Experiment: Screen-printing (Part VI)

Long time, no see. Hell Week and Finals Week at school. But here's part of what I've been up to.

Part V showed you the stencils I made for my comic print. I managed to pick up contact paper (who knew that Contact was actually a brand name?) and remade all the stencils. They still did not want to print very well, but by doing two drops of color without lifting the screen, I managed to make them work. Here's what a test print of the blue, the first drop, looked like on newsprint.

And the newsprint with test prints of all four color drops. The bottom half of the black comic lines came out much thinned and fainter than I expected, which I was not pleased about. But again, with a double drop, they were acceptable.

Quick shots of the (basically) final prints. I'm picking up my graded portfolio from this class tomorrow, so proper scans will be up later in the week.

A second print was due at the same time as the above print, and I wanted the two to be related. I mentioned this in Part V as well. So as I printed the comic print, I slipped in smaller sheets of good paper where I knew ink would be coming through and I hadn't bothered to prevent (knowing I would be making these other prints). Each one has a drop of each color and most have a second drop of red. There was no registration, so they are all a little bit different. I burned the smaller comic transparency onto my screen and printed in on top of the color. Like the above print, I will scan them properly tomorrow and have them posted later this week.

Experiment: Screen-printing (Part V)

One thing I dislike about being in college for art is having to share studio space with other students. I won't get into the details, but let's just say I don't necessarily see eye to eye with certain other students regarding space and cleanliness.

But I digress.

Here's the image from Part IV, printed on a transparency, a large and small version. I've decided they will be they will become two different prints. The paper I tore into the sheets for the large prints left over pieces of paper conveniently sized perfectly for the small transparency. The large print will be an edition, and the small print will be... something a little freer, crazier, unplanned.We'll see.

I didn't get as far as I would have liked today, but here's a taste of what's to come.I'll be printing in yellow, red, and blue. Below, you can see the shapes of color I'll be using. The jagged shapes are for sound-effect bubbles. There will be a red one and a yellow one, on the same spot but slightly offset from each other. The bottom shape is the blue of Superman's suit, in the middle, the red, and on top, the yellow. There are a few more shapes unpictured, but these are the big ones.

The shapes shown below are cut out of cardstock to be used as stencils. However, one reason I didn't get very far today was because the cardstock failed me. I need to retreat to the store and pick up some contact paper instead. That should work out much more nicely.

Researching the Experiments

I'll admit it straight up right now: I don't do as much research as I should

In fact, one might say that I scarcely do any research at all.

I know, I know: I'm a student at a university with a fantastic art library full of anything I could wish to know about many many artists and art movements. I have access online, thanks to this university, to hundreds of good databases of articles and books and so forth. I should have no excuses for not making the most of these things before I graduate. Because once I leave this school, I'll wish I had this same access, since it's just that amazing.

One reason I suspect I haven't really researched anything on my own is because I've never made the proper connection between research and the art world. In high school, research happened in science and geography classes, maybe in English as well. Art classes were about color and technique and expressing yourself. Art was for bringing what was inside of you, out, and research was about bringing what was outside of you, in. Only this far into college am I realizing that these two viewpoints really need to merge in order to broaden my horizons as an artist. My professors will ask, "Have you heard of So-and-So?" I'm forced to admit, "No, I haven't." At sophomore review, they asked, "Who are you looking at?" And I replied, "Um..."

When I do have subjects for potential research, they are usually given to me by friends or professors. Sometimes I come across them by accident. I was first introduced to Alphonse Mucha, one of my influences (as discussed here) in a poster sale on campus several years ago. I found a beautiful poster, pictured below, bought it, and hung it on my wall, then thought nothing more. A full year later, someone brought up Mucha and showed me one of his images. I was stunned to find out my poster had opened up new possibilities for me.

Over the spring quarter, the summer if possible, and definitely all of the next (and my final) year, I intend to make researching new-to-me artists a bigger part of my artistic career. As sarcastic as I was at the beginning of this post, I'm sure that someday, I will look back and regret not taking greater advantage of the resources available to me. Anything I can do to lessen that potential guilt would be great.

Meanwhile, at the Pendleton...

Last night I attended the Final Friday event at the Pendleton with some friends. What an experience. I didn't know anything about the event or the location before I went. The Pendleton is an eight story building that houses hundreds of artist studios. The studios are private, but the last Friday of every month, they open their doors and let the public poke around.

It was pretty exciting to see artists in their own studios, displaying their work. It was a little awkward at first; we came earlier in the evening than most of the crowd. Walking into the studios felt like entering someone's home (which, in a way, it was). Everyone had wine, cheese, and crackers set out. I could have gotten quite drunk, if I'd been in the mood. Many of the artists greeted us as we came in. The first few floors of studios felt real and lived-in. You could see piles of canvases and book stacked in the corners and desks with supplies in the back, often behind a curtain. As we progressed up the building, however, with a few exceptions, the studios become more and more business-like. Some had counters, like you'd see in a small store, for checking out. They were cleaner, neater, almost cold. Many artists higher up didn't say anything unless spoken to and didn't make themselves known. It was intimidating.

There wasn't a large variety of media among the artists. Most people were painters. There were a few photographers, a jewelry artist, and a print-maker. Many of the painters painted realistic natural landscapes, although there were also several portrait painters. One man had a whole wall of self portraits he'd done throughout his life. (He probably had the most work displayed; it was inside his studio and on all the walls outside as well! He was very nice, too.) It was interesting talking to the artists. I had a list of questions for a short interview, and I tried to talk to different kinds of artists. I expected them to answer mostly the same. "How do you support your artwork?" "Um... by selling my artwork." But several of them had second jobs they did on the side. One even said he was a substitute teacher, which took up the majority of his day.

I would like to go back to the Pendleton, perhaps on a Second Look Saturday instead of another Final Friday. The crowds got to me, and the halls and studios were almost too small to fit everyone. My visit really inspired me to work hard so I can get a studio of my own one day.

Co-Conspirer

Megan Newton is a fabulous person I am glad to call my friend. She is in her second year at the University of Cincinnati's fine arts program. I am really impressed with where she is right not in her work, and I can't wait to see where she is going. I hit her up for a short interview. To view more of her work, please visit her blog, The Batcave.


What first got you into art?

What first got me into art....hmmmm I would have to say watching cartoons as a child really got me thinking about art. I wanted to draw like the illustrators of tv shows like Batman or Bobby's World. ( which are both totally awesome shows. WATCH THEM!) But I never really took my art seriously until I started taking photographs, which was my freshman year of high school. Once I got a camera in my hands things seemed to come easier as far as the creative process was concerned.

Lab Exercise: Making a Notebook (Part II)

In Part I of Making a Notebook, I showed you how to make a hardcover notebook, much like a printed book. Today, you will see a Japanese style of book binding. Try them both out and see which you like better. The Japanese style has less components and is potentially much quicker and easier, provided that you don't mess up during the sewing (as I did. Often.)

A reminder again: this is how I do things. You might have a better idea for certain steps. By all means. This just works for me and is not the be-all-end-all. If something works better for you, do it.

Required ngredients: insides pages (halved computer paper again, this time cut instead of folded), two pieces of cardboard for covers (I'm using a thinned cardboard this time from a cereal box), two thin stiff objects, clips for the stiff objects, need, some kind of thread, awl, ruler (not pictured because I forgot)

Optional: glue, bone folder

Experiment: Screen-printing (Part IV)

A sketch of my new screen-print project. I wanted to try out the process you use to screen-print photos. I'm obviously not using a photo here, though. The process work with whatever image you want. You make it bitmap and print it on transparent film, coat your screen with a photo emulsion, expose your screen with the transparency on it, and wash away the coating. And there's your image on your screen, ready for printing!

The image I wanted to create is a comic book page that eventually crumbles and crashes at the bottom of the paper. There's no real reason behind this image, I just thought it looked interesting. I also wanted to bring together the worlds of comics and of screen-printing, for me. The image, as sketched, is black and white. However, over top and possible underneath as well, I will add in splashes of color, in the form of sound effect bubbles. There will be no text in the bubbles, just the shapes that dramatic sound effect bubbles have. Think old-time Batman.

Here's the final image that I have used with the photo process to put on my screen.