#printmaking design

New print concept

Here is the final print of Lesbian Vampyres drom Outerspace alongside the conceptual design. This was a 4 plate photo positive lithography!

Not too shabby. Couldve added more layers of color and tweaked registration but I was running short on time for critique <3

First printmaking project of the semester and weve still not printed them out. Might sell my edition if they end up turning out pretty!!

The following is my main meaning for this piece:

This piece is representational of the true silly ridiculousness that is the incredibly toxic masculinity which comes out most often on the topic of war and violence. Many men are attracted to this idea of war as something that will correct society if everyone “toughened up” and sought the glory of war, but it is often the case that they are emotionally weak and afraid and want to blame our current politics over gender and society on femininity. I have a few ideas put into the piece to both be identifiable as something masculine while being explicitly stupid looking because that is the point. Dogs are man's best friend, but I chose something less refined looking as a German Shepherd or a Doberman and rather decided to have a vague flat-faced dog as the main figure. While I love pugs and French bulldogs, they are loud and obnoxious with their snorting due to their own breathing issues which was an issue brought about by humans over many years purely for the aesthetic. I felt this to be like the issues surrounding toxic masculinity. The men have created these standards over many years to the point of extremity for himself and others. It hurts them while being terribly annoying for everyone around them. The radial around the sword is moreso meant to draw the eye towards the sword where violence, pride, and anger is seen as the gold standard for men. Addressing the genitalia, it is simply there because it is a literal “manhood.” The figure has his fauld but the greaves and cuisse are missing and the style compared to the background is simpler because I wanted to push that idea of ridiculousness to the piece for the audience.

Pretty neat for a dog in some cartoon armor and his weenie out. Hurray!!

Printed a few things for my campus artist market! This is my first time printing on shirts and gosh it felt like such an expensive waste a few just came out terrible or I left a few miserable little fingerprints on good ones. Any advice? (And some got rust from the machine)