Saying this, it was however quite eye-opening to play with Lino and Mono printing as they're areas that I haven't really developed skills with the same way I have with Screen printing.
Screen:
(Prints developed from motifs chosen from 'Idea Pictures')
I was really excited to get into the screen workshop in order to turn this idea into a set of prints. However, I was not too happy with the way they turned out in the end. I think that this is mainly due to the colour palette I ended up using (which was restricted due to being in pairs and not having full choice of colour). I think that the solo print of the eyes looks ok. But with the dark blue as the brain-outline, it looks as though the image is flattened and it makes it a bit boring. I was really expecting the shapes in this print to come out a lot stronger as well but it appears that the whole image seems a bit jumbled and it has a hard job of representing Oliver Sacks and his work. I do want to experiment more with screen printing as I have faith that it could help me to conjure up a great outcome. In future prints I think I'm going to try developing my idea digitally quite a bit more prior to printing. Experimenting with the positives I design as well as colour choices will enable me to have more control over the results.
Mono:
(Mono-prints produced using print outs from digital ideas)
I unfortunately wasn't able to make the mono-print workshop due to being unwell. I did however make some mono prints a little later on in the project. But this was after I had already planned and designed my final prints which I had opted to use screen for. This was a bit of a mistake as I really liked some of the prints that resulted from mono. The plain orangey-yellow one to the upper right has a really beautiful quality to it. I love that you can achieve this geometric style so easily. It would have been nice to try and incorporate this into my screen prints, possible overlaying the two processes digitally. The main thing I've learnt from this is to ensure that I exhaust all processes before making any final decisions! As there's always a chance that inspiration could arise and a big idea could appear. Will make this a definite note to self for the next module..!
LINO:
(Lino-cuts from workshop)
Lino is one of the techniques that I have tried a few times in the past however I've never really had a moment where I've thought, "oh this is great"... until now! I found that the outcomes it produced had a real sense of texture and movement to them which was perfect for the eyes. The line value also creates quite a disturbing feeling, the marks in the eyes almost work as blood vessels being strained. I also just found the process of cutting the lino to be incredibly satisfying and quite therapeutic! I plan to explore it further with one of my other designs. I think it would look good a bit larger as these pieces where only A5/6. Increasing the size should allow me to create a greater tonal value and more detail.
Following this session I spent a bit of time on illustrator tracing over my motifs and developing them into clean vectors that would work as positives for screen and could be traced onto lino to then be carved out.
***Whilst tracing over this motif into illustrator I had a bit of a moment where I really worried about the relevance of the motifs that I had decided to develop (eyes). I worried that it is way to abstract an idea considering the nature of this project, and that even a lifetime fan of Oliver Sacks may be unable to put the 2 and 2 together. I think that this is definitely true to an extent and my idea IS abstract. But ultimately I think that it corresponds well to Sacks in terms of his own abstract nature, his life was spent looking and evaluating everything around him. The boxed nature of this idea also links in the sense that Sacks was not one to put people into boxes. Unlike the majority of western society and unfortunately, sometimes, other neuroscientists and doctors. Sacks was a man who spent his life looking outside of the box, and I hope that these designs are able to communicate that!***
...Short existential over, back to the lino outcomes! The prints I made where really succesful, I liked how much they contrasted to the digital design. The etching-like marks on the eyelids give the image a lot of texture and completely change the way it communicates. I think if I where to cut this design again I would leave the gaps in the centre of the image un carved, this would allow the image a bit more depth I think. It would also be fun to experiment a little more with colour and mixing of colours. For this print I used Turquoise and Red which did work well, although I'm unsure as to how strongly they fit within my theme. One final thing I need to remember for my next meeting with lino is to ensure that the cut is covered adequately with ink or to use double padding when pressing in order to create a bold print. Because I wasn't fully aware of that on this occasion, some of my prints came out slightly faded and patchier than I had hoped.
(2nd set of Lino-prints)
