Today's postings
- [Baren 44598] thanks and question about Hasui's key block drawings (Lawrence H Pinto)
- [Baren 44599] Thank you and a question about colo(u)r blocks made from a keyline drawing (Lawrence H Pinto)
- [Baren 44600] Re: Thank you and a question about colo(u)r blocks made from a keyline drawing (Graham Scholes)
- [Baren 44601] Re: thanks and question about Hasui's key block drawings (David Bull)
- [Baren 44602] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
Message 1
From: Lawrence H Pinto
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:32:58 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44598] thanks and question about Hasui's key block drawings
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Dear Dave,
Thanks for posting the link and for the useful remarks in response to my question. I have watched the video a few times and have a question. Hasui started with a colo(u)r pencil drawing. He then made the key block drawing in monochrome. Then the blocks were cut. Do you know if in general the color blocks were cut to give a print that reflected the color patterns in the color pencil drawing?
If that is the case, I think that I now understand that the necessary simplification of the scene occurs when the color pencil drawing is made.
Thanks again,
Larry
Thanks for posting the link and for the useful remarks in response to my question. I have watched the video a few times and have a question. Hasui started with a colo(u)r pencil drawing. He then made the key block drawing in monochrome. Then the blocks were cut. Do you know if in general the color blocks were cut to give a print that reflected the color patterns in the color pencil drawing?
If that is the case, I think that I now understand that the necessary simplification of the scene occurs when the color pencil drawing is made.
Thanks again,
Larry
Message 2
From: Lawrence H Pinto
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:42:21 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44599] Thank you and a question about colo(u)r blocks made from a keyline drawing
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Dear Graham,
Thank you for the very useful response and links to your work and story of the evolution of your prints. It was very helpful and fun to read and think about.
I also really liked seeing some of the light(houses) that I've seen sea kayaking in BC!
Could you tell me in rough terms how you go from the monochrome keyline drawing to the decision of how to cut the colo(u)r blocks? Is there a color drawing of some sort? A photo? If it's a color drawing, is it at all detailed? E.g., does it show branching patterns of trees? Or do you do all of that deciding when you're tracing the keyline drawing onto each color block?
I'm asking this because your sentence, "I then found out as I got more involved with the printmaking that copying these watercolour for a print was not proper." was very thought provoking.
Sorry to be asking such a primitive question, but knowing more about this would be of great help to me.
Thanks again,
Larry
Thank you for the very useful response and links to your work and story of the evolution of your prints. It was very helpful and fun to read and think about.
I also really liked seeing some of the light(houses) that I've seen sea kayaking in BC!
Could you tell me in rough terms how you go from the monochrome keyline drawing to the decision of how to cut the colo(u)r blocks? Is there a color drawing of some sort? A photo? If it's a color drawing, is it at all detailed? E.g., does it show branching patterns of trees? Or do you do all of that deciding when you're tracing the keyline drawing onto each color block?
I'm asking this because your sentence, "I then found out as I got more involved with the printmaking that copying these watercolour for a print was not proper." was very thought provoking.
Sorry to be asking such a primitive question, but knowing more about this would be of great help to me.
Thanks again,
Larry
Message 3
From: Graham Scholes
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:09:16 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44600] Re: Thank you and a question about colo(u)r blocks made from a keyline drawing
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Lawrence H Pinto wrote:
> Dear Graham,
> Could you tell me in rough terms how you go from the monochrome keyline drawing to the decision of how to cut the colo(u)r blocks? Is there a color drawing of some sort? A photo? If it's a color drawing, is it at all detailed? E.g., does it show branching patterns of trees? Or do you do all of that deciding when you're tracing the keyline drawing onto each color block?
Hi Lawrence,
It is mostly a mental vision for the position and location of colour. When I start to work on a new piece I use numerous photos taking making use of the anatomy of the subject. If it is complicated with many colours I will sometimes do a thumbnail sketch with colour pencil as a guide to colour and design . If it is not a complicated I will do graphite monochrome thumbnail sketch. From this I will work up the keyline drawing and transfer this to the block. The keyline drawing is very detailed and is my road map of shapes and colours. Then I start carving the largest and lightest area of colour.... quite often if it is a landscape it will be the sky, then foreground and after that the darks and details within the print. It all depends on how much I can envision as to how much pre-drawing and sketches I will do. For instance the piece "We Delight in Hymn" was right off the top.... no sketches. I went straight into the keyline using a few photos of the anatomy of the cathedral. The 40 colours was necessary, as some blocks were printed 3 or 4 times to get the intensity of colour.
> Sorry to be asking such a primitive question, but knowing more about this would be of great help to me.
Never a problem ..... it is only primitive if you ask the same question twice... (
Message 4
From: David Bull
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 23:54:53 GMT
Subject: [Baren 44601] Re: thanks and question about Hasui's key block drawings
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> I have watched the video a few times and have a question. Hasui
> started with a colo(u)r pencil drawing. He then made the key block
> drawing in monochrome. Then the blocks were cut. Do you know if in
> general the color blocks were cut to give a print that reflected the
> color patterns in the color pencil drawing?
It's perhaps not clear in that (old) video who is doing what, because
you can only see the hands, not the faces. Here's what's happening:
- Hasui draws the scene, from life
- back in the studio, Hasui makes a clear line drawing of the scene,
with his brush and ink
- this is pasted onto wood and cut (by Kentaro Maeda the carver)
- Gintaro Ono the printer uses the resulting block to make a few dozen
images of the line drawing
- Hasui takes these sheets, and does the colour separation planning.
He used a vermillion ink for this - no relation to any colour that
might appear in the print later). He plans out the overlays etc. all
in his head (experience counts here, obviously)
- These sheets (kyogo) go back to Maeda, who pastes them all down on
new blocks, and cuts them.
- the block set then goes to Ono the printer, who - working together
with Hasui - prepares a proof print
- (at this point it may sometimes happen that more blocks may be cut -
based on how the proof looks)
- when an acceptable proof is ready, the publisher (unseen in the
video) gives the OK, and Ono the printer pulls an edition
Dave
> started with a colo(u)r pencil drawing. He then made the key block
> drawing in monochrome. Then the blocks were cut. Do you know if in
> general the color blocks were cut to give a print that reflected the
> color patterns in the color pencil drawing?
It's perhaps not clear in that (old) video who is doing what, because
you can only see the hands, not the faces. Here's what's happening:
- Hasui draws the scene, from life
- back in the studio, Hasui makes a clear line drawing of the scene,
with his brush and ink
- this is pasted onto wood and cut (by Kentaro Maeda the carver)
- Gintaro Ono the printer uses the resulting block to make a few dozen
images of the line drawing
- Hasui takes these sheets, and does the colour separation planning.
He used a vermillion ink for this - no relation to any colour that
might appear in the print later). He plans out the overlays etc. all
in his head (experience counts here, obviously)
- These sheets (kyogo) go back to Maeda, who pastes them all down on
new blocks, and cuts them.
- the block set then goes to Ono the printer, who - working together
with Hasui - prepares a proof print
- (at this point it may sometimes happen that more blocks may be cut -
based on how the proof looks)
- when an acceptable proof is ready, the publisher (unseen in the
video) gives the OK, and Ono the printer pulls an edition
Dave
Digest Appendix
Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...
Subject: Mystique Series #17 : printing steps 6~8
Posted by: Dave Bull
|
Squeezed in three impressions today - as they get smaller in area, the brushout goes quite a bit faster, so the work moves along quite quickly. All three of these are in a similar area of the print ... First this morning was the vermillion base tone for the bird:  |
This item is taken from the blog Woodblock RoundTable.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.
Subject: Arrow(s)
Posted by: Andrew Stone
 I printed a few more proofs/test prints of my little, One-Way arrow sign. I printed several copies on Shin Torinoko--a machine-made Japanese pulp and linen paper and about 7-8 on Nishinouchi. The latter is a tan, strong mulberry paper but it tends to vary in thickness across the sheet as well as in sizing--it turns out--and I had trouble again in getting it to print evenly and to not have some paper fibers pull up; if I pressed firmly enough to get a good even impression it seemed to want to pull up the paper fibers more often.  I printed the white arrow first using Zinc white and some rice paste and I did 2-3 impressions to get the white to look opaque and dense enough. Then I printed the blue block. Again it seemed to require many reprints to get it even halfway dark. I started with Ultramarine pigment dispersion and a bit of paste and gum arabic and eventually after 2-4 impressions added a touch of pthalo blue to get it dark/covering enough. The wood grain is still pretty visible (which is fine) but I still think the blue should have been deeper; and the paper would have been happier with a few fewer impressions. Next I printed the white block again, but this time with a mixture of zinc white and gum arabic and pressed very lightly with the baren to transfer this to the arrow shape. Then I lightly dusted brushed on some "mother-of-pearl" mica powder using a very soft, squirrel-hair mop brush. Then I brushed off the excess with another brush. This mica turned out much too silver in color so I had to go back and print a light coating of white thinned with paste again to beat it back a bit so I lost much of the sheen I was after but I didn't want it to look like a silver arrow. |
This item is taken from the blog Lacrime di Rospo.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.