Print Making

1. Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on
paper.
Except in the case of monotype, the process is capable of producing
multiples of the same piece, which is called a print .
Painting or drawing creates ONE unique original piece of artwork.
Prints are created from a single original surface, known technically as
a matrix. Common types of matrices include: plates of metal, stone,
used for lithography; blocks of wood for woodcuts, linoleum for
linocuts and fabric plates for screen- printing.
Works printed from a single plate create an edition, usually each is
signed and numbered to form a limited edition.
PRINT MAKING – What IS it?

2. Printmaking is an artistic process based on the principle of
transferring images from a matrix onto another surface, most
often paper or fabric.
Traditional printmaking techniques include woodcut, etching,
engraving, and lithography, while modern artists have
expanded available techniques to include screen printing.
A matrix is essentially a template, and can be made of wood,
metal, or glass.
The Process

3. type of printmaking
Relief Techniques
Woodcut
Linocut
Intaglio Techniques
Engraving
Drypoint
Mezzotint
Etching
Aquatint
Spitbite Aquatint
Photogravure
Stencil
Techniques
Screenprint
Pochoir
Other Techniques
Monoprint/Monotype
Lithography
Digital Prints
Collagraph
Handmade Paper

4. Linocut
► The linocut is a printmaking technique similar to that of
the woodcut, the difference being that the image is
engraved on linoleum instead of wood.
► Since linoleum offers an easier surface for working, linocuts
offer more precision and a greater variety of effects than
woodcuts.
► Artists like Picasso and Matisse began to work in that
technique.

5. LINO CUT PRINT

6. ►WOOD CUT - Woodcut, a type of RELIEF PRINT, is
the earliest printmaking technique. It was probably first
developed as a means of printing patterns on cloth, and
by the 5th century was used in China for printing text and
images on paper.
► Woodcuts of images on paper developed around 1400 in
Japan, and slightly later in Europe. These are the two
areas where woodcut has been most extensively used
purely as a process for making images without text.

7. Engraving
The process was developed in Germany in
the 1430s from the engraving used by
GOLDSMITH to decorate metalwork.
Engravers use a hardened steel tool
called a BURN to cut the design into the
surface of a metal plate, traditionally
made of copper. Engraving using a burin is
generally a difficult skill to learn.

8. Etching
Etching is part of the INTAGLIO family. In pure etching, a metal plate (usually
copper, zinc, or steel) is covered with a waxy or acrylic GROUNG. The artist
then draws through the ground with a pointed etching needle, exposing the metal.
The plate is then etched by dipping it in a bath of etchant (e.g. NITRRIC ACID
or FERRIC CHLORIDE). The etchant "bites" into the exposed metal, leaving
behind lines in the plate. The remaining ground is then cleaned off the plate, and
the printing process is then just the same as for ENGRAVING.

9. LITHOGRAPH
LITHOGRAPHY is a technique invented in 1798
by ALOIS SENEFELDER and based on the
CHEMICAL REPULSION of OIL and WATER. A
porous surface, normally LMESTONE, is
used; the image is drawn on the limestone
with a greasy medium. Acid is applied,
transferring the grease-protected
design to the limestone, leaving the image
'burned' into the surface.

10. SCREEN PRINTING (occasionally known as
"silkscreen", or "serigraphy") creates
prints by using a fabric stencil technique;
ink is simply pushed through the stencil
against the surface of the paper, most
often with the aid of a squeegee.
Generally, the technique uses a natural or
synthetic 'mesh' fabric stretched tightly
across a rectangular 'frame,' much like a
stretched canvas.

11. TERM TO KNOW
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on
paper
Edition
The number of images printed from the plate is called an edition. The
body of the edition is numbered (for example, 1/100 through 10/100)
directly on the print, in pencil.
Artist's Proofs
Artist's proofs are those impressions from an edition that are specifically
intended for the artist's own use.
States
Once the artist has drawn an image, he or she may pull several prints.
If the artist subsequently changes the image, the first prints are called
first state, and the subsequent prints with the change, second state.

12. Things to remember…
Reverse Image
Pulling a Print
Brayer
Contrast
Texture (implied)
Pattern
Bench Hook
Plate
Positive Areas
Negative Areas
Registrations
Self-Portrait

15. mallet
Hammer used to strike the heel of a sharp tool to drive it into wood.
U-shaped gouge
Sharp U-shaped chisel used to remove areas to create large blank
spaces.
V-shaped gouge
Sharp V-shaped chisel used to dig deep angular grooves and to remove
areas to create smaller blank spaces.
chisel
Sharp tool with a flat beveled blade used for engraving wood in the grain
direction; it removes areas to create blank space around the figure and
smoothes out the background.
block cutter
Chisel with a beveled point used in engraving to achieve subtleties of line;
it was once used on copper but is now used mainly on wood.
knife
Tool used for engraving in the grain direction of the wood; it brings out the
figure by means of incisions.

17. How to
sign
your
prints

18. Paper FOR PRINT MAKING
► As papermaking knowledge spread from China to the rest of
Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, printmaking became
more widespread and technologically sophisticated.

19. Washi literally mean a Japanese paper" is a type of paper made in
Japan. Washi is commonly made using fibers from trees and shrubs,
but also can be made using bamboo, hemp, rice, and wheat.
Washi comes from wa meaning Japanese and shi meaning paper, and
the term is used to describe paper made by hand in the traditional
manner.
It was around 610 CE that the technique of making paper by hand
was brought to Japan by proselytizing Buddhist monks.
To add another international twist to Washi paper’s origins, the Nihon
Shoki, also known as The Chronicles of Japan, one of the oldest
books on classical Japanese history (written in 720), claims that the
Chinese techniques were brought to the country via the Korean
Buddhist priest Doncho, who helpfully introduced techniques for
making ink at the same time.

20. ► Printmaking has its roots in prehistoric times, when humans
placed their hands on cave walls and use natural pigment
around them to create images.
► In approximately 500 BCE, Sumerians carved Images on cylinder
seals that could be pressed into wet clay, thereby creating
multiple imprints to indicate the ownership of goods.
► Chinese scholars created rubbings from carved texts around 200
CE, an early form of printing that could be done on paper and
silk.
Printing as AN art

21. ► Printmaking initially flourished as a
form of communication, for it enabled
artists to make multiples that could be
disseminated to a large number of
people.
► Starting in the eighth century, Japanese
artists used printmaking to make
multiple editions of Buddhist
manuscripts.
► In fourteenth century Europe, woodcut
prints became a popular way to
distribute Christian images to the
common people.
► In the fifteenth century, Gutenberg’s
printed Bible ushered in a whole new era
of literacy.
Printing for Communication

22. ► Johann Gutenberg invented
the printing press in 1450.
► Europe prior to this was a
place full of illiterate people:
no books and no schools!
► Ok, some books, but they
were owned only by priests
and the rich because they
were hand written either by
monks or scribes.
Information traveled by word of
mouth; namely priests and
the occasional traveling
storyteller.
Using the Gutenberg Press
The 1ST PRINTING press

23. ►
►
Gutenberg invents this thing, the printing press. What
does it do?
How does it work?
What did the printing press allow us to make MANY of
very quickly?
► What is the VERY FIRST book printed?

24. How do you think this invention affected the illiterate European
society?
• Schools emerged = Literacy!
• Common people had access to MUCH more information
• People saw contradictions among texts and caused
individual CRITICAL thinking Traditional power
structures began to be challenged.
• Scientific knowledge expanded in the Renaissance.
• The Church slowly but surely was losing absolute power
• INDIVIDUALISM!
• The idea spread that everyone was entitled to an opinion
and could print it in a book!
• But how does the Printing Press affect your life, today?
• All these things resulted in the formation of
DEMOCRACY

25. Dürer's
Rhinoceros,
woodcut, 1515.
The Four
Horsemen of the
Apocalypse, 1497-
Albrecht Dürer
From the Renaissance onward, individual artists became known for their
spectacular use of printmaking.
In fifteenth century audiences with the exquisite detail and craftsmanship of
his paintings, woodblock prints, and engravings.

26. rembradth
In 17th century Rembrandt’s mastery of the intaglio medium enabled him to
create an influential group of over three hundred printmaking plates.

27. Hokusai
Katsushika Hokusai (November 1760–May 10, 1849) was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e
painter and printmaker of the Edo period.
Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best-known as
author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (1831) which includes
the iconic and internationally recognized print, The Great Wave off
Kanagawa, created during the 1820s. Hokusai created the "Thirty-Six Views" both as a
response to a domestic travel boom and as part of a
personal obsession with Mount Fuji. It was this series, specifically The Great Wave print and
Fuji in Clear Weather, that secured Hokusai’s fame both within Japan and overseas.
Mount Fuji, from the
Thirty-six Views of Mount
Fuji, color woodcut by
Katsushika Hokusai

28. The Great Wave off Kanagawa,
Hokusai's most famous print,
the first in the series 36 Views of Mount Fuji

29. Pablo Picasso
Still Life Under a Lamp,
1962; color linocut. John
L. Severance Fund 1984.
Pablo Picasso "Tête de
Femme"/"Portrait de
Jacqueline de face. II“
colorlinocut,
PABLO PICASSO –
(Spanish, 1881-1973).

30. ► Henri Matisse
(French, b. 1869, La Cateau,
France, d. 1954, Nice, France)
Head of a Woman, 1938