This past moth, our class has been studying Romanticism. Romanticism was an art movement that came around in the art explosion that was the Renaissance era that commonly used literature, legend, and important events to express imagination, extreme emotion, and symbols. In a way, it was the punk rock of the Renaissance. I chose to do a dry-point print based on the ideas and ideals behind Romanticism.
This is my very first print. The concept of this print was, in a way, a kind of "hell" that the character is shown in, and shows a constant cycle of styles as conformity. One hand draws his identity as contemporary (blue jeans, t-shirt) while the other erases him in place of a suit and slicked back hair. As most people do, I chose to ink my first print in black, the first print was very much a learning experience for me, as you can see, the washed out print is due to two things, I wiped away too much ink, and I didn't set the printer low enough. I myself was initially disappointed, but as I thought about it more, i came to the realization that to me, the first print was a learning experience.
On second Print I hit my stride, the pressure on the press was right, and the ink was deep enough into the plate to make an acceptable imprint on the paper. I used colours that seemed similar to what would be portrayed in reality, such as the pink eraser, a relative
skin-tone, and pencil. On this print, I used a palate of warm colours, but at the same time, used cool colours to keep the piece interesting. originally, I was understandably edgy about the use of yellow in my piece, I was worried that the yellow wouldn't stand out, or be difficult to see. Upon seeing this, I added some brown and orange to the yellow, and the final colour was better than I expected, I am very happy with this piece.
The Intent for my final print was to either to use a cool or warm palate exclusively. In the beginning I felt the need to do something a little different than before, but after some deliberation, I settled on a warm palette, but different than the previous print because it focused on the main focal point, some of the smaller things were not inked.
