Art Thread: Citymadeofash

[citymadeofash]

Here's an illustration I did a few months ago... an origional creation/composition, though I have only Mignola and HP Lovecraft to thank for the inspiration ;)

http://www.multimediadept.com/~finkk/misc/tentaclehand.jpg

[citymadeofash]

Sometime this week I'll try and post another tentacle filled composition for your viewing pleasure :D

[E. Spears]

That's really cool. I like the colors you chose, very sweet.

-ers

[citymadeofash]

That's really cool. I like the colors you chose, very sweet.
Materials:
bic pen
watercolors
oil pastel crayons


This particular piece was just done free hand without reference (quite ucommon for me). I do most of my work in photoshop/illustrator based off of either my own photography or stock photography. You can see more of my work at:

www.substructure.net and
dead air (www.substructure.net/deadair/main.html) << best viewed in IE on windows :confused:

[E. Spears]

I looked at your sites, those are sweet. Your stuff at substructure.com rocks hard, I like it a lot. And Dead Air was really great. I like how your sites are like interactive-art, very great stuff man. My favorite project on Substructure was Ablution, very cool.

-ers

[Johann]

love the tentacle hand, great style.

[citymadeofash]

love the tentacle hand, great style.
Thanks!

Here is a piece I worked up in Illustrator for a series of screenprints that I will be producing towards the end of april (have yet to decide upon colors and fills)

http://www.multimediadept.com/~finkk/misc/scissordrown.jpg

It'll be approximately 19x24" when printed, 5-6 colors, edition of 10

[Ken O]

That second pic is crazy as all hell. I like it.

[citymadeofash]

That second pic is crazy as all hell. I like it.Thanks!

I'm actually working on doing a variation of it as a dry-point etching (cutting/scratching lines into a metal plate, inking the plate, then printing in a press). So far the proof looks awesome! I love the dirty/distressed quality of etching... When I have a finished copy, I'll post a scan.


*Think of the diver with his hose, minus the tentacle and scissors, staring down at a pile of dead birds*.... lol

[citymadeofash]

Ok, so here is the final etching based on the illustrator piece I've shown above. The actual name for the process is drypoint or Intalio. Consists of using a sharp needle to scratch/scrape lines directly into a metal plate, inking the plate and then producing a print after running it through a press.

enjoy :)

http://www.multimediadept.com/~finkk/misc/drypoint72dpi

the print in real life is approx 6x9", edition of 6 (the scan doesnt do it justice, but the ink is a blue/black)

[Petersen]

Awesome to have another printmaker on the board!!!!

Are you in a Printmaking class? Are you lucky enough to have a home/studio with a press? I have a degree in Print, but no real access to equipment. The drypoint looks great! What did you use to get the soft gradation of tone in the background?

I don't know if it's cool with whomever owns the press, but you can print from plates on to cotton shirts. They need to be slightly damp (I blotted them like you would blot the paper). I made several shirts of my favorite prints before leaving school, but I had to do it after hours.

[Mikolaj]

Damn you all hellboarders!! Why some of you are SO talented and I can't even draw a straight line?? ;) VERY nice!! I was just wondering if you have ever heard of a polish "printer"(don't really know how one should call such an artist) called Tadeusz Siara. He is well known in Europe. He makes his prints fallowing an old nearly ancient process of making those lithos- the same one that was used in the time of Gutenberg's. It has to do something with alchemy and forging metals... To be honest i don't think i have the right vocabulary to describe the whole, very complex process... :P Anyways- here are the pictures of some of his work. Personally- I love'em!! But maybe that's just becouse he is a friend of mine... ;)



http://www.culture.pl/pl/culture/artykuly/fo_siara_brama_l
http://www.culture.pl/pl/culture/artykuly/fo_siara_obserwatorium_l
http://www.culture.pl/pl/culture/artykuly/fo_siara_list_amsterdam_l

[Petersen]

Khan:
Those look like etchings to me. Etchings are made by taking a metal plate (sheet) and by using acid and acid resist, making an image. The acid etches grooves in the plate. When ink is smeared on the plate, it goes down into the crevaces and is wiped clean on the surface. Then run through a pressured press to apply the image to paper.

Lithography is differnt. I never did it, but the concept is to draw with an oilbased something (crayon, pencil, paint, hell, even motor oil!) on a marble slab (or in more modern times a smooth thin sheet of metal) Past that I'm unclear..but it is based on oil and water not mixing..so I assume the oil provides a resist for water, or water is a resist to an oil-based ink

/end threadjack

[kid cthulhu]

Nice work, CMoA!

Love that diver! Its nice to see all of the different mediums people on this board are working with. Can't wait to do a little more experimenting myself, especially in the printing/t-shirt arena.

[citymadeofash]

Awesome to have another printmaker on the board!!!!

Are you in a Printmaking class? Are you lucky enough to have a home/studio with a press? I have a degree in Print, but no real access to equipment. The drypoint looks great! What did you use to get the soft gradation of tone in the background?

I don't know if it's cool with whomever owns the press, but you can print from plates on to cotton shirts. They need to be slightly damp (I blotted them like you would blot the paper). I made several shirts of my favorite prints before leaving school, but I had to do it after hours.
Right now im currently taking an etching/monotype class. We're just now starting to get into actual etching (drawing through a ground, then bathing in acid). Up until now the focus has been on drypoint/Intalio. So far I like the class, but I'm still partial to screen printing for several reasons:

1) Faster!
2) Less time intensive
3) Far easier to keep yourself and your materials clean and paint free
4) More versitile

Even so, I still am really enjoying etching/monotype. Were I to ever reconsider what major I should have taken instead of Multimedia, I would have probably been a printmaker. I'm comfortable working with materials and love the aesthetic qualities. I wanted to take a non-silver class but as this is my last semester in college, I'm afraid I wont be taking a class in it at least until I save up money and pay for a non-credit class somewhere down the road.

This semester my senior studio project is consisting of seven to eight 12x19" 5 color screen prints, editions of 10 based upon my own dreams. The theme is that of death, only for the fact that after keeping a dream journal for the project, the majority of the dreams were focused on either death or water.

Anyhow, I've got some compositions done and ready in Illustrator (which I'll post sometime soon). I'll also try and scan (probably photograph since they'll be large) the final prints.

If any of you havent already checked it out, my website with some of my work can be located at www.substructure.net




PS Peterson! - The spatter/splotchy gradient at the top and sides of the print is not part of the actual plate design. Because I couldnt quite get that look through the drypoint technique, I used Tarletain (this starched cheese-cloth sort of material, also used to wipe ink from the plate) and dabbed it a bit in the ink, and then blotted it onto the areas of the plate I wanted to show. I know its sorta cheating, but it looks nice and I couldnt really fathom how else I could get the effect only using a scraper, needle, and sand paper. What I like about it is how the black splotchy areas differ ever so slightly from print to print .... each one's unique in that sense which I like :)

[Petersen]

Not to be a nitpick but: drypoint does not = intaglio.
drypoint means to make the image in the plate without acid, intagllio means 'from underneath' which is the method that all etched/drypoint/aquatint, mezotint/etc. plates are printed. It's where the ink is below the surface...opposed to block printing where the ink rides on top.

I think it's awesome that you are interested in print and sorry that you won't be able to get into it more.

I HATED screen printing. The clean up is HORRIBLE!! not nly can you ruin your addition by not being a neat freak, but you can ruin your equipment. I didn't like the set-up time with screen. lost of masking, taping, and then a few pulls and you remove it all. I like the slow process of etching where even though I'm painting, and stopping out, etc, I feel like I am actively working on the image.

Your tarlatan trick is a neat effect, but is cheating when it comes to printmaking. A purist would say that you could not number an edition of that. And you can get some of those marks, drypoint lines and toned don't have to be achived with a needle tipped stylus, you can use heavy sandpaper, a wire wheel, gravel, anything that will mar the surface. I knew a guy who would put is plate on rough pavement and slide it with his feet. That will make a uniform pattern/tone across the whole plate, but you can burnish some of that back out if you like.

still a very nice image

*edit, note I am not intending to be a know-it-all-smarty-pants, Just don't get to talk 'shop' that often.*

[E. Spears]

That's a sweet print, City. Very nice. When I was in my highschool printmaking class, I liked doing lithographs the most. The intaglio prints were my second favorite :D.

Like Petersen, I detested screen printing. I don't have the patience to clean or re-screen my screen all the time, and I always ALWAYS screwed up the registration, cuz i'm an idiot.

Can't wait to see more stuff from you, it's all really sweet :D.

-ers

[Johann]

All this printmaking and etching stuff sounds really interesting. I have not yet had the chance to do any of it, but i hope i will once college comes around. -should be a good experience.

Nice image tho.