One of the publications my course prints is
entitled ‘The Unseen’, which is on its 5 edition. It is an A4 risograph
publication, which has a set 2 tone colour scheme and an overall theme which we
produce a piece of work around. This year the theme is ‘submerged’, and the
colours are yellow and blue, which when overlapped in various tones create
variations of green.
I wanted to submit a piece of work for this
publication as risograph printing is a new technique for me, and my last
attempt wasn’t a great success. Also this publication is sold throughout the
year at stalls, and events held by the university, and therefore is another platform
for me network my illustrations.
We had a brief lecture about how the
risograph printer work, shown examples of previous work, and taught a few
different techniques of how to separate out art work. A technique I didn’t know
was how to separate a single image my picking out the different tones using the
magic wand tool on Photoshop by changing the tolerance of the tool. So I was
required toproduce 2 layers of imagery in greyscale,
which when layered over the top of one another form one imager. We could use
tones which were more than 50% grey, anything less will not show, so it will
work better if the layers are darker than you intend, especially with the
yellow layer.
To begin this piece of work I need an idea,
so I started brainstorming what ‘submerged’ means, and how visually this theme
could be presented.
·
Water
o
Drowning
o
Under water
o
Sea
o
Submarines
o
Sea creatures
o
Boats- titanic
o
Message in bottles
§ Secret message
§ Castaways
From my quick brain storm I decided to go
with the idea of hidden message in a bottle submerged in the sea. I am
interested in pattern/surface design so before I started I researched lots of
patterns found in the sea and on the sea bed, in particular highly decorative
fish and coral. With my resources at hand I began drawing out the line work for
my illustration. From experience you can have add tonal range which is at 50%
grey, anything less than that will not be visible. But last time I used lots of
tone and texture the image got a little lost, and not everything showed up, so
this time I plan to use only black line work, but create tone using patterns
and cross hatching. Below is my initial line drawing.
 |
| Initial drawn, completed using pencil and black fine liner |
 |
| The yellow layer |
 |
| The blue layer |
From this a scanned it into Photoshop and
started cutting around each area and separating them onto two different layers
a blue and yellow layer. Once I had separate and merge both layers I then
changed the colour of them to blue and yellow and changed the layer type to
multiple, which would allow me to see what the colour would look like when the
two colours overlapped, but I didn’t have any layers which overlapped so no
green tones were made. So a blocked out certain sections onto each layer, but I
found that by using solid black the colours were a little strong and distracted
from the form and line quality therefore, going against my initial thoughts I
lighted the tone in certain areas so when printed I will hopefully get a
lighter version of either and yellow or blue colour. Below are my two finished
layers, and the final printed publication.
 |
| The front and back cover of the publication 'Unseen 5'- Not my designs |
 |
| My final print |
Evaluation
For this experience I have interpreted a
brief and have produced a pieces of work using techniques which I have learnt
and have followed the guideline laid out. I am pleased with the final outcome
of my piece there are certain areas which didn’t come out exactly how I had
hoped such as the message scrolls which look a little out of place, and the
little doesn’t show up. That said the final image though unpredictable worked
to my favour, and is a huge improvement from my previous attempt. I feel that
therefore this work is too a sort of professional standard, although work is
needed on my quality of line and use of composition, as I feel that in
hindsight the image is possible a little busy, and the main focus and message
is lost. This experience has opened my ideas to this technique as it is an
effect and time efficient was of producing illustrations, which have and can be
classed as a print, rather than a laser jet print from a normal printer. I feel
that this technique gives a handmade quality the my illustrations and
misaligning adds texture and interest to the image as the tones are not
constrained to the line work. I feel that this experience will guide my
practise in a different way, allowing me to professionally, mass produce and
sell my work. This experience has allowed me to present my illustration using a
different method of printing in a publication which will be sold, therefore networking
and getting my artwork out in public more so, something I need to do more of.
In this type of situation next time I think I will take more time and care
researching and planning my image, I think it could have taken time to explore
my options, maybe thumb nailing ideas and different composition, in order to
produce the best image, I can. Using the risograph printing technique in the
future I will work on two different layers simultaneously to begin with, I
think this will give me more control over the final outcome, and make it easier
to plan each layer. I will also attempt if possible to test print my image, so
I can make adjustments before it gets printed as I wasn’t satisfied with the
final outcome. In addition, if I contribute to another in house publication I
would also like to get involved in the production of it, in order to learn how
such a large publication is layered out to be printed in such volumes, etc.
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