Cassie Gazzana; Print (Re)Generations

This was the most difficult assignment I’ve ever completed. I don’t know if it’s because I am used to working digitally or if its because of my lack of technical ability but i tried my hardest. I took 2 weeks off work to strengthen my techniques however I don’t think this art form is for me. I think my theme and design is really strong however i really struggled with the whole lino/ink/stencil printing process. 

Ive chosen to add the text “Eat My Art” because Barts catchphrase is “Eat My Shorts”. Its ironic, goes with my meme theme and its fitting because I don’t particularly like how the prints have come out. This has been the most difficult assignment i’ve ever had to completely because of my lack of technical ability with the lino, inks and the whole process. I have a new found respect for this art form now that i know how intricate the whole process is, however I think i work best digitally and this assignment gave me a really hard time.

I actually really love the simple design! It goes perfectly with the trippy/meme cartoon theme! I am currently loving the print with the yellow background and bart’s outline in a combination of orange and green ink! Im thinking of doing my final addition in these colours! However I think I am going to add some text because Its only 2 layers. I am having difficulties with this assignment. There has been a lot of failed/messy prints. I appreciate the artform even more now that i have attempted it but clearly I am a rookie but still I am trying! 

Experimenting with mixed colours for the background was a cool process however i think it will be too busy having mixed colours for the background so I’m thinking of having barts outline being printing in this mixed combination of colours 

I really like how the yellow came out, however next i’m interesting in mixing colours for the trippy effect 

Already working with the Somerset statin 300gsm, I wanted to play with a more textured warmer paper so i picked up a sheet of Arches watercolored textured paper 300gm. The visual difference between the papers is that the Arches is a lot warmer than the Somerset and obviously has more texture which I thought would look quite interesting. However in practice i found that the Arches texture paper was more difficult to work with. On first roll the print came out patchy and the ink seemed to bleed a little, its especially more visible in the second roll of print. However the Somerset was visibly a cleaner print and the ink was a more cartoon colour of the whiter background. On the Arches paper the yellow ink was more orange because the paper is already warm toned. I am going to stick with working with the Somerset satin 300gsm. 

When it came to inking, the ink missed outlines. Im not sure if it was the stencil or the roller. I firstly used a large roller which completely skipped the parts close to the outline of the stencil so then i bought a small roller from Eckersley’s however that didn’t seem to do the trick either! I rolled from all directions multiple times but was unhappy with the result. The red circles for the eyes came out alright, however the white pupil didn’t come out at all! I think the cut out of the stencil was too small for the roller to roll ink through so Ive decided to just use the lino outline of bart. I think the concept is strong enough. Bart has a very iconic outline so I am confident that it still works with the theme and will look cool. 

Ive realised from my previous experimentation that I am using far too much ink! These took 2 days to dry and look very patchy. Im taking 2 weeks off work to perfect my technique as Lino printing is a lot harder than I thought, especially when I am so used to working digitally, 

I experimenting with a few other colours and then decided to try a rainbow effect to see how it worked with Barts outline and i’m really pleased with how it turned out! Its really psychedelic which is exactly what I’m going for however it would be hard to replicate exactly for 5 additions. Ill see how I go but so far I’m thinking of doing Barts outline in classic yellow or the rainbow effect. 

For the stencils I got Yupo Stencil Paper from Eckersley’s which worked really well as the stanley knife practically glided through the paper making cuts almost effortless. To print the design on the stencil paper i just photocopied the lino to be precise. 

I chose to work with Somerset Satin 300gsm. I chose this paper because its quite neutral white toned so its the perfect canvas to test different colours on and the thickness will work well with layering inks without too much texture interfering.  

I want this image to work with and without a background so using the lino cutting tools I got rid of the background so i could achieve barts iconic outline stenciled. I want this design to be really simple and focus on clean shapes and colour thats why i’ll be relying on stencils not so much lino cuts. 

For this section of the project I wanted to create a new stencil/design to work with that related to my collages but was more psychedelic yet not busy. I think this template gives me more room to experiment with mixing colours due to its simplicity. For this project I will be working with 20x20cm square paper to print my design on. Ive recently completed a 20x20 addition and enjoyed working in this size. 

For this project I want my Linocut to stay with the classic cartoon focus however adding a psychedelic twist to the print. I will mainly be experimenting with mixing lots of contrasting colours to create this effect. 

Ive used this project to experiment and just had fun with it. The scenes are historical black and white prints and by inserting new coloured media reflects on traditional print making techniques with the inclusion of having cultural context with the actual scenes being re-represented. I am really happy with the collages I have produced. I think they are fun and entertaining yet still capture print making techniques. 

I printed in a rage of sizes so that I could see which size is best for each image as some aren’t the best quality in terms of resolution. The final sizes Ive chosen have the best resolution and capture the collage aesthetically. 

Ive included a few screen grabs of what happens when i use the quick selection tool in photoshop and then either use the eraser to blend the layer into the image or move the layer around to either go ontop or underneath another layer.