Sunday, 31 January 2016
Saturday, 23 January 2016
OUIL504 - Summative Evaluation
OUIL504 Summative Evaluation
Throughout this long module I feel I have been introduced
to and undertaken many new techniques and processes key to the development of
my own individual practice. Attending workshops such as lino print and
monoprint steered me on the path to using new process to me altogether such as lino
cutting, which I went on to develop and master for the final printed aspect of
this module. It is because of this that I have resulted in creating some of the
best work I have done to date, with the massive help of staff and the amazing
resources available to us on this course.
The Adobe After Effects
workshops have enabled me to learn a brand new and important piece of software,
which I think will be really helpful to me in the future as I continue to try a
wide range of techniques and strive to be as diverse as possible in my approach
to briefs that come my way.
Progressing from having
no skills at the beginning of this module in these areas, to now feeling proud
of what I have achieved and excited to use these skills in the future has been
a valuable journey for me and I am glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and
tried something new with successful results.
In terms of personal skills that I have developed, I feel I have gained a lot of confidence throughout this
module and applied myself with much more dedication than I ever have with any
work I have done before. The lino cuts as part of the printed element of this
module have a lot of time invested in them and the perseverance and level of
focus it took to continue on cutting every day for 5 weeks, despite many people
telling me to do otherwise, really paid off. I have learned that anything, any
idea, any aim is possible if you are dedicated and are willing to spend the
time to get it right. I no longer feel I need the praise and support from peers
with regards to this, although it is always welcome and have really enjoyed
creating a strong final body of work for myself, with my own expectations in
mind.
I feel that the strengths of my submission are my
lino cut prints and my animation. Both final results came together better than
I could have hoped for and have opened up a whole new way of working which I
plan on developing further in the future. My lino cut plates became extremely
important to me, and have been the focus of my life (and family and friends
lives) for the past few months. Creating artwork this way feels very organic
and physical and I feel that the results became a lot more important to me because
of this, whilst also feeling I had a true connection with the imagery I was
creating.
I have always approached my own illustrative
practice in a mainly analogue way, and to have now completed an animation and
enjoyed the process has given me the confidence to try other things I am not
used too.
A major weakness clear in my submission is my lack of
development work. Absence due to health and personal problems has been a key factor
in this and despite being pleased with my final outcomes for this module, I am disappointed
in how I got there. Experimenting, developing, investigating, testing and
researching are all major parts of the process in creating a full body of work
and I wish I had invested more of my time in these aspects instead of the amount
of time spent on my final prints.
This module has been a big eye-opener for me in
terms of the flaws in the way I work within my practice and how I approach my
workload. I need to be able to balance all aspects of this course as well as
life outside of university in order to stay healthy, positively minded and
motivated to progress. I ned to be able to approach new tasks with a more open
mind and develop my ideas in depth in order to push my practice in new directions.
I need to find a way of developing and pushing my own boundaries whilst
remaining realistic to what is achievable.
In the future I will be more dedicated to the
journey of creating, not settle for one idea but instead explore many
possibilities and approaches, and manage my time 100% better than I have
throughout this module. I will have improved studio presence, interact with my
peers and tutors, communicate and overall be more involved in university life
and what it has to offer me throughout the rest of my degree in terms of my
development as an Illustrator.
Final Prints and Presentation
Final Linocut Prints:
Final Linocut Digitally Edited Prints:
Final Linocut Plates:
Final Print Presentation:
Final Outcomes - Self Evaluation
Producing these print sets was easily one of the most difficult tasks I have ever undergone in my own illustrative practice. The months cutting, through to the days spent printing took it out of me emotionally and physically, however despite this I could not be happier with the results.
I was able to achieve a clean and visually pleasing colour merge incorporating the 2 colours as requested as part of the module brief and print these merges on both my chosen off white stock and gold satin stock for variety. The colour merges came out exactly how i had intended and I was also able to print many clean and professional looking black prints ready for scanning in and editing digitally.
I was unable to complete my 3rd linocut plate for the final print "Octavia". This was disappointing and I beat myself up about it as i was worried that 2 A2 prints would not be considered enough work or strong enough visually to call a "set". It is because of this that I am happy I took Ben's advice from my final progress review and developed some digital prints of my final lino cut results, showcasing a previous mock up of how I would have liked to approach a 2 colour/lino plate separation if i had given myself the time to do so. The digital prints came out brilliantly, I was able to retain the texture and ink effect of the original prints by scanning the prints in at a high 600dpi. Adding the colour in Adobe Photoshop took a little time, but i feel the pop of gold amongst the black and white of the print really helps strengthen the composition and aesthetics.
Overall I feel I have produced some of my best work for this module and feel confident enough to progress my printing and linocut skills further on into my own practise and who knows, this may be my specialisation for the future in industry. I connected so much with my chosen author Italo Calvino and his novel 'Invisible Cities' that i am thinking of creating similar linocut prints to these for a variety of the cities as described within the text. This would help to create a large and interesting body of work and a nice little personal project.
I would really like to make some money back from the hundreds of pounds I have spent on this module, therefore if you know of any way I can get these prints out into the world and into the hands of anyone who wants them, please advise me. The prints I have are limited editions for the simple fact that I can no longer get a clean enough print from my plates due to the hydraulic press crushing my lino after repeated use. I have never sold any work before, or even showcased anything in an exhibition outside of education and the thought of it seems a little nerve racking.
My hours in the print room were not spent just producing these finals only, I was able to generate 5-10 successful prints in each colour way for each plate. I have not included all of these prints in my portfolio for submission as no one including myself would be able to lift the thing, however I thought it was worth mentioning.
Final Linocut Digitally Edited Prints:
Final Linocut Plates:
Final Print Presentation:
Final Outcomes - Self Evaluation
Producing these print sets was easily one of the most difficult tasks I have ever undergone in my own illustrative practice. The months cutting, through to the days spent printing took it out of me emotionally and physically, however despite this I could not be happier with the results.
I was able to achieve a clean and visually pleasing colour merge incorporating the 2 colours as requested as part of the module brief and print these merges on both my chosen off white stock and gold satin stock for variety. The colour merges came out exactly how i had intended and I was also able to print many clean and professional looking black prints ready for scanning in and editing digitally.
I was unable to complete my 3rd linocut plate for the final print "Octavia". This was disappointing and I beat myself up about it as i was worried that 2 A2 prints would not be considered enough work or strong enough visually to call a "set". It is because of this that I am happy I took Ben's advice from my final progress review and developed some digital prints of my final lino cut results, showcasing a previous mock up of how I would have liked to approach a 2 colour/lino plate separation if i had given myself the time to do so. The digital prints came out brilliantly, I was able to retain the texture and ink effect of the original prints by scanning the prints in at a high 600dpi. Adding the colour in Adobe Photoshop took a little time, but i feel the pop of gold amongst the black and white of the print really helps strengthen the composition and aesthetics.
Overall I feel I have produced some of my best work for this module and feel confident enough to progress my printing and linocut skills further on into my own practise and who knows, this may be my specialisation for the future in industry. I connected so much with my chosen author Italo Calvino and his novel 'Invisible Cities' that i am thinking of creating similar linocut prints to these for a variety of the cities as described within the text. This would help to create a large and interesting body of work and a nice little personal project.
I would really like to make some money back from the hundreds of pounds I have spent on this module, therefore if you know of any way I can get these prints out into the world and into the hands of anyone who wants them, please advise me. The prints I have are limited editions for the simple fact that I can no longer get a clean enough print from my plates due to the hydraulic press crushing my lino after repeated use. I have never sold any work before, or even showcased anything in an exhibition outside of education and the thought of it seems a little nerve racking.
My hours in the print room were not spent just producing these finals only, I was able to generate 5-10 successful prints in each colour way for each plate. I have not included all of these prints in my portfolio for submission as no one including myself would be able to lift the thing, however I thought it was worth mentioning.
Final Animated Sting
Here is my completed animated sting for this module:
Strengths
I am really proud of what I was able to achieve with my animated sting. I invested a lot of time into learning Adobe After Effects, knowing I would struggle if not and this really paid off enabling me to try new things, be free with it and create a lot of movement and interesting visuals throughout.
I feel my animation clearly links in with the printed part of my submission due to how i chose to animate one of my final prints, and managed to achieve everything i wanted too from my storyboard through to the end result. I kept my animation consistent with the digital printed part of my final pieces: a black and white linocut print with a gold sun featuring in the background. The font i used for the text that appears at the end of the sting also links with the font I have used for the presentation envelopes which house my final prints. I love it when everything is consistent and feels part of a set and body for work, and i feel i have done my best to achieve this.
I really like my choice in soundtrack and feel this adds a lot to the way the animation comes across to the viewer. Lighthearted, carefree, pleasant to listen too and let the visuals speak for themselves.
My choice in author - Italo Calvino - and his book Invisible Cities made wanting to animate my visual response really key to rounding off the cross-platform part of this module. The story itself is so full of life and imagination, I often imagined scenes such as what I was able to create with my sting, whilst reading the book, which is a great achievement for me. I wanted to bring one of my compositions to life, creating a world reflective of a city from the novel. I had an idea and set out to create just that, which i feel i did with no compromises.
Weaknesses
Animating my print was really difficult to get my head around. A lot of time was spend dividing up my final print into all the layers I needed, and with a flat A2 image, this meant lots of fixing different layers so that when applied on top of each other, elements wouldn't be repeated underneath or missing altogether when layers above the background began to move.
I wish i had given myself even more time to play around with the image and After effects. I am a little unhappy at the pace of the whole sting, which despite a long time invested, still seems extremely fast to the viewer. This is mainly due to my idea and what I wanted to create. I wanted my whole final print to be present throughout the animation, due to the amount of time invested in the print itself and wanting to display that to the audience.
Having the print pan up throughout the animation was the only way I could see to achieve this, and only having 15 seconds to complete this pan, plus enter the frame and leave, is not long at all making the whole movement seem rushed. If the sting was double the time, say 30seconds, I feel that the whole animation would have a lot more of a relaxed feel to it, giving the audience time to actually see all of the different elements moving, increasing in scale, whizzing out of the frame etc.
Strengths
I am really proud of what I was able to achieve with my animated sting. I invested a lot of time into learning Adobe After Effects, knowing I would struggle if not and this really paid off enabling me to try new things, be free with it and create a lot of movement and interesting visuals throughout.
I feel my animation clearly links in with the printed part of my submission due to how i chose to animate one of my final prints, and managed to achieve everything i wanted too from my storyboard through to the end result. I kept my animation consistent with the digital printed part of my final pieces: a black and white linocut print with a gold sun featuring in the background. The font i used for the text that appears at the end of the sting also links with the font I have used for the presentation envelopes which house my final prints. I love it when everything is consistent and feels part of a set and body for work, and i feel i have done my best to achieve this.
I really like my choice in soundtrack and feel this adds a lot to the way the animation comes across to the viewer. Lighthearted, carefree, pleasant to listen too and let the visuals speak for themselves.
My choice in author - Italo Calvino - and his book Invisible Cities made wanting to animate my visual response really key to rounding off the cross-platform part of this module. The story itself is so full of life and imagination, I often imagined scenes such as what I was able to create with my sting, whilst reading the book, which is a great achievement for me. I wanted to bring one of my compositions to life, creating a world reflective of a city from the novel. I had an idea and set out to create just that, which i feel i did with no compromises.
Weaknesses
Animating my print was really difficult to get my head around. A lot of time was spend dividing up my final print into all the layers I needed, and with a flat A2 image, this meant lots of fixing different layers so that when applied on top of each other, elements wouldn't be repeated underneath or missing altogether when layers above the background began to move.
I wish i had given myself even more time to play around with the image and After effects. I am a little unhappy at the pace of the whole sting, which despite a long time invested, still seems extremely fast to the viewer. This is mainly due to my idea and what I wanted to create. I wanted my whole final print to be present throughout the animation, due to the amount of time invested in the print itself and wanting to display that to the audience.
Having the print pan up throughout the animation was the only way I could see to achieve this, and only having 15 seconds to complete this pan, plus enter the frame and leave, is not long at all making the whole movement seem rushed. If the sting was double the time, say 30seconds, I feel that the whole animation would have a lot more of a relaxed feel to it, giving the audience time to actually see all of the different elements moving, increasing in scale, whizzing out of the frame etc.
Elevator Pitch
My visual journey throughout this module has been an investigation into the life and works of Italian author Italo Calvino, in particular his acclaimed novel "Invisible Cities".
Many readers consider this vintage classic an essential addition to any personal library and in reading for myself and drawing visually from the text, I couldn't agree more. My visual response in both the printed aspect and the moving pictures aspect of this module, all stem from the embedded layers of motifs such as memory palace psychological techniques, imagination and home (in particular Venice, being the home of the novels main character Marco polo) which run throughout the novel. Mathematics, structure and organisation also feature heavily within the storyline and I attempted to include all of these aspects in my final compositions whilst creating imagery using a technique I haven't used before. Being quite new to the analogue print process, I wanted to attempt to achieve something representative of the visually rich text using linocut. The journey of learning a new technique and the hurdles along the way, parallels the journey the reader takes along with the characters throughout this Calvino novel, learning of new cities and their meaning along the way.
The final resolutions for both my print and animated sting have a clean, structured and precise aesthetic whilst including many details - in keeping with the Invisible City novel and the way that Italo Calvino was known to work and wrote the text. I wanted to try and achieve a visual response that did the visually rich content of this book justice and feel that illustrating the cities as described in the story amongst a portrait of Calvino himself, help show the authors investment in his work, his character, and how freeing the mind and imagination can help create the most successful creative works, as if cities made of memories protruding from the mind.
Many readers consider this vintage classic an essential addition to any personal library and in reading for myself and drawing visually from the text, I couldn't agree more. My visual response in both the printed aspect and the moving pictures aspect of this module, all stem from the embedded layers of motifs such as memory palace psychological techniques, imagination and home (in particular Venice, being the home of the novels main character Marco polo) which run throughout the novel. Mathematics, structure and organisation also feature heavily within the storyline and I attempted to include all of these aspects in my final compositions whilst creating imagery using a technique I haven't used before. Being quite new to the analogue print process, I wanted to attempt to achieve something representative of the visually rich text using linocut. The journey of learning a new technique and the hurdles along the way, parallels the journey the reader takes along with the characters throughout this Calvino novel, learning of new cities and their meaning along the way.
The final resolutions for both my print and animated sting have a clean, structured and precise aesthetic whilst including many details - in keeping with the Invisible City novel and the way that Italo Calvino was known to work and wrote the text. I wanted to try and achieve a visual response that did the visually rich content of this book justice and feel that illustrating the cities as described in the story amongst a portrait of Calvino himself, help show the authors investment in his work, his character, and how freeing the mind and imagination can help create the most successful creative works, as if cities made of memories protruding from the mind.
Animated Sting Process
Having attended the previous workshops regarding After Effects, I was still feeling a little lost with regards to my animation and how to achieve what I wanted too.
I thought I may be able to help myself by searching for certain tutorials online or via 'Skill Share' ( a tutorial website I have recently signed up too), but quickly found out that it is hard to find tutorials on the very specific things you want to be able to do in this program.
Animated Sting Preparation: Print Separation
In order to strengthen the "cross-platform" element of this brief, I decided early on that i would like to animate one of my final linocut prints. I feel so much time was invested in creating these prints and that the composition was strong visually, that animating one of them would be a way of creating a successful sting and round off my final work for this module nicely.
Following on from the digital test animations completed previously, I have decided to animate my linocut print of the Invisible City "Baucis" as decribed in my chosen aithor Italo Calvino's novel.
In order for my flat print to work as an animation, I needed to sperate the composition into the various layers I wanted to move/animate.
I did this by scanning in my A2 completed black and white lino print and uploading it inot photoshop. From here I proceeded to select the various elements I wanted to animate and saving them as individual layers as i went along.
I quickly discovered that in order for this animation to work, I needed to separate the main Calvino portrait composition from the sun background, whoch I intend to be animated and moving independantly. This took some time and meant that I had to select and fill in ceratin areas of my composition so that the sun would only show through the top layer details in the areas i wanted it too.
Also once i had my various individual layers of selcted details such as individual flowers and telescope ends etc, the composition layer beneath needed to be fixed so that when these layers moved - empty space wouldn't appear beneath. This also took some time and was really fiddly, but overall i think this preparation paid off and i finally feel ready to animate.
Organisation in Adobe Photoshop was key at this stage. Each layer that I wanted to animate needed to be clearly named/labelled ready to be uploaded into After effects and individually manipulated.
Print separation process in screenshots:
After struggling for quite a while in terms of the next stages, getting frustrated and at the risk of dumbing down my idea for my sting, I managed to get a spare moment and sit with the new IT technician Rich. The help I received at this late stage in the module was absolutely invaluable and after a quick After Effects crash course in pretty much everything I could ever want to do, I felt confident enough to sit down, work hard and complete my sting.
Here is the process I undertook in screen shots:
What I learnt:
-How to set up a new project, composition and platform for an animation
-How to animate individual layers separate from each other using key frames
-How to edit/adjust and transform a layer and its appearance using key frames
-How to use the puppet tool - its awesome
-How to create a pan effect and animate individual layers that are also panning by using "parenting"
-How to apply a soundtrack to an animation and edit this in similar ways to the above
-How to bring together separate compositions in a "Final Render" composition
-How to clean up the movement of an animation using "easy ease".
-How to render a document and how to export it correctly ready for upload and use.
Overall I feel I have learnt so much during the process of creating my sting and once i got my head around After Effects and its many seemingly daunting elements, I really got into it and enjoyed using the program a lot. It is really intuitive with endless possibilities, and I liked it so much that I plan on having a go at animating more of my pieces in the future. Illustration doesn't have to be a static image after all.
I thought I may be able to help myself by searching for certain tutorials online or via 'Skill Share' ( a tutorial website I have recently signed up too), but quickly found out that it is hard to find tutorials on the very specific things you want to be able to do in this program.
Animated Sting Preparation: Print Separation
In order to strengthen the "cross-platform" element of this brief, I decided early on that i would like to animate one of my final linocut prints. I feel so much time was invested in creating these prints and that the composition was strong visually, that animating one of them would be a way of creating a successful sting and round off my final work for this module nicely.
Following on from the digital test animations completed previously, I have decided to animate my linocut print of the Invisible City "Baucis" as decribed in my chosen aithor Italo Calvino's novel.
In order for my flat print to work as an animation, I needed to sperate the composition into the various layers I wanted to move/animate.
I did this by scanning in my A2 completed black and white lino print and uploading it inot photoshop. From here I proceeded to select the various elements I wanted to animate and saving them as individual layers as i went along.
I quickly discovered that in order for this animation to work, I needed to separate the main Calvino portrait composition from the sun background, whoch I intend to be animated and moving independantly. This took some time and meant that I had to select and fill in ceratin areas of my composition so that the sun would only show through the top layer details in the areas i wanted it too.
Also once i had my various individual layers of selcted details such as individual flowers and telescope ends etc, the composition layer beneath needed to be fixed so that when these layers moved - empty space wouldn't appear beneath. This also took some time and was really fiddly, but overall i think this preparation paid off and i finally feel ready to animate.
Organisation in Adobe Photoshop was key at this stage. Each layer that I wanted to animate needed to be clearly named/labelled ready to be uploaded into After effects and individually manipulated.
Print separation process in screenshots:
After struggling for quite a while in terms of the next stages, getting frustrated and at the risk of dumbing down my idea for my sting, I managed to get a spare moment and sit with the new IT technician Rich. The help I received at this late stage in the module was absolutely invaluable and after a quick After Effects crash course in pretty much everything I could ever want to do, I felt confident enough to sit down, work hard and complete my sting.
Here is the process I undertook in screen shots:
What I learnt:
-How to set up a new project, composition and platform for an animation
-How to animate individual layers separate from each other using key frames
-How to edit/adjust and transform a layer and its appearance using key frames
-How to use the puppet tool - its awesome
-How to create a pan effect and animate individual layers that are also panning by using "parenting"
-How to apply a soundtrack to an animation and edit this in similar ways to the above
-How to bring together separate compositions in a "Final Render" composition
-How to clean up the movement of an animation using "easy ease".
-How to render a document and how to export it correctly ready for upload and use.
Overall I feel I have learnt so much during the process of creating my sting and once i got my head around After Effects and its many seemingly daunting elements, I really got into it and enjoyed using the program a lot. It is really intuitive with endless possibilities, and I liked it so much that I plan on having a go at animating more of my pieces in the future. Illustration doesn't have to be a static image after all.
Presentation - Process and Final Outcomes
In order to do present my final linocut prints and improve their appearance and the experience of seeing them for the examiners, i managed to create some large handmade envelopes for my final lino print result's, final digital prints and for my actual lino plates which i thought were special enough for their own presentation.
Following on from my previous ideas and research into presentation techniques, I decided to take forward my idea of large A2+ string-tie envelopes. I like the crafted feel of an envelope that has to be untied n order to open it whilst also remaining professional and clean looking.
Handmade Process:
Overall I think creating these presentation boards was a great idea and time well spent, as I feel the effort put in has helped round off the work i have created for this module in a really nice way.
They are a great and practical way to house my prints and may even be good enough to include with the print when attempting to sell and make some of the hundreds of pounds back i have spent on this module. It is all worth it though and I hope you like it.
Following on from my previous ideas and research into presentation techniques, I decided to take forward my idea of large A2+ string-tie envelopes. I like the crafted feel of an envelope that has to be untied n order to open it whilst also remaining professional and clean looking.
Handmade Process:
Overall I think creating these presentation boards was a great idea and time well spent, as I feel the effort put in has helped round off the work i have created for this module in a really nice way.
They are a great and practical way to house my prints and may even be good enough to include with the print when attempting to sell and make some of the hundreds of pounds back i have spent on this module. It is all worth it though and I hope you like it.
Friday, 22 January 2016
Final Linocut Prints - Digitally Edited: Process
During my final progress review with Ben, he suggested that I print my linocut plates in black only, scan the prints in and digitally edit colour into the print before printing out at a high quality in the digital print resource.
Originally I was a little sceptical about this advice. I have just invested months of cutting hours into my prints, and have now spent days pouring effort into the printing process to create high quality analogue final outcomes - just to then scan these in and only have digital copies of them instead!? I was a little bit taken aback, however after being unable to complete cutting my 3rd linocut plate, i changed my mind about Ben's advice and thought that a digital set of my 2 designs to be submitted alongside my analogue final pints, may be a nice idea. This also shows an application of a combination of different creative techniques, both linocut printing and digital editing which is quite nice.
My digital editing could only begin once I had printed my linocut designs in the resource at Vernon Street. Once my prints were dry, I took them to the Blenheim digital print resource and scanned them in using the A2 scanner. The scanners available (the only A2 scanners across both LCA campuses that i am aware of) did not have the option to change the scan quality resolution. Ideally I would have liked to scan my linocut prints in at 600dpi due to the size and level of printed texture I wanted to be visible, but I had to make do with the scanner presets.
Linocut printed results ready for digital editing:
Once scanned in, both prints needed a little clean up. I opened both documents into Adobe Photoshop and began by using the "patch" tool, rubber and paintbrush tools to get rid of any unwanted marks whilst still retaining the printed aesthetic.
After both images were cleaned up, I could begin the application of gold as my second colour, as outlined in my mock-up shown to Ben. This was a little tricky as I didn't have the benefit of an image split into layers like my digital mock ups. Each composition is a flat print, therefore to separate large areas to be filled in with my chosen gold colour (such as the sun in the background), i tried two separate techniques,
Baucis
To attempt my colour separation i used "select>colour merge" to isolate the black areas of ink and copy to a separate new layer. Now with 2 identical compositions, i turned the lower layer composition completely gold and proceeded to remove all areas apart from the sun. Some details were left in the sun, but once the top black layer was layed over the top of the orange layer and aligned perfectly, these details did not show. now that once composition was on top of the other, I used the rubber tool to remove the black areas of the sun on the top layer, revealing the gold sun in the background. After merging the two layers together, the only thing left to do was use the magic wand tool to select smaller details of the composition such as areas of flowers and the city and fill these in with the same gold. Filling in colour in this way helped to retain the printed texture of the image, and stop it from looking too digitalised.
Despina
For my second printed composition "Despina", i had an idea for a process that may be able to save me some time in terms of creating my gold colour separation.
I began by drawing with the paintbrush tool in gold around the edges between the sun and the rest of the composition. This essentially separated the area of black ink that I wanted to fill, where the "magic wand" tool could then be used to select the isolated black area and fill in fully in gold.
Once the sun was filled in in this way, I could then move on to the much easier task of using the magic want tool to select smaller details within the composition and fill in with the same gold as I went along, similar to the process used with the other digital print.
each process was a relatively simple one, but took some time to get right and produce a pair of clean digitally edited prints. each process was the only way i could figure out how to do my 2 colour separation digitally on a fully flat single colour print.
Process in screen shots:
Once both of my digital compositions were completed, I took them to be printed at the digital print resource at Blenheim. I decided to print both out on 200gsm smooth stock to keep the detail within the composition as clean and visible as possible.
Final Linocut Digitally Edited Prints for submission:
Successes
Overall I think both digitally edited prints came out really well. I managed to retain a lot of the printed detail and the colour, as if the print was analogue printed with two lincout separations as originally intended. The addition of smaller areas of gold help certain details within the composition stand out which I feel strengthens the overall image. They both work well as a set toegther and I feel are strong aesthetically.
The printing process is of a high digital quality as intended and the set itself adds something extra to my final submission, in place of my missing final linocut prints that i was unable to complete.
Weaknesses
As with any digital edit, it is hard to retain an analogue printed aesthetic. I tried my hardest to do so, however I would have liked to have achieved even more ink texture as I fear both compositions may look a little too digital.
Attempt to preserve printed ink details:
Originally I was a little sceptical about this advice. I have just invested months of cutting hours into my prints, and have now spent days pouring effort into the printing process to create high quality analogue final outcomes - just to then scan these in and only have digital copies of them instead!? I was a little bit taken aback, however after being unable to complete cutting my 3rd linocut plate, i changed my mind about Ben's advice and thought that a digital set of my 2 designs to be submitted alongside my analogue final pints, may be a nice idea. This also shows an application of a combination of different creative techniques, both linocut printing and digital editing which is quite nice.
My digital editing could only begin once I had printed my linocut designs in the resource at Vernon Street. Once my prints were dry, I took them to the Blenheim digital print resource and scanned them in using the A2 scanner. The scanners available (the only A2 scanners across both LCA campuses that i am aware of) did not have the option to change the scan quality resolution. Ideally I would have liked to scan my linocut prints in at 600dpi due to the size and level of printed texture I wanted to be visible, but I had to make do with the scanner presets.
Linocut printed results ready for digital editing:
 |
| Baucis |
 |
| Despina |
After both images were cleaned up, I could begin the application of gold as my second colour, as outlined in my mock-up shown to Ben. This was a little tricky as I didn't have the benefit of an image split into layers like my digital mock ups. Each composition is a flat print, therefore to separate large areas to be filled in with my chosen gold colour (such as the sun in the background), i tried two separate techniques,
Baucis
To attempt my colour separation i used "select>colour merge" to isolate the black areas of ink and copy to a separate new layer. Now with 2 identical compositions, i turned the lower layer composition completely gold and proceeded to remove all areas apart from the sun. Some details were left in the sun, but once the top black layer was layed over the top of the orange layer and aligned perfectly, these details did not show. now that once composition was on top of the other, I used the rubber tool to remove the black areas of the sun on the top layer, revealing the gold sun in the background. After merging the two layers together, the only thing left to do was use the magic wand tool to select smaller details of the composition such as areas of flowers and the city and fill these in with the same gold. Filling in colour in this way helped to retain the printed texture of the image, and stop it from looking too digitalised.
Despina
For my second printed composition "Despina", i had an idea for a process that may be able to save me some time in terms of creating my gold colour separation.
I began by drawing with the paintbrush tool in gold around the edges between the sun and the rest of the composition. This essentially separated the area of black ink that I wanted to fill, where the "magic wand" tool could then be used to select the isolated black area and fill in fully in gold.
Once the sun was filled in in this way, I could then move on to the much easier task of using the magic want tool to select smaller details within the composition and fill in with the same gold as I went along, similar to the process used with the other digital print.
each process was a relatively simple one, but took some time to get right and produce a pair of clean digitally edited prints. each process was the only way i could figure out how to do my 2 colour separation digitally on a fully flat single colour print.
Process in screen shots:
Once both of my digital compositions were completed, I took them to be printed at the digital print resource at Blenheim. I decided to print both out on 200gsm smooth stock to keep the detail within the composition as clean and visible as possible.
Final Linocut Digitally Edited Prints for submission:
Successes
Overall I think both digitally edited prints came out really well. I managed to retain a lot of the printed detail and the colour, as if the print was analogue printed with two lincout separations as originally intended. The addition of smaller areas of gold help certain details within the composition stand out which I feel strengthens the overall image. They both work well as a set toegther and I feel are strong aesthetically.
The printing process is of a high digital quality as intended and the set itself adds something extra to my final submission, in place of my missing final linocut prints that i was unable to complete.
Weaknesses
As with any digital edit, it is hard to retain an analogue printed aesthetic. I tried my hardest to do so, however I would have liked to have achieved even more ink texture as I fear both compositions may look a little too digital.
Attempt to preserve printed ink details:
Linocut Prints: Tests and Final Print Process
Tests
Whilst getting ready to print my final A2 linocuts, i thought it would be a good idea to create some test prints of my linos first before striving for that perfect print.
In order to print at such a large scale, I have been practically living at our LCA Vernon Street Campus and seeking assistance from the helpful technicians there.
The certain A2 press I have to use for my large scale linos is a piece of equipment that I have never come across before and took a bit of getting used too. This is why I felt that testing my linocut plates first would be a helpful idea, as with this hydraulic press you have to take into consideration pressure, which you gage yourself during the printing process.
I completed most of my tests on newsprint and cartridge paper, so as to not waste my expensive stock to be used for the final prints. This didn't help me much in terms of finding out what pressure to use in printing, but did help me find an inking up process that worked for me and any problem areas of the linocut plates that needed some extra care and attention.
Here are some images of the tests I created whilst printing and annotations to show areas for improvement and the process in which I found the best pressure and systematic way of working that worked for me and my linocuts:
Printing my final results:
Whilst creating my tests, I quickly learnt that this wasn't going to be an easy process and that there are a lot of key factors to consider when attempting to print at this scale and get the clean end result I am striving for. At this stage I have invested so much time in the cutting of my lino trying to make everything perfect, I can't jeopardise the final result now.
*Key processes/things I needed to consider and keep consistent whilst printing:
-Print Pressure: Throughout the test stages, I managed to find a print pressure that seemed to work for me and my prints. Between 80 - 100 bars or units of pressure seemed to create a print clean enough, the only problem with printing at this pressure is that the lino is likely to emboss into the stock. This can actually be quite pleasing as the physical product is clearly a hand printed result and not digital/screen printed.
-Stock: Stock matters hugely in terms of how the print is going to come out. I was under the impression from advice received by the print technicians at Vernon Street that due to the scale of my linocuts, a heavy weighted stock would be necessary to create a nice clean print. This turned out to be true in some cases, but I quickly found that the type of stock needs to change depending on how inked up your linocut plate is. The stock also needs to be thinner at a higher pressure, and thicker at a lower pressure, in order to eliminate patches towards the centre of the print.
-Inking: Inking is the main key to getting that perfect final print. Making sure the roller you are using has no fluff/scuff marks which could transfer on to the plate whilst inking - in tern appearing on the final print is vital. Once the fluff was on my roller (left over from cleaning with the provided rags), fluff would then transfer onto my inking reservoir. I encountered this problem many times and the only way to combat it is to start you set up again. Clean your ink reservoir away, clean the roller and begin inking again once more.
As my linocuts are so large, there was no roller in the resource that would reach the full length of it length ways and in order to create a colour merge appearing horizontally, i really could have done with this. In order to create my colour merge using the one roller which did not reach end to end of my lino, I would have to roll the ink onto my plate at one end, re load my roller with ink then offset this when applying the ink with the roller towards the other end. This took some getting used too, especially when trying to eliminate the separate lines of ink created by the end of the roller.
Over inking was a pain. I have so may tiny details in my lino plates, that the high pressure of the hydraulic press, as well as accidental over inking, caused a lot of ink to sink down into crevasses and show up in unwanted places on my prints.
At first i tackled this by having a light amount of ink in my inking/rolling reservoir. I was then able to apply ink a little at a time, until my lino plate looked like it had enough ink to print. This worked for a while, but as with most linocut print processes, over time the linocut plate itself becomes crushed by the hydraulic press. This is inevitable, so as my lino plate began to essentially get thinner because of the high pressure prints, i needed to apply more and more ink in order to get a clean print.
-Unwanted areas of ink: As with a lot of linocuts, it is extremely difficult to remove every part of the lino, so that unwanted lines don't appear inked up and printed on to the stock. I tried to eliminate this by cutting extremely deep into my lino along all edges and in some cases right down to the hessian back. This was a great idea in theory, but as my cut composition appears in the centre of my sheet of lino and I cut as much of the lino away as could around all edges, ink would appear from the roller on these edges and my stock would droop down during printing onto this area of unwanted ink creating horrible lines. The stock needed support to sit on top of around the edges and the way to do this in the future is to leave an area of uncut lino around the edge of my lino pate. This way the plate will have structure and the stock will have nowhere to droop. This will of course leave an inked up border o my print, but this can be cut and cropped away after the print has dried.
As it was too late and my lino was already cut away, the only thing left to was ink up my plate and meticulously stick layers of news print and masking tape over unwanted areas of ink. This took so much time and had to be removed and repeated for every single print. It was definitely worth it as my prints are as close to perfectly clean as i could get them...but this was the main area of print prep which caused the delays in my time management and long hours spent printing.
Hands had to be clean in this process as the possibility of transfer of ink into other areas I wanted clean was extremely high and this happened a lot. I would stick a piece of masking tape down over an unwanted area of ink, get ink on my fingers and have this ink transfer onto the top of the masking tape, requiring me to cover that tape up and so on. Nightmare!
Newsprint was great for a quick cover of larger areas of unwanted ink, however if not stuck down correctly, the newsprint would slip in the press or in transfer to the press and ofter slide over areas of the inked up composition blocking it out.
Another way I removed tiny spots of unwanted ink often in hard to reach areas or areas which masking tape was too large /fiddly to cover, was to use my lino cutting tools to gauge out more of the lino with the areas of ink on that I didn't want. This was fiddly but paid off when getting rid of those spots that would niggle at me if transfer onto the final print.
-Registration: I had prepared a mount board corner registration to use during the print process (mentioned in previous posts), in order to keep my linos and stock aligned whilst printing. When choosing my stock, i went for some very large sheets of a lovely heavyweight 280gsm 'Canaletto' off white stock that needed to be cut down before I began printing. This meant that the size of my cut down stock now didn't match with my corner registration which was to be used with A2 stock exactly. This actually ended up not being a problem and actually saved me some time. The cut stock sheets were large enough to not be registered so I could just drop the stock onto the inked lino plate and centre it by eye. I plan on cutting down my finals and cropping them so that the visual content appears straight and central so any scuff marks around the edge can also be eliminated as well. It also occurred to me that if I plan on selling any of my prints (if anyone will have them) that extra border space around the printed image is helpful to mounters and framers.
Unused registration guide: It was good preparation to create one despite me not using it and impressive to the print technician as apparently most people would just use masking tape to register a plate ready for print.
-Timescale: Overall the printing process took so much longer than I had originally thought it would. Each print took 10-15 minutes to set up every single time and this is no exaggeration. For what is meant to be a quick and easy way of generating a large amount of printed imagery, it was a lot of hard work.
The full process - step - by - step:
Strengths
Whilst getting ready to print my final A2 linocuts, i thought it would be a good idea to create some test prints of my linos first before striving for that perfect print.
In order to print at such a large scale, I have been practically living at our LCA Vernon Street Campus and seeking assistance from the helpful technicians there.
The certain A2 press I have to use for my large scale linos is a piece of equipment that I have never come across before and took a bit of getting used too. This is why I felt that testing my linocut plates first would be a helpful idea, as with this hydraulic press you have to take into consideration pressure, which you gage yourself during the printing process.
I completed most of my tests on newsprint and cartridge paper, so as to not waste my expensive stock to be used for the final prints. This didn't help me much in terms of finding out what pressure to use in printing, but did help me find an inking up process that worked for me and any problem areas of the linocut plates that needed some extra care and attention.
Here are some images of the tests I created whilst printing and annotations to show areas for improvement and the process in which I found the best pressure and systematic way of working that worked for me and my linocuts:
Printing my final results:
Whilst creating my tests, I quickly learnt that this wasn't going to be an easy process and that there are a lot of key factors to consider when attempting to print at this scale and get the clean end result I am striving for. At this stage I have invested so much time in the cutting of my lino trying to make everything perfect, I can't jeopardise the final result now.
*Key processes/things I needed to consider and keep consistent whilst printing:
-Print Pressure: Throughout the test stages, I managed to find a print pressure that seemed to work for me and my prints. Between 80 - 100 bars or units of pressure seemed to create a print clean enough, the only problem with printing at this pressure is that the lino is likely to emboss into the stock. This can actually be quite pleasing as the physical product is clearly a hand printed result and not digital/screen printed.
-Stock: Stock matters hugely in terms of how the print is going to come out. I was under the impression from advice received by the print technicians at Vernon Street that due to the scale of my linocuts, a heavy weighted stock would be necessary to create a nice clean print. This turned out to be true in some cases, but I quickly found that the type of stock needs to change depending on how inked up your linocut plate is. The stock also needs to be thinner at a higher pressure, and thicker at a lower pressure, in order to eliminate patches towards the centre of the print.
-Inking: Inking is the main key to getting that perfect final print. Making sure the roller you are using has no fluff/scuff marks which could transfer on to the plate whilst inking - in tern appearing on the final print is vital. Once the fluff was on my roller (left over from cleaning with the provided rags), fluff would then transfer onto my inking reservoir. I encountered this problem many times and the only way to combat it is to start you set up again. Clean your ink reservoir away, clean the roller and begin inking again once more.
As my linocuts are so large, there was no roller in the resource that would reach the full length of it length ways and in order to create a colour merge appearing horizontally, i really could have done with this. In order to create my colour merge using the one roller which did not reach end to end of my lino, I would have to roll the ink onto my plate at one end, re load my roller with ink then offset this when applying the ink with the roller towards the other end. This took some getting used too, especially when trying to eliminate the separate lines of ink created by the end of the roller.
Over inking was a pain. I have so may tiny details in my lino plates, that the high pressure of the hydraulic press, as well as accidental over inking, caused a lot of ink to sink down into crevasses and show up in unwanted places on my prints.
At first i tackled this by having a light amount of ink in my inking/rolling reservoir. I was then able to apply ink a little at a time, until my lino plate looked like it had enough ink to print. This worked for a while, but as with most linocut print processes, over time the linocut plate itself becomes crushed by the hydraulic press. This is inevitable, so as my lino plate began to essentially get thinner because of the high pressure prints, i needed to apply more and more ink in order to get a clean print.
-Unwanted areas of ink: As with a lot of linocuts, it is extremely difficult to remove every part of the lino, so that unwanted lines don't appear inked up and printed on to the stock. I tried to eliminate this by cutting extremely deep into my lino along all edges and in some cases right down to the hessian back. This was a great idea in theory, but as my cut composition appears in the centre of my sheet of lino and I cut as much of the lino away as could around all edges, ink would appear from the roller on these edges and my stock would droop down during printing onto this area of unwanted ink creating horrible lines. The stock needed support to sit on top of around the edges and the way to do this in the future is to leave an area of uncut lino around the edge of my lino pate. This way the plate will have structure and the stock will have nowhere to droop. This will of course leave an inked up border o my print, but this can be cut and cropped away after the print has dried.
As it was too late and my lino was already cut away, the only thing left to was ink up my plate and meticulously stick layers of news print and masking tape over unwanted areas of ink. This took so much time and had to be removed and repeated for every single print. It was definitely worth it as my prints are as close to perfectly clean as i could get them...but this was the main area of print prep which caused the delays in my time management and long hours spent printing.
Hands had to be clean in this process as the possibility of transfer of ink into other areas I wanted clean was extremely high and this happened a lot. I would stick a piece of masking tape down over an unwanted area of ink, get ink on my fingers and have this ink transfer onto the top of the masking tape, requiring me to cover that tape up and so on. Nightmare!
Newsprint was great for a quick cover of larger areas of unwanted ink, however if not stuck down correctly, the newsprint would slip in the press or in transfer to the press and ofter slide over areas of the inked up composition blocking it out.
Another way I removed tiny spots of unwanted ink often in hard to reach areas or areas which masking tape was too large /fiddly to cover, was to use my lino cutting tools to gauge out more of the lino with the areas of ink on that I didn't want. This was fiddly but paid off when getting rid of those spots that would niggle at me if transfer onto the final print.
-Registration: I had prepared a mount board corner registration to use during the print process (mentioned in previous posts), in order to keep my linos and stock aligned whilst printing. When choosing my stock, i went for some very large sheets of a lovely heavyweight 280gsm 'Canaletto' off white stock that needed to be cut down before I began printing. This meant that the size of my cut down stock now didn't match with my corner registration which was to be used with A2 stock exactly. This actually ended up not being a problem and actually saved me some time. The cut stock sheets were large enough to not be registered so I could just drop the stock onto the inked lino plate and centre it by eye. I plan on cutting down my finals and cropping them so that the visual content appears straight and central so any scuff marks around the edge can also be eliminated as well. It also occurred to me that if I plan on selling any of my prints (if anyone will have them) that extra border space around the printed image is helpful to mounters and framers.
Unused registration guide: It was good preparation to create one despite me not using it and impressive to the print technician as apparently most people would just use masking tape to register a plate ready for print.
-Timescale: Overall the printing process took so much longer than I had originally thought it would. Each print took 10-15 minutes to set up every single time and this is no exaggeration. For what is meant to be a quick and easy way of generating a large amount of printed imagery, it was a lot of hard work.
The full process - step - by - step:
- Choosing 2 inks to merge and lay the ink down in 2 separate spots next to each other. I began printing with the colour merges first for both of my prints as they are essentially lighter colours to the black print I also wanted from my linocut plates. Always work from light to dark ink as dark will show up over lighter colours. Add drying medium to help the "stay wet" ink dry after printing.
- Create my colour merge by lots of repeated heavy rolling and off-setting until the two colours meet and merge in my reservoir.
- Make sure my ink reservoir remains full of ink by consistently dipping the roller in left over ink at the top of my reservoir when needed and lots more re-rolling/offsetting
- Move backwards and forwards from plate to reservoir whilst applying ink onto my plate (never roll twice over a plate as impressions of the design from the first roll and application of ink - will reprint onto the lino in the second roll). The roller itself was so heavy that I had to have breaks from lifting it or hold it above my head when moving from rolling the ink on to my plate and reloading the roller with ink from the reservoir. Great workout but not ideal after long days printing.
- Wash hands to then mask off all of my inky edges on the plate and re cut into the inked up lino with my lino tools to eliminated any unwanted smudges/spots of colour (ink gets everywhere!)
- Choose a clean sheet of stock and lay as central as I could
- Pack my plate "sandwich' with newspaper and print boards top and bottom,
- Place the print in the press and adjust/pump the pressure for the print,
- Remove my print "sandwich" carefully. (This was harder than it sounds as the hydraulic press is taller than me so to lift my plate out from a high height was a struggle and I often knocked my plate "sandwich").
- Remove print boards, packing and the stock (carefully)
- Transfer print to drying rack / find space on drying rack
- Remove all of that masking tape from the edges
- Repeat repeat repeat until happy with outcomes.
- Clean rollers and ink reservoirs when changing colours (from my colour merge to black for instance) with oil, soapy water and a lot of elbow grease! Press out as much of the ink from the plate as possible by using blotting paper/newsprint instead of stock and putting the linocut plate through the press (above process) 5-6 times, with a new sheet of paper for each press.
- Repeat process for new colour etc etc.
Strengths
Although the process was incredibly time consuming and painful at times, i am proud of myself for persevering and putting the level of effort in that i did in order to get a collection of final prints I am pleased with. This process was essential in achieving what I wanted and I feel that not cutting any corners and trying my hardest in the print room really paid off.
I have learnt a lot about the print press process throughout this time and I feel i have undergone a important journey in investigating what it takes to do this process professionally and use this print technique in my own illustrative practise. It is definitely something i would like to develop further and the results have led me to consider choosing printing with lino as a possible specialist area for my path into industry.
Weaknesses
I have learnt a lot in terms of how I would do this whole process differently and that preparation from the very beginning of the process - in this case the lino cuts- is what matters at the later stage of printing. The only weakness throughout this process, i feel, is the amount of time it took me to create my prints. eating away at the dwindling amount of time I had left to complete this module was a risk i had to take and maybe my own strive for perfection let me down in some ways. If I wasn't so intent on a perfectly clean print and lightened up a bit, the outcome would have been different, but may have been just as visually pleasing, saving me valuable time.
I would have also liked to have experimented with a wider variety of colour merges and block colour prints, to explore the value of my linocuts and what colours would work best. Of course I had already chosen what my colour palette should be for each print, however further experimentation and development would have nice to see if I had given myself more time and started this printing process sooner.
Frustrations
It is clear that I spent a lot of hours in the print room achieving my final results and had to face a rather large blow when retrieving my prints the following days once dry. When printing at the Vernon Street campus, my work seemed to attract a lot of interest which was great, however upon collecting my prints i found many painty finger prints and marks on my finals from other students who had been carelessly handling my work. Some of the marks appeared on the actually compositions and could not be trimmed away.
I understand that this is always the risk when using a busy print resource and that other students are there to use the equipment also, I just wish people would respect the work left on racks and handle with care and clean hands - as once work is on the racks to dry - that work is finished and scuffs/marks can make or break a final piece.
After seeing how a large majority of my prints had been marked, i had to decide what to do next. I had spent so long as previously mentioned, trying to eliminate areas of unwanted ink and it often took many attempts to achieve a print I was pleased with. It is is because of this that I decided to reprint a lot of my colour merges and compositions. This was starting the process all over again and using the last of my time up. I don't regret my choice, as i feel i did the work justice and stayed true to my efforts previously in creating a perfect print. The prints damaged were pieces I would not have been happy submitting and i am pleased I still came away from the many hours of hard work with prints I can use and am proud of, despite having to re-do them.
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