lesson presentation instructions line contour prints...
TRANSCRIPT
LESSON PRESENTATION INSTRUCTIONS
LINE
CONTOUR PRINTS
Katsushika Hokusai – The Great Wave off Kanagawa
Focusing on contour lines and positive and negative space,
students will create a relief plate and prints by impressing a
design into styrofoam.
Time Required: 1 Session
Lesson Objectives: Students will recognize craftsmanship in
printing and distinguish the difference between commercial
and fine art printmaking.
Materials:
Scratch-Foam, cut to 4”x4.5”
Pencil
Variety of Tempera Paint colors
Brayer and Printing Tray for each color being used
White construction paper, cut to 6”x9” (3 per student, plus extras)
Glue sticks
12”x18” and 9”x12” construction paper for mounting
Newspaper
Procedure:
1. Discuss printmaking and show examples to define the differences and similarities
in commercial and fine art printing. Review contour lines, how they create shapes
and positive and negative space.
2. Sketch out design ideas on scratch paper. Review and evaluate types of lines will
work better than others. Broad, bold designs show better – fine details and lines
close together are discouraged.
3. Draw the design onto the styrofoam, remembering to use enough pressure (but not
TOO much) to make a good impression.
4. Demonstrate the procedure for lifting prints. Students will lift three successful
prints, in three separate colors in order from light to dark (i.e. yellow, orange, then
red).
5. Prints can be left to dry while students rinse off their printing plates by gently
rubbing them under running water.
6. Glue 9”x12” construction paper in the center of the 12”x18”.
7. Cut out three prints leaving a white border around the design.
8. Experiment with several arrangements of the prints on the background paper
before gluing them down.
GRADE 4 – LESSON PRESENTATION NOTES
LINE
Printing table should be set up so that the white paper for the final prints is accessible.
There should be one station for each color being used, and students can rotate around to
each color. Each color station should have:
PRINTING TRAY: Large construction paper works very well, however it absorbs the
paint and will begin to get too soggy after a while. Keep extra handy to replace.
PAINT: Keep the paint bottle at the tray and add small amounts as needed. Always
starting with less than you think – adding is easier than trying to disperse too much.
PAINTING BRAYER: You apply paint to the printing plate by rolling out the paint with
the brayer on the tray until you have an even coat of paint on the brayer. Then the brayer
is rolled over the plate surface to transfer the color evenly. If the paint feels slippery
when rolling the brayer on the tray, there is too much paint. Continue to roll and spread it
out until the paint gets slightly tacky. If there is too much paint on the brayer when you
apply it to the printing plate, it will get into the impression and compromise the design.
If there is too little paint, you can just add some paint and reapply.
NEWSPAPER: Cut sheets of newspaper in half to create stacks of individual sheets.
The paper should reside alongside the printing tray. Students will lay their plate, design
facing up, on the paper when they are rolling the painted brayer over it. Sheets of
newspaper can be removed as necessary to keep the work surface clean.
DRY BRAYER: After the printing plate has been inked, it remains on the newspaper
placemat and the white paper is laid on top of it. A dry brayer is used to gently but firmly
roll on top of the paper, transferring the paint from the plate to the paper. Be sure to roll
over the entire surface, paying attention to the edges to ensure a print of the entire design
block.
STUDENT PROCEDURE: 1. Sketch out your design ideas on scratch paper. 2. Draw your design onto the Styrofoam – remember to use
enough pressure to make a good impression. 3. Lift your prints in order from light to dark: Yellow, orange, red. 4. Rinse off printing plate by gently rubbing under running water. 6. Cut out all four prints leaving a little white border. 7. Arrange prints on black paper before gluing down. 8. Write your name on the back, bottom right corner with a white
pencil.
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Except
in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same
piece, which is called a print. Each piece is not a copy but an original since it is not a
reproduction of another work of art and is technically known as an impression. Painting
or drawing, on the other hand, create a unique original piece of artwork. Prints are
created from a single original surface, known technically as a matrix. Common types of
matrices include: plates of metal, usually copper or zinc for engraving or etching; stone,
used for lithography; blocks of wood for woodcuts, linoleum for linocuts and fabric
plates for screen-printing. But there are many other kinds, discussed below. Works
printed from a single plate create an edition, in modern times usually each signed and
numbered to form a limited edition. Prints may also be published in book form, as artist's
books. A single print could be the product of one or multiple techniques.
Everyday: Footprints in the snow
Fingerprints in ink
Lip prints with lipstick
Stamps and a stamp pad
Animal tracks
Tire tracks
PRINTMAKING 101
Printmaking is a sometimes misunderstood aspect of visual art. The distinction between fine art
prints and commercially reproduced prints (posters which have been signed) is not always easy to
make.
Fine art printmaking involves the creation of a master plate from which multiple images are
made. Simply put, the artist chooses a surface to be the plate. This could be linoleum,
Styrofoam, metal, cardboard, stone or any one of a number of materials. Then the artist prepares
the printing plate by cutting, etching or drawing an image onto the plate. Ink is applied (in a
variety of ways) and paper is pressed onto the plate either by hand or by way of a hand-run
printing press. The finished print is pulled from the plate.
Often the first three or four prints are different than the rest of the edition. These first prints are
called artist’s proofs. The number of prints pulled from one plate is called an edition. Once a
certain number of prints are pulled, the plate is destroyed so that more prints won’t be printed
later, thus ensuring the value of the edition. At the bottom of a print are two to three things
always written in pencil. On the left is a number that appears as a fraction (e.g. 6/25), this means
that the print is number six of a total of twenty five prints pulled from one plate. This number
excludes the artist proofs which are designated with an A/P. In the center of the bottom of the
print is the title (if any). At the bottom right, is the artist’s name and sometimes a date.
There are four main types of printmaking. The process and materials of these techniques
influence the appearance of the final print.
FOUR MAIN TYPES OF PRINTMAKING
Relief Printing
This is printing from a raised surface. A simple example of relief printing is a rubber stamp
pressed into a stamp pad and pressed onto a piece of paper. Relief printing plates are made from
flat sheets of material such as wood, linoleum, metal, styrofoam etc. After drawing a picture on
the surface, the artist uses tools to cut away the areas that will not print. A roller – called a brayer
– is used to spread ink on the plate. A sheet of paper is placed on top of the plate and the image is
transferred by rubbing with the hand or a block of wood, or being run through a printing press.
The completed print is a mirror image of the original plate.
Woodcut – Historical uses: Textiles and other decorative purposes, playing cards, calendars and
book illustrations.
Woodcut – Artists worth studying: Holbein the Younger, Fred Hagen, Vincent Van Gogh, James
Whistler, any Japanese printmaker.
Intaglio This describes prints that are made by cutting the picture into the surface of the printing plate.
Using a sharp V-shaped tool – called a burin – the printmaker gouges the lines of an image into
the surface of a smooth polished sheet of metal or in some cases a pieces of plexiglass. To make
a print, ink is pushed into the lines of the design. The surface is then wiped clean so that the only
areas with ink are the lines. A sheet of paper which has been soaked in water is then placed on
the plate which is run through a printing press. The paper is literally forced into the small lines
that have been cut into the plate. A variation of this technique – known as engraving – is etching.
With etching, acids are used to eat into the metal plate.
Artists worth studying: Francisco Goya, Pablo Picasso, Thomas Gainsborough, Rembrandt van
Ryn, Albrecht Durer.
Planography As we have just learned, relief prints are created from a raised surface, and intaglio prints are
created from a cut surface. Planography however, is the printing of a flat surface. Lithography is
the art of printing from a flat stone (limestone) or metal plate by a method based on the simple
fact that grease attracts grease as it repels water. A design or image is drawn on the surface with
a greasy material – grease crayon, pencil or ink – and then water and printing ink are applied.
The greasy parts absorb the ink and the wet parts do no. Acids are often used with this printing
ink are applied. The greasy parts absorb the ink and the wet parts do not. Acids are often used
with this type of printimaking to etch the stone and prevent grease from traveling where it should
not. For example, if a finger is placed on the surface, enough grease is transferred and as such,
the fingerprint will attract the ink. Unfortunately, lithography is a printing process which requires
the use of proper facilities and materials. However, showing your students examples of
lithography will help them to appreciate the fine art of printmaking even more.
History and uses: Lithography was invented in 1798. It’s main advantage is the great number of
prints that can be pulled.
Artists worth studying: Eugene Delacroix, Edouard Manet, Henri DeToulouse-Lautrec, Edvard
Munch.
Stencil: Serigraphy A stencil is a sheet of paper, fabric, plastic, metal or other material with designs cut, perforated or
punched from it. Ink is forced through the openings onto the surface (paper, fabric, etc.) to be
printed. Sometimes called silk screening, serigraphy (seri means silk) is a type of stencil printing.
A stencil is fastened to a sheet of silk which is tightly stretched across a wooden frame. Or, an
area of the silk is “blocked out” using glue, gum Arabic or shellac. The frame is placed against
the material to be printed. A squeegee (rubbermounted in wooden handle) is used to push the ink
through the open areas onto the material or paper below.
Stencil & Serigraphy – History: A long time ago in the Fiji Islands, stencils made of banana
leaves were used to apply patterns to bark cloth. The idea of using silk fabric as a screen was
developed in 1907 by Samuel Simon of Manchester England.
Stencil & Serigraphy – Uses: Signs and posters, decorating furniture, textiles (t-shirts)
Artists worth studying: Andy Warhol, Ben Shahn, Robert Guathmey.