Printmaking again.

I have found a place to do printing closer to home with a local (very talented) artist who is in the process of devoting a part of her studio into a print space (with a little help from myself). We've been waiting for the arrival of a press (sooo exciting!! it should be arriving in the next few weeks!!!) and so in-between gathering up the many and various materials needed for etching, we've been experimenting with Kitchen Lithography (check out the video below....all I'll say is tin foil and Coka Cola!) and I've been re-introduced to Monoprinting.

After falling in love with etching, which is all about the process, the very long, slow and multi-layered process, I'd always thought the simplicity of monoprinting relegated it to more of a sketchbook partypiece. A cheaty way of printmaking really when you took into account the skill needed for most other forms of printing. However, after struggling with the temperamental and down right contrary nature of kitchen litho, it was exactly it's very ease that made me see it in a new light. Dare I even say (such an infuriating term as) the quality of line you can achieve from monoprinting, also recommended it to me when it hadn't before. The pieces below were really just experimental for me but I loved the results. 

   

I was going to enter a film poster competition for films directed by women, however, I struggled to draw a good likeness of Holly Hunter from The Piano and then subsequently ran out of time. I got some nice sketches for it to work out composition and shading though and I'd like to point out that the writing was done free hand and back-to-front while holding the pen strangely so as to prevent wresting my hand on the paper and in so doing transferring unwanted ink. Pretty good going I'd say!

Etching at The Art Academy

So, about four weeks ago, I started an evening etching class at The Art Academy in London. Four weeks ago, I also told myself that I would write this post.........oooops! I can verify with some relief that the etching class has been a lot more productive!
It's been over a year now that I last used the print room at Plymouth University, and while I had said I would try to find a print studio in London I could use to keep the etching going, I was worried that I would have forgotten how to use it by the time I got round to making good on the promise I had made to myself. I felt a refresher course was in order. Cue a quick search through Google and an halaluja moment when I found this fantastic six week evening course just round the corner from London Bridge at The Art Academy. Perfect for after work. I'll admit it's been tiring going straight from work to a three hour etching session but I've been enjoing the experience. It's also been good to be reminded of why I loved it before and to gain usefull tips on how to complete diferent stages of the process at home. Who knows, maybe I'll set up my own makeshift studio in the kitchen!
Last lesson I got to the stage of applying an aquatint and then etching for tone and shading. I find that the most nervracking stage because it really feels like guess work! I can't imagine getting to the stage when it won't! Next week will be the big test.....when I actually print. In the mean time, keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll leave you with the drawing of what I line etched. The tone is going on top. After spending a whole evening etching this image onto my plate, I then dreamed about foxes all night!

 

An etching to finish.

I am sitting here on a quite honestly horrendous July afternoon with rain speckling my window and contemplating life after uni (it really has finished now, I took my degree show work down on Saturday). I have four rolls of film sitting on my desk that I can't afford to get developed and I have more money in my purse then I do in my bank account. The outlook is bleak. However, while I hang in this state of limbo, pulled between going home and working part time at my local farm shop and hopefully making enough money to go travelling or staying in Plymouth to find a job and staying closer to friends and perhaps more motivation to continue drawing, I have the time to share pictures of the very last ever etching I was able to make in the university print room just before the degree show. The image comes from the last scene of a comic I drew last term as part of the 24 hour comic event I took part in. Did I put up pictures from that? I can't remember! Well, it's only a very small etching, ideal for a book mark or something. 

Some more bookcovers.

Although I was fairly pleased with the book cover I designed for The House of Bernarda Alba a short time ago, I felt it was worth pushing a little further and so I've done three more versions. I actually only like the one with the orange writing (I think the other two are a bit weird!) and I might use this one as my final. What do you think?

Page layouts

Here's what my illustrations would look like if they were actually really and truly published! I think I should be hired right away ;)

The Final One!

Here are the final pages of my sketchbook for my final illustration for my final project which I've been working on for these final months at uni! What a scary thing to have to say. I really am going to finish in just over a months time...............let's just focus on the illustrations for now! Drum roll please........

Look what I did!!!

I'm very pleased with myself! I have sucessfully managed to create a book cover which looks half decent in photoshop. Hooray for me :) Here's the first one I did for the Penguine Design Awards which set me on the road to book cover love in the first place!

Second is the one I did for my final uni project based around The House of Bernarda Alba which I've been working on for the last few months (the project, not the book cover!)

Printing with Lithography

I've been very excited and pleased to have spent the last couple of months (on and off) in the print room while learning, and experimenting with, lithography. I started by using stone Litho which is a very long process and complicated. Then I found out about plate litho........basically, while stone litho requires you to grind down the surface of a very heavy (for anyone of average strength) and large stone and then to  transfer your image, cover it with weak acid, then in stronger and again stronger acid until you start printing, plate litho allows you to draw directly onto the plate (it's a bit like paper) with pretty much any materiel you like, bond it with heat and then you're ready to print! a LOT quicker! I've enjoyed the process and bellow follows the results (well, some of them, the actual printing is so quick for both processes that I've ended up with hundreds of prints).