PRINTS! PRINTS! PRINTS!
In this project, we made a drawing that has symbolism of something and we did a print of the drawing. My drawing was about the underwater world that we, humans cannot experience much due to the lack of oxygen in the sea. The ocean is very mysterious to us so I wanted to convey that in a art piece. My art piece was suppose to symbolize the alien feel of the ocean. After I was done, I took my art and got it printed on a soft block. We made a couple "proofs", which were a couple rough drafts that were on the proof paper. In the end, we made two final papers of drawings we made. One of the proofs and final products were using a Chine Colle technique which will be explained later. I had a lot of fun with the printmaking we did and I hope to do another project like this in the future!
To make the print, we needed to grab the drawing and put it on a soft block. Then, you need to grab some carving tools and a benchhook to keep the soft block still while you carve out your drawing in the block. The point is the cut everything but the lines that you want to see in the final product. After you finish carving, you get a Relief Print. However, if you want to actually put it on a paper, you'll have to ink it with "block printing ink". First you add the color ink that you want to the plexi glass and then you grab a brayer to roll the ink onto your Relief Print. This technique of printing is called "a la Poupee", which is exactly what we used to print our image onto the print paper. I ended up making a lot of proofs, here is a couple of them!
This is the original print that I created.
I accidentally watercolored the art piece vertically instead of horizontally. I fixed this in future drafts.
This is my final rough draft where I tried to make a blend of blue colors to make a awesome effect. I think it turned out okay.
Like I said earlier, one of the proofs and final products were using a Chine Colle technique which attaches a cut-out paper of certain object or thing and it provides color to what you cut-out. If you wanted something to pop out in the drawing, you can make a cut-out of it and glue it on the water color painting before you print your image onto the art piece. It makes an effect like this!
The Whale Under the Deep Dark Sea
By Michael Quinn
This print was originally made to test my artist skill for underwater creativity and to practice drawing underwater features. However, I decided to go with a whale for the main piece of my artwork because whales are a big figure for me and my friends. We have a lot of inside references relating to whales and it has become an important part of our friendship. With that and my interest in learning how to draw underwater creatures, I was inspired to create this piece.
For my print, I used different shades of blue watercolor to bring an underwater feel into the artpiece. I wanted my piece to be realistic so I went with a darker tone with the colors I used. I went with different styles of coloring the background with each draft. One draft was wavy, another was dark, hard to see, and mysterious. There was one draft where I tried to go from a very light blue to a dark blue in the color spectrum. In the end, I decided to give the art piece a sense of depth by using a deep blue color throughout the draft. This was different from originally planned but I think it gave the piece a consistent feel. Hence why I call this piece, “The Whale Under the Deep Dark Sea”. I also carved out a seaweed type feel throughout the piece by leaving out a couple curvy lines to set the atmosphere. I wanted to make the art piece feel mysterious and alien which I believe I accomplished.
I designed my art piece to have a lot of lines to help make the background of the piece look water like. Originally, the lines were supposed to be waves but when I started with my drafts, I think it ended up having a wavy seaweed feel to it. Also when designing and carving my piece, my intent was to make the underwater environment as realistic as possible. The creatures, coral, and effects had to be realistic to give off a mysterious but serious feel. The ocean is incredible but also scary so I wanted to give off that feel to the viewers a bit. After the carving was done, I decided to watercolor a background for the image because this was my first piece I used watercolor and I felt like this project would be the perfect opportunity to do so. I tried a lot of styles until I came to the final product that had a darker feel to it. However on my final draft, I wanted the whale to pop out more compared to the rest of the artwork so I decided to lightly trace the outline of the whale on my final draft with scissor marks so that I can paint over it later. This allowed me to figure out where I need to leave the watercolor out and I didn’t need to do anything extra to cover the marks. So in the end, the whale was white and popped out from the endless stream of ocean. In this project, I felt pretty satisfied with my art piece and I can’t wait to work on my next project!
By Michael Quinn
This print was originally made to test my artist skill for underwater creativity and to practice drawing underwater features. However, I decided to go with a whale for the main piece of my artwork because whales are a big figure for me and my friends. We have a lot of inside references relating to whales and it has become an important part of our friendship. With that and my interest in learning how to draw underwater creatures, I was inspired to create this piece.
For my print, I used different shades of blue watercolor to bring an underwater feel into the artpiece. I wanted my piece to be realistic so I went with a darker tone with the colors I used. I went with different styles of coloring the background with each draft. One draft was wavy, another was dark, hard to see, and mysterious. There was one draft where I tried to go from a very light blue to a dark blue in the color spectrum. In the end, I decided to give the art piece a sense of depth by using a deep blue color throughout the draft. This was different from originally planned but I think it gave the piece a consistent feel. Hence why I call this piece, “The Whale Under the Deep Dark Sea”. I also carved out a seaweed type feel throughout the piece by leaving out a couple curvy lines to set the atmosphere. I wanted to make the art piece feel mysterious and alien which I believe I accomplished.
I designed my art piece to have a lot of lines to help make the background of the piece look water like. Originally, the lines were supposed to be waves but when I started with my drafts, I think it ended up having a wavy seaweed feel to it. Also when designing and carving my piece, my intent was to make the underwater environment as realistic as possible. The creatures, coral, and effects had to be realistic to give off a mysterious but serious feel. The ocean is incredible but also scary so I wanted to give off that feel to the viewers a bit. After the carving was done, I decided to watercolor a background for the image because this was my first piece I used watercolor and I felt like this project would be the perfect opportunity to do so. I tried a lot of styles until I came to the final product that had a darker feel to it. However on my final draft, I wanted the whale to pop out more compared to the rest of the artwork so I decided to lightly trace the outline of the whale on my final draft with scissor marks so that I can paint over it later. This allowed me to figure out where I need to leave the watercolor out and I didn’t need to do anything extra to cover the marks. So in the end, the whale was white and popped out from the endless stream of ocean. In this project, I felt pretty satisfied with my art piece and I can’t wait to work on my next project!
El misterioso mar azul, lleno de maravilla y excelencia.
La belleza de lo desconocido, nunca perder su gracia.
Curiosa curiosidad, infinito abismo de posibilidades.
The mysterious blue sea, full of wonder and excellence.
The beauty of the unknown, to never lose its grace.
Sparkling curiosity, never ending abyss of possibilities.
La belleza de lo desconocido, nunca perder su gracia.
Curiosa curiosidad, infinito abismo de posibilidades.
The mysterious blue sea, full of wonder and excellence.
The beauty of the unknown, to never lose its grace.
Sparkling curiosity, never ending abyss of possibilities.