Extended Practice Proposal

This post is to reflect on what I have done in Developing Practice so far and consider what design decisions s that still need to make to develop my practice as a printmaker / graphic designer.

Consider different ways of presenting the work and where/how the work will be viewed

I think I have got a good solid idea and I should keep doing what I am doing and not give up. But I need to develop different ways of presenting the idea. The key I've introduced is a good systematic way of doing things. I think I could make the key part of the design. For example, if I use the composition of a framed gold disc vinyl, the key can go below the disc and it can hint at the idea of a vinyl to the viewer. As my designs are abstract, I need to meet the viewer half way by giving them visual clues. It's about being subtle but not too obvious.

some intitial sketches of how to lay out a gold disc layout

Also I need to think about the size of paper to print on. The empty space around the print is as important as the space the print takes up. I feel that with my screen print, I could think about printing it on larger paper so that the discs aren't as squashed into the tight edges of the paper. Sometimes blank space helps to create a balanced composition.

Adding the variable: color and considering different paper types

Evaluation- Relief vs Screen

This post is about considering the appropriateness of different print processes in relation to my practice. It has been a enjoyable process trying out both screen/relief printing. They both add a different finish to the quality to the lines in my work.


Although, they give a different aesthetic feel to the lines, I think both printmaking processes are viable ways of working.

Relief Printing 

Relief printing is good for black and white and works well with the 12" size that I'm currently working with. It is a tactile and handmade discipline which makes it feel more like personal form of expression. This represents the physicality of owning and collecting vinyl because people are emotionally invested in the music or genre they enjoy listening to.

It is nice how you cut out the negative of a vinyl and it prints out as positive when you put it through the press. It creates a disc shape. And by placing multiple plates together, it is possible to create a series of designs next to each other and display it as a body of work.

There are certain imperfections to relief printing, such as each print of the same plate can have subtle variations to it. Therefore, not every print is 100% identical. This may be good thematically because every time you listen to a record, you can notice things you didn't realise before. There are many layers to music, as its not flat, so each experience could be unique. Repeated listens can be rewarding for listeners.

Screen Printing

Screen is more flexible for different output size formats as you can only go up to A2 in the Albion press at Bower Ashton. My screen prints were smaller than 12" because I didn't know you could print onto multiple sheets of folex and then print them alongside next each other,

Screen would be really good if I was working with colour as its easy to create layers of translucent or opaque colour over one another which is more difficult to do in relief.

I can directly import digital scans of my drawings onto screen whereas on relief, I have to reproduce all these marks again onto the lino plate. Therefore, in this regard, it takes less time to perfect a separate craft to lino cutting as well as drawing.

Conclusion

I like the size of the relief print, but the asymmetrical shape of the screen print works better. The relief print is more structured approach with its near geometrical shape, whereas the screen print is more free. These decisions make the overall effect of the piece different from one another.

Relief print final outcome Vinyl

Following the first time I made a relief print (shown on my post: relief print of vinyl design) a lot of stylistic choices have been made since then and my work has moved forward- visually.

The lino plate I cut into

As my final outcome I've cut a lino design using the conventions I set out in my key and applied it to this design. I've layed it out differently from the first time I done it. On my first relief I had split up the tracks into quarters which separated the songs from one another. This time, I have drawn it like one continuous stream of consciousness that is linked to each other, changing and adapting shape and size to the music.

Screen printed positive / negative Vinyl

I've output my design from a scanned image onto Folex and have screen printed it today. I am very pleased with the results. This was done on Somerset Satin 300gsm. The finish of it was good quality and the blacks appear crisp.

I am happy with the end result and what the finish adds to the quality of line. It is different to the aesthetic qualities to relief printing. 

Since this is my first time, I need to think about the size of paper to print on next time. My screen prints were smaller than 12" because I didn't know you could print onto multiple sheets of folex and then print them alongside next each other,  

Also, the empty space around the print is as important as the space the print takes up. If it was in the middle of A2 paper, the vinyl will sit in a space that looks more compositionally balanced.

Scanned drawing vinyl as a series

I think instead of treating each design individually, it will look better if I present it as series of 2. They look better as a set.

I've lay them out on Photoshop. The final output will either be relief or screen based printing.

Printmaker William Kentridge Research

This is a piece of work that inspires me it is by William Kentridge from his book "A Universal Archive".

This is relevant to my practice because we have a common theme / subject matter (vinyl) and use the same medium (printmaking).

What I particularly admire about his work is the quality of line (as shown on the left), Throughout my project I've been trying to come up with different quality of line to represent music in a visual way, 

A lot of my current drawings are done in black and are on white paper. If I invert these, it will look like a black disc like in my first relief print. Kentridge's disc are negative because the lines are white in a black circle. 

I've tried 3 different ways of making a border around the design.

Inverting positive / negative vinyl

Overall, I think the freehand circle looks the best because it has a hand rendered, analogue feel to it which is consistent with the way I did the pattern. It seems to match it better. By going with the geometric circle, I think it will conflict with the irregularity of it. I've decided to make it freehand so theres not much point trying to disguise it. 

Geometric circle 

Drawn with circular marquee tool.

Irregular circle 

Tutorial feedback with tutor 5/04/16

On Tuesday  I met with my tutor Stephen and the overall feedback was quite positive. He said I had improved since last year and that I have been more focused.  I have a coherent body of work (drawings) this year but last year I was a bit unsure with how to proceed with my "punk subculture" project.

He said that my sktechbook was special and unique and nobody else has these exact drawings or does them in the exact same way.

However, there are still things to consider and he given me some good ideas. I still have some research left to do. A artist that I should find more out about is William Kentridge.

I'm planning to lino cut my final peice and/.or screen print them as a series. I would like to display positive/negative series next to each other to represent a A and B side. I think they will look good in sets of 2 or 4.

A body of work.

I think instead of treating each design individually, it will be better if I present it as a body of work so I went to Bower Ashton on Thursday to scan all my work and I printed them out. I've stuck my drawings onto the wall. I feel this gives a good overall perspective of all my drawings and I can easily compare them alongside each other. It's about living with my work, and by seeing them each day allows me to reflect upon it and to generate new ideas.

Further design considerations?

There is still decisions to be made, for example I haven't considered yet what sort of paper to use quite yet and how the audience is going to view them. I feel this is something I could consider in Extended Practice module. Will it be something that they buy or is it something they see on the wall? And how should it be displayed ?

I hope that further down the line, I will be able to answer some of these questions.

Key to working with line and producing EP pieces.

After practising a lot of times daily visualising tracks from Sergeant Peppers and drawing them, I have devised a strategy for how to organise the information I have gathered. Each song seemed to have a different line appearance so I've marked down what they looked like each one. (the drawing I took them from were: developing a continuous line style )

Using my key as a reference point, I produced these drawings of multi track EP drawings: 

I really like the chaotic and gestural line in "Fixing a hole", it gives it more energy.

11 Track EP Sergeant Peppers

This piece based on Seargant Peppers Hearts Club album. I used a compass to draw out 11 rings and within each ring would be a abstracted representation of each song. I tried to use a different quality of line to describe each track.

As I got into the centre the circle got smaller and smaller and there was less room to work with. Overall I prefer the free hand drawings better because it doesn't feel like it flows as well. It was a good experiment but not the way forward as I feel it lacks energy. 

11 Track or 5 ?

Up until now I've just been making EP's based on a selection of 4-5 songs that I felt well particularly strong visually. On the other hand, when I did 11 tracks, some of the lines looked weaker and didn;t have as much variation or contrast. .I think I am going to stick with what I was doing before because 4-5 good lines are better than doing 11 with over half of them looking weaker than the latter.