I was up very early reviewing some images I had produced between studying units with OCA. These Yogi prints were unsatisfactory as they were, so I decided to play around with the concept a little. My intention was to cut them up and create some kind of a collage effect. Before I took the risk of ruining them, I paused and considered very carefully what the best approach was to take. I eventually came up with the idea to have two complementary images in one. The way I was going to go about this was to find two matching prints in contrasting colours and cut one of them to produce another shadow image of a lotus flower. I followed the process outlined below in order to achieve this happy outcome:
- Select two contrasting coloured prints of the same design
- choose which of the pair is inferior in quality and turn it over
- Draw a complementary design on the reverse side whilst remaining within the confines of the original print area
- Using a scalpel, cut out the design (saving the waste)
- Turn the cut image back right side up
- Place the cut image on top of the superior quality print
- Assess the effect of the two images
I was keen to use this method again, so designed an image to go with an editorial piece in Hinterland Magazine, as follows:
I have drawn this (reversed) image onto a piece of softcut lino with the intention of cutting it as simply as possible. Depending on how well it turns out as a print in its own right, I will add a shadow image, using a similar process to that listed above, to elaborate this image. I will possibly add some figures using this method.
I selected key words from the following paragraph from Hinterland Magazine’s editorial piece from issue number 8.
“The theme of food writing around which many though not all pieces in this issue coalesce, was driven by a number of outstanding submissions that used food as an entry point into other subjects. Often, as in the case of Amy Cotler, Sue Hann and Pragya Agarwal, it is a route into unpicking relationships with family or friends; or as in the pieces by Edward Little, Andrew Kenrick and ourselves – the scraps of illumination that follow from being immersed in other places and other times, with distinct cultures and cuisines.” (Dean; Kenrick: 2021)
I took the words, food; relationships; family or friends; scraps of illumination; other places; cultures; and cuisines. These conjured up for me places I had read about but not actually visited personally. The theme that formed in my mind was a vineyard setting with the promise of food and company, hence the laid out table amidst a charming vista.
The resulting lino plate produced the following print and its subsequent Procreate – edited photo printout version, which was then hand – edited using a blue biro. I may yet add some figures, albeit ghostly versions with the print overlaying method outlined above. In fact, it’s worth mentioning here that it is freeing to make the move from purist printmaking techniques to the more liberal methods available for general illustration. Using a photocopier as an artist’s tool can be fun too.
Later I did a print in red:
And then took a photocopy of both prints so that I could experiment with collage effects again as follows:
If I were to take another stab at this, I thinj I’d make the profiles of the figures more exaggerated to improve the imediacy of this image. Here, it is necessary to look closely at them to see them as animated people rather than just as cut outs. But I am pleased with the method and feel that the basic concept is workable.
References:
Dean, F.K., Andrew (2021) ‘Editorial’, Hinterland Magazine, (8), pp. 12–13.
Maureen Walker Illustration 1: Key steps in Illustration Blog 