Working with a new medium, I realized that I wanted to have a better understanding of how the materials would influence the final outcome before doing too much planning, so, I opted to try making a practice plate early on. This was intended to be a way to get a better feel for the drypoint printing process, to see how the etched plate would translate onto the printed page.
I was so glad that I did this, as it really helped to shape my direction, in terms of the style of the artwork. I was pretty sure at this point that I would be doing something around the idea of a human vessel and was thinking of creating an image of either a soulful human face, or of the human body. With the practice print I really saw the possibilities and potential to create a visceral feel with strong line work, cross hatched shading, and texture through platetone.
My first experimental practice plate, that helped me get a feel for how the scratched plate would transfer to printed page.
Getting that first plate scratched up and printed really helped me refine my direction. Now I felt drawn to make something that captured the movement and pulse of quick life drawing sketches or gesture drawing. I did a lot of that kind of art as a teenager so it has a fond place in my heart. As I considered my stylistic choices, along with the theme of “vessel” and how this could be conveyed artistically, I thought of the concept of a human vessel – the body and soul being a conduit for creative expression. Artists sometimes speak of how their gifts feel like they come from somewhere beyond the self, and that we are simply a channel for that creative force to flow through. I thought a beautiful way to illustrate this could be an image of dance or movement, as a very literal way that the body can be a vessel for creativity.
I looked on the internet for photographs for dancers to use as reference for my drawings. I had a kind of image in my mind, but it took some searching to find something I could work with. Eventually I found this photograph of a small troupe of dancers that had the kind of dynamism and movement I was envisioning, then made some sketches from there. I wanted the human form to be clear, yet somewhat ambiguous – arms might be wings, and shadows could obscure where the bodies end or begin.
Some sketches working from the reference photo, trying out different cropping, composition, and stylistic choices for the final drypoint plate.
The sketch I ended up working from for carving my plate:
First test print of my plate – we discovered the printing press was having an issue and printing unevenly:
Second test print – went quite dark (a little too much so) but I do love seeing all the variance of plate tone, like all the little lines visible from wiping the ink off with newspaper.
First proper print (1/3)
For this print, I wanted to leave a fair bit of ink for plate tone without it being quite as dark as that last test print. I only lightly used a q-tip in a few places to lift some extra ink off, and am very happy with the results. I love how much texture and range of value there, and how strongly the darker lines come through.
Second print (2/3) – For this print, I left less plate tone to let the carved lines dominate and removed more ink from the bodies in an attempt to have them further stand out. This might have been more effective if I had left more ink on the overall plate but I do find this print quite an interesting contrast to the first one with heavier plate tone and enjoy seeing them together.
Third print (3/3) – With my third plate, I decided to try adding some colored ink directly to the plate in a loose and somewhat imprecise way (but with consideration as to where the color placement was) thinking it might mimic a light watercolor wash or painterly effect. I really like how this turned out, and could see doing a series of prints like this with several colors, each evoking a slightly different mood or feel.
