Adele Diamond Disc Print

This is the Diamond disc as part of 3 of 3 metallic discs I'm making for my final piece. This one features Adele and her track "Love Song" on her album 19.

Pink Floyd Platinum Disc Print

This is the Platinum disc as part of 2 of 3 metallic discs I'm making for my final piece. This one features Pink Floyd and their track "Money" on their album The Dark Side of The Moon.

Madonna Gold Disc Print

This is the Gold disc as part of 1 of 3 metallic discs I'm making for my final piece. This one features Madonna and her track "Paradise not for me" the one associated with fame.

The work process of this can be found here.

Final peice work process

This is the work in progress 'Gold disc'.  Part of 1 of 3 metallic discs I'm making for my final piece.

I have chosen to use ink pen for my primary choice of mark making because it is good for precise and controlled line.

After this I transferred this onto a piece of folex. This is to expose my silk screen with my image.

The first was a layer of white because the inks appear duller on dark paper so this should spruce it up a little. Next was a layer of yellow followed up by the final layer of gold for the lines. I am happy with how this had turned out. 

Label design development

The original label design

The 2nd version

The 3rd version

Print run 9: Platinum disc

I am happy with how this one turned out, it looks fantastic.  As with my Gold disc print test run, I similarly layed down a layer of white first to stop the colour of the paper showing through. From previous experiences, I know that often grey on black paper looks slightly bluish.

The second layer was a light grey. I started by mixing medium and white in a 50/50 ratio, and then very gradually adding paynes grey to it in small amounts to make it darker. It is easy to go overboard with this and make it go too dark.

After the grey has dried, I printed the last colour in silver.

Print run 8: Gold disc

I was really happy with how my gold disc had turned out but I noticed that it looked a bit green. I tried to print it again but this time to lay down a layer of white first. I am aware that screen printing is quite translucent so that colour of the paper can make lighter colours appear darker.

Overall this has worked well and it looks a lot more like a Gold disc rather than a green disc. I am going to do test runs of each colour so that when I do my final piece, I wouldn't have to spend so much time deciding what colour to use.

Final peice ideas, gold, platnium, diamond discs

I've been trying to establish a reoccurring theme between the three gold, diamond, plat records I'm basing my designs on. The album's and artists I've chosen are: Pink Floyd's Darkside of the Moon, Adele's 21 and Madonna's  (album called Music 2000). I've been listening to the songs and wrote out all the track names on each album on a big bit of paper so that I can see a overview of all of them.

I've come up with several ideas for what the reoccurring theme could be. I'm going to list below the re-occurring themes and then how the 3 connect to each other as a whole. At the end I'm going to say which one I've decided to use.

• Pink Floyds "On the Run", Adele's "He won't go", 3. Madonna's "Runaway Lover". All three albums deal with love and heartbreak on some level. One is about leaving someone, refusing to leave (thus holding on) and being left by someone. I think this is the strongest idea of the 3. I think love is a good theme because its a universal thing that people experience.
• Pink Floyds "Speak to me", Adele's "Rumour has it" and Madonna's "Don't tell me" This deals with perhaps the dysfunctional end of relationships. These titles suggest mistrust, suspicion or betrayal of someone.
• Pink Floyds "Money", Adele's "Love Song", Madonna's "Paradise not for me" I come up with this  one because theres a saying that goes something like "You can't buy love/happiness with money". Each song represents varying levels of attachment to either fame, money or love.

Chosen theme 

The 3rd one, because music these 3 things is what musicians have to commonly deal with throughout their careers. This is going to serve as content that can go inside the plaque box below the vinyl.

Screen print run 7

The base layer is a semi transparent yellow filled shape and I've printed on the gold line design over the top of it. At first initial glance you may only notice the yellow circle but upon closer inspection, you will discover all the hidden detail.

I've tried to make the label look in proportion to a record so that the viewer can identify the object as a vinyl. I think I should have a consistency of having equal centers to make the separate discs look unified as a whole.

I've decided to made the center hole black because before the label was black and that made it look like the hole. When the hole is gold, it looks like it's the positive. This works way better.

Going to try if I can make the yellow look less green and try to come up with a solution for Platinum/Diamond record equivalent in colour.

Screen Print run 6

My project is about detail and quality of line. I've presented these as a two because the inverted charcoal drawings look really strong pieces together. They are like piercing eyes looking right back at you.

The gold color refers back to gold discs. I know it's simple but sometimes black and white does it for me. Maybe it's the photographer part of me speaking.

 

 

Screen print run 5

I'm re-printing some of my previous designs because I think displaying them as a series of two or three looks better presenting them individually. I think they work stronger as a pair.

These two are not inverted positive/negatives of each other like they have been in the past. Notably, one is more irregular than the other. I think this adds visual contrast to the piece.

Screen print run 4

I have tried re-printing my designs in silver. The paper has made it a slightly blue hue. These pieces are identifiable as vinyl's because people associate the color with framed mounted silver discs.

Perhaps I can create a metallic series of Gold, Platinum and Diamond discs. This will tie in neatly with the thematic of my project.  I want to express of physicality of owning vinyl; something that we are emotionally attached to and love.

Screen print run 2

Experimenting with incorporating color into my designs from having worked in black and white. It looks colorful to look at but I'm not sure if that is the mood I want to convey.

Extended Practice: Pen drawing

I used a thick brush pen to draw music on A3 paper. In the past, it hasn't been very successful but because I am working on a larger scale now, I think it's been working better than before.

I am going to draw over the same line with another line and build up layers and layers until it looks like a record. More posts to come...

Extended Practice: Inverted Charcoal drawings

So I have inverted my drawings from the charcoal drawings to see what they would look like black on white.

Extended Practice: Drawing with charcoal

I am continuing with developing my drawings. Currently, I’ve been confided and bound by my sketchbook, so I feel that I need to break out of that and work on a bigger scale. My new drawings are done on A3 sized paper using Charcoal.

I was listening to my favourite artist Warpaint while drawing lines to describe what it would look like in line form. I’ve established there’s two type of lines that I use:  “Zig zag” lines and “circular” lines. Zig Zag lines tend to represent impact whereas the latter produces a more harmonious effect.

The advantages of working with charcoal is that you can create different quality of line depending on how you hold the charcoal. You can use it like a pen or use its side for broader marks. Also, by varying the pressure I can create a contrast of faint or dark lines.

The disadvantages of using charcoal is that there is less control, therefore the lines are not as precise and accurate as it would be if you were using a pen. However, it is a quick way of making expressive line quickly.

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.