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INTRODUCTION

After learning and exploring the various mediums and techniques employed in painting, it is about time we move into exploring the beauty and amazing world or creating and producing a print in the medium of printmaking. While painting uses vehicle, pigments and the canvas to create and produce a masterpiece, in the art of printmaking we do not only employed all the painting mediums but at the same time we also employed the medium of sculpture in some of its work, not to mention the use of another new medium called "Digital Arts."

So let us now venture into the amazing world of visual arts - printmaking. ENJOY!

OBJECTIVES

1. Define, classify and appraise the mediums used in the different form of arts.

2. Explore and apply the use of the different mediums and techniques either as an artist or artisan.

3. Create or design an art work by applying any of the mediums and techniques in the visual arts.

WHILE -TASK

Lesson: The Mediums of Relief Print Makings.pptx

DISCUSSION

The origin of Print Making dated back as early as 3500 BCE, in Persian and Mesopotamian civilizations. Cylinder seals were used to certify documents that were written in clay. Other early forms of print making also includes block seals, pottery imprints and even cloth printing.

Print Making is a graphic image created as a result from a duplicating process, wherein each print is considered as an original work.

Major Process in Print Making:

1. Relief Printing. It is the process of cutting away block or linoleum portions in the design that the artist do not wish to be shown. It involves the art of cutting into the wood or any materials of unwanted parts. The process of which is called "Xerography." Unlike in painting, to produce a relief or a work of art with a subject it does not use canvas to paint the subject, but rather wood or other materials with the use of chisel, knife or any hard pointed objects. Image result for Italian Chiaroscuro Woodcuts

In relief printing by xerography, some artists are able to apply and use even some of the techniques in painting. One of which is "Chiaroscuro" ( see artwork on the right side by a famous Italian artist) wherein it applies the contrast of light and dark.

2. Intaglio Printing. It is the art of printmaking either by scratching/etching, engraving, mezzotint, aquatint, or dry point. All the technique employs or use incising lines on the surface, after which inks or chemicals are applied on the depressed areas, meaning areas that need to be shown, by pressure with a damp cloth or an object thus leaving an impression on the surface.

Kinds of Intaglio Printing

a. Etching/Scratching. It is the process were in the artist scratches or etches on the surface lines and images in bare metal then dips, or washes with bath acid or covers it with acid. The acid used for this process is not harmful to human hands. Sharp objects, metals or specially made tools are used in etching or scratching. The acid bites into the metal with the incised lines thus images are produced or exposed to create the art design.

Some examples of etching and scratching maybe viewed in walls or even on barks of See the source image tress, or even on sand called sand painting. Danny Hoofer an artist from Germany was believed to have invented the process as a means of decorating the German armor as a means of inspiring the German soldier.

b. Engraving uses a different and special type of tool called "burin." The word burin came from the French word "Cold See the source image Chisel." ( see picture to your left). It was designed and invented by Hendrich Goltiuz known for his art works on engraving.

Traditionally, Goltiuz used a "Lithic Flake" for his work. A lithic flake is a sharp stone used for cutting. However, when he started to develop "Carpa Tunnel", a medical condition wherein the thumb locks, he designed the burin to enable him to continue working on his work.

c. Mezzo tint - if engraving, scratching and etching requires smooth surfaces, mezzo tint on the other hand roughens the surfaces then gradually scrapped smooth surfaces in order to create an image. Ludwig Von Siegen invented the process of mezzo tint a process widely used in England during the mid-eighteenth century to produce portraits and other paintings.

d. Aquatint. It is a technique that also uses acid to mark the application but what makes it different from the other process is the application of powdered rosin which is acid resistant on the surface to create a tonal effect. Francisco Goya is one artist that is known for the use of Aquatint.

e. Dry Point. It is a variant of engraving done with a sharp point called burin by scratching and leaving a rough burr (cut or prickles) at the edge of the lines.

3. Lithography. It is a process wherein images and symbols are incised in the original plate that maybe metal or stones then pressed in another plate that is clear or clean. Hence, once pressed into the clean or clear plate, the images, symbols from the original plate are pressed and copied on the 2nd plate. Lithography is the traditional way to print maps and books.

However, as we progress, a much practical way and easier way of printing had been designed, hence the "offset printing that is commonly use to print volumes of books and text. The inked image is transferred from the plate to a rubber blanket then to the printing surface.

Other Methods of Printing

a. Stamping. It is a type of printing used for many fabrics and most early European woodcuts (1400-1440). Images and symbols were printed by putting the paper/fabric or other flat surface with the block on top and pressing hammer on the back of the block.

b. Rubbing. It is the most common method for printing on paper. The block goes face up on a table, with the paper or fabric on top. The back is rubbed with a "hard pad." A hard pad is a flat piece of wood, a burnish or leather. Nowadays, the hard pad was substituted with a "baren", a modern tool used for rubbing.

c. Stencil Process is done by cutting designs out of special paper, cardboard or metal in such a way that when ink is rubbed over it, the design is produced beneath the surface . However, at present there is a special screen that is used for stencil process is called "serigraphy or serigraph" that is made from a very fine silk.

Types and kinds of stencil process

a. Stencil Plate. It is a special type of tool commonly use by engineers, architect similar to a special kind of ruler with numbers and letters engraved or with specific symbols, design or images already engraved ready to be use as ready made pattern.

b. Screen Printing. It is also known as "silk screening" or serigraphy that creates Image result for woven mesh for screen printing bold colors using a stencil technique. It is the oldest form of graphic arts. It is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh ( see picture to your right) to support an ink blocking stencil.

Mini Squeegee A screen is a piece of fabric usually silk that is stretched over a wood or aluminum frame. To spread the colors or paint, a "squeegee" or a rubber blade (picture to your left) is use to spread evenly across the ink or paint over the stencil.

4. Planographic Process. It is a surface printing done from an almost smooth surface treated chemically or mechanically so that some areas will print and others will not. A print can be made by pressing a piece of paper on the plate. It maybe compared to as sticker that one that we stick on our skin or even on our nails as a design commonly known as nail art.

Modern Types of Printing

1. Photography. It is literally drawing or writing with light. It refers to a print were in the product is the actual likeness and that the production of which is the artist's creativity.

Steps in Photography

a. Choose your subject for the photo shoot.

b. Mechanical Process. It refers to the operation of the camera.

c. Chemical Process. It involves the development of the film with the use of the negative.

Before or originally, films produced by Kodak Philippines and Fuji Films were use to produce our pictures. Thus the term "Kodakan Tayo" originated which means to take picture.

However, with the coming age of modern technologies things started to changed. From the meticulously operated camera we now have a one shot type of camera that need to be adjusted or operated that requires to project the right texture and images. It has its own built in application system not only to produce the right amount of colors but it can also automatically adjust to the the right lightning effect.

What is even interesting is that it need no chemical process and that it can store in pictures, prints and be re-printed as well with the use of the computer. Pictures taken maybe made into videos and other features like editing images through applications like "Adobe photo shop." Thus, even the term associated with taking pictures from kodakan have now been replaced with the word "selfie" meaning take picture and "photo bomber" refers to those images that appears accidentally unwanted. But above all it does not only serves as a camera but a mobile phone at the same time.

2. Digital Printing. It refers to methods of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers. Digital printing has a higher cost per page than more traditional offset printing methods, but this price is usually offset by avoiding the cost of all the technical steps required to make printing plates.

It also allows for on-demand printing, short turnaround time, and even a modification of the image (variable data) used for each impression. The savings in labor and the ever-increasing capability of digital presses means that digital printing is reaching the point where it can match or supersede offset printing technology's ability to produce larger print runs of several thousand sheets at a low price.

3. Trompo-l'oeil or Tarpaulin. It came from the word "trick the eye." It is a unique art technique that is used in creating extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that depicts a three dimensional objects instead of actual two dimensional painting.

A tarpaulin or tarp, is a large sheet of strong, flexible, water-resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas or polyester coated with polyurethane, or made of plastics such as polyethylene. In some places such as Australia, and in military slang, a tarp may be known as a hutch. Tarpaulins often have reinforced grommets at the corners and along the sides to form attachment points for rope, allowing them to be tied down or suspended. See the source image

Tarpaulin was introduced by Donnald O' Conner in the film " Singing in the Rain" ( see picture on your right) a movie See the source image and Broadway musical that features the setting of New York presented in a form of a "backdrop". A backdrop may also be made into a moving features or images through what we call "cyclorama." (see picture on the left) A cyclorama is a series of images or pictures that represents a continuous scene. Many concerts like those of famous singer Josh Groban makes use of cyclorama.

4. Foil Imaging. It is a print making technique made using the IOWA Foil from the commercial foil stamping process. It was introduced by Virginia Mayers a way of advertising IOWA Aluminum Foil. She used gold leaf and acrylic foil in the printmaking process.