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.