Covers a variety of relief and intaglio printmaking processes, with examples of student work and pieces by Adam Palmer, Josh Banks, Christopher Wallace (UNT grads), and more well-known printmakers. Relief and intaglio processes such as linocut, woodcut relief, lithography, and screenprinting are introduced.

1.  What IS a PRINT?
An imprinted image on a piece of paper. Made from a MATRIX
made of some selected medium, usually stone, wood or metal.
In a general sense, a print edition is the SET of ALL the
impressions made from the SAME matrix.
 What is an EDITION?
The NUMBER of prints pulled from a plate or other matrix,
NOT counting trial proofs, artist’s proofs, and other proofs
outside the edition.
Published at the same time or as part of the same
publishing event.

3. Printmaking processes include:
 RELIEF:
 Woodcut, Linocut, Wood Engraving, Collagraph
 INTAGLIO:
 Etching
 Non-acid based processes:
 Engraving, Mezzotint and Drypoint
 Lithography: Traditional Stone
 Monotype
 Silk Screen
 Digital

4.  RELIEF
 any printing from the inked surface of a BLOCK, usually
carved WOOD or LINOLEUM. Any cut-away lines or areas do
not print.
 The ink is transferred to paper by rubbing the back of the
sheet with a hand-held baren or by applying pressure with
a printing press.
 Historical Context:
 Woodcuts were introduced to Europe in the early 15th
century but were executed in the Orient as early as the 9th
century.
 The use of woodcuts was spread by the inventions of
moveable type and of the printing press in the 1450s.

7.  Paper invented in China many centuries before
European form, c. 800
 Japan = work of several artists

10.  Tom Huck
 2009

13.  Another relief process,
first used in 1800s
 Similar to woodcut but
relies on engrain of block
(hard wood)
 Needs tools designed to
cut metal

14.  Wood engraving
 Dramatic composition
with political theme
 Delicacy of line
indicative of medium
 At the time of creation,
Kent was one of the
most well-
known/successful
graphic artists in U.S.

15.  Linocut – similar to
woodcut, however
linoleum much softer than
wood, easier to cut,
requires similar tools
 No grain, cuts can be
made in any direction with
ease
 Other possible relief
processes?
 Potato
 Styrofoam
 Rubber stamps
 Plywood
 Each requires a special
approach, tools, papers,
press

17.  INTAGLIO
From Italian, 'in the cut' or 'in the groove’
 It encompasses all prints made by pressing the ink down into
the crevices of the plate then wiping excess ink away from the
surface.
 The paper is placed over the plate and run through an intaglio
press, which squeezes the paper and plate with high pressure
between two rollers, transferring the ink to the paper.
 Some examples of intaglio techniques include:
 etching
 mezzotint
 drypoint
 aquatint
 engraving

18.  Unlike relief, what
is removed ends up
being printed
 Metal plates and
special tools, i.e.
burin
 Ink surface, wipe
clean, place moist
paper over plate
and send through
press

19.  Engraving
An engraving (also called a line engraving) is made by incising a
design into a METAL plate (usually copper) by applying
pressure to the plate with a pointed tool called a graver or
burin.
 Engraving is an INTAGLIO process, so prints made in this
manner will have a platemark.
 Strong lines and sharp definition are characteristic of
engravings. The earliest known line engravings were
issued in the fifteenth century.
 A method of engraving in a steel plate, which allows for
finer detail and many more impressions than does
copper, was developed by Thomas Lupton in 1822.

20.  Engraving = oldest of the
intaglio techniques
 Developed from medieval
practice of incising linear
designs in armor
 Basic tool is a burin
 Shallow cuts create a light,
thin line while deeper cuts
result in thicker and darker
line
 Shading = hatching

21. William HogarthMartin Schongauer

22. Drypoint – An Intaglio method in which a sharp needle or diamond point is
used to scratch a line onto a metal or acrylic plate . The resultant burr of metal that
is raised holds more ink than the incised line itself and gives the rich, velvety
stroke characteristic of the technique. The plate wears out rapidly because the
burr soon breaks off during printing.

38.  Chine appliqué (chine collé)
A chine appliqué or chine collé is a print in which the
image is printed onto a thin sheet of Japanese fiber
paper (other similar paper) which is backed by a
stronger, thicker sheet. Japanese fiber paper takes an
intaglio impression more easily than regular paper, so
chine appliqué prints generally show a richer
impression than standard prints.

42.  Mezzotint (intaglio process)
inverse of the other intaglio processes
 created working from black to white, rather than vice
versa.
 metal plate is worked using a rocker
-roughens the entire surface of the plate with tiny
holes and burrs.
-If the plate were printed at this time the image would
be completely velvet black.
 Areas that are to appear in lighter tones or in white are
smoothed out on the surface using scrapers and
burnishers, so that they will hold LESS ink.
 Mezzotint prints have a platemark
 makes a very rich image
 used particularly for portraits.

43. Rocker – Hardened steel tool with a curved, serrated edge, used to roughen
a metal plate for mezzotints.
Roulette – tool with a revolving head of hardened steel on which a dotted,
lined or irregular pattern is incised; used in intaglio processes.

45.  Apply acid resistant
ground / wax to metal
plate
 Draw design into waxed
surface (ground)
 Place plate in acid bath
 Acid “bites” the plate or
areas exposed during
the drawing stage

46. Etching
This technique involves using acid to bite
grooves into the plate. A substance called
an etching ground blocks the acid from
biting through in certain places, while
disruptions in the ground allow the acid to
bite in other areas. The plate is printed by
pressing ink into the grooves and wiping
excess ink off the surface. Ink is then
transferred from the plate to the paper by
being run through a press.

48.  AQUATINT
An aquatint is created by etching SECTIONS, rather than lines, of a plate in
order to create areas of uniform tone. An aquatint is
 prepared by applying resin or a similar ground (spray paint) to
a metal plate, which is then heated, thus adhering the ground
to the metal. This gives a roughness or grain to the plate which
adds texture to the image.
 Plate immersed in acid bath, which bites or etches the plate
and creates areas which will hold the ink.
 Design created with gradations of TONE achieved through
repeated acid baths combined with varnish (acrylic) used to
stop out areas of lighter tone.
 Aquatint is an INTAGLIO process, so prints made in this
manner will have a platemark.

49. Francisco Goya.
The Sleep of
Reason Produces
Monsters.

50.  Tonal areas made by
applying powdered resin
(acid resistant)
 Heat metal plate, resin
activates or melts resin
(each particle or dot of
powdered resin will now
resist acid)

51.  process based on the chemical principle that OIL AND WATER
DO NOT MIX.
 Images are drawn on limestone or metal plates with crayons
and inks which contain wax or oil.
 After treatment with gum arabic and nitric or phosphoric acid,
the non-image areas become water-receptive.
 The stone or plate is wet before each inking with a roller, so
the oil-based ink will adhere ONLY to the image areas. Paper is
pressed against the surface with a bar or roller press.
 Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder in 1798 but didn't come into
general use until the 1820s. After that time lithography quickly replaced
intaglio processes for most illustrative and commercial applications, for the
design was easier to apply to the stone or plate, it was much easier to
rework or correct a design, and many more images could be produced
without loss of quality than in any of the intaglio processes.
LITHOGRAPHY (PLANOGRAPHIC)

58.  Lithography is a
planographic process =
surface is flat
 Direct quality of
medium, appears like a
drawing on paper

61.  Serigraphy
 The process, also called silkscreen,
that uses a squeegee to force ink
through selected parts of silk or
other fabric stretched tightly over
a frame containing the image. The
image on the screen can be
produced either photographically,
by cutting stencils, or by drawing
direct with a block out material.

63.  Robert Rauschenberg
 Mixed Media with
emphasis on Screen
Printing.

74. Monotype - Often considered a 'painterly' technique, this
involves painting on a smooth surface and transferring that
painting onto paper, usually, but not always, with the help of a
press. Since the surface is smooth and does not hold ink in
any repeatable way, each print is as unique as a painting.

76.  Barbara Kruger’s appropriated mass media imagery,
photo-stencils
 David Hockney’s manipulation of paper-making
process = added color to paper pulp, masses pressed
and dried