come considering it was his first attempt and is looking forward to exploring Lino further in the coming weeks.




Meanwhile Jordan Baines (Illustration level 6) created these mixed media prints, combining screen printing with various mark making techniques and some letterpress for good measure. If you want to see more of Jordan's work check out his blog. ohhsocuriousillustration.blogspot.co.uk .




Gina Hankin (Illustration level 6) was experimenting with image transfer, letter press and created these lovely collages.





If you want to know more about any of the techniques in this post get down the print room and ask one of our technicians.






Thursday 18 September 2014

Mono-Printing (Textured Wallpaper)

These monoprints have been created using torn pieces of textured wallpaper, the paper has been inked up and run through the etching press.

In order to gain more control over the finished print a stencil was cut and laid over the pieces of wallpaper.

But why stop there? Once dry, the prints could be screen printed over or have text added to them in the letterpress room, the possibilities are endless. 



Such a simple method has produced such effective results, but how could you apply this technique in your work?