Initial thoughts:
Off of the back of the OUIL504 'Authors' brief, I had 1 design that I hadn't gotten around to completing fully in terms of lino-cutting and felt saving this design for this event was initially a great idea - giving me something to work with right off of the back.
It was important to keep in mind the dimensions and layout/format of the final prints for this brief and adapting my artwork to fit within these guidelines:
Initial designs:
As with my work and process of creating digital roughs in order to work from and ultimately transfer onto lino for cutting - I used this process to cut up and finalise a rough to cut from again.
The design I was unable to finish from 504, was my compositional A2 design for the city of "Octavia", inspired by city within Italo Calvino's novel "Invisible Cities'.
Full original design:
Digital play (to fit the design and its key compositional elements within the required frame dimensions):
A change in heart:
After the stress and what felt like years of lino-cutting for OUIL504, during drawing up these digital roughs and after transfer onto the lino, I just couldn't bring myself to complete the cutting.
I was aware that most other people on the course were using cropped/scaled down versions of their final artwork from the 504 module meaning that no new work was needing to be created, or that if it was-it was easy to recreate because of the "small scale" printing methods they had already being using to generate their final resolutions.
The reason why I wanted to create "new work", was that I wanted a full lino-cut print and composition to fit within the 30cm x 30cm dimensions as a part of this brief and my final A2 work would in no way do this. Scaled down as a digital print - an A2 composition does not fit within a 30x30cm window and many of the tiny details would have been completely lost- as my initial attempts show:
To me cropping my prints/scaling them down and reproducing them digitally, would de-value the hand-made /hand-printed original artwork and not be so sought after at a primarily "analogue" print-makers exhibition.
I was stuck between a rock and hard place: I couldn't scale down my original prints, I couldn't re-print them at a smaller scale by recutting my designs, and I had no right hand left in order to cut a brand new design of the required size for the exhibition. Seeking vital help and speaking to the tutors didn't exactly help or comfort me either which was extremely frustrating and disheartening. I was told that yes I should try and refrain from including digital work in the exhibition as it would not be as well received and other students are able to produce the necessary analogue results so I should do this also. It was suggested to me that I create a new lino-cut piece that fits the dimensions.
Quick yet important note: Does no-one understand fully how long it takes to carve high detail into hessian-backed lino? This isn't just a quick process - ask the professionals (tugboat print shop) or watch live feeds of the process online. It is why they sell for so much money-blood sweat and tears - literally - is what it takes to complete this work, its not just a "sit down with a cup of tea and complete at your leisure in an afternoon" kind of process.
- All i have received is negative and un-informed advice regarding my attempt at the linocut process - even throughout the course of the 504 module. What knocks me should make me more determined...but i have to admit it is getting exhausting being this miss-understood whenever i show work and ask for advice. I am not a professional - hence why I am on this course. Please cut me some slack whilst trying to progress with my practice and attempt new and ambitious methods of creating illustration - that genuinely interest me and I put a lot of if not all of my effort in to.
This rather mind-boggling advice ultimately stalled me in terms of what I could possibly do for this brief at this stage - as time ticked by and the exhibition drew closer.
I had no choice but to return back to my large final A2 lino-cut prints (above) from the 504 "Author" module to see if I could use any of this work and potentially physically chop it up to fit within the framed dimensions. Yes chop it up.
These prints were of such high quality and of great personal value to me - being the best work I have created to date within my practice as a developing illustrator, - that i couldn't help but feel saddened by this potential resolution to my problem.
The printing process of using a high pressure hydraulic press to create these prints, meant that I could only produce a limited number from my lino-cut plates - as the high pressure required in printing had ultimately crushed my plates and were no longer usable to get any more prints from. Not only this but each print took a total of 15-20 minutes from start to finish to physically print, giving them added personal value on-top of the total 2 months worth of 16 hour daily cutting it took to generate the final lino-cut plates (I had no christmas, no birthday, no new year, no mothers day to create these plates, my family wil vouch for that and currently still aren't happy with me.)
- I was so close to chopping these up, but needing a total of 4 prints for the exhibition - identical to each other - (which obviously meant sacrificing a large portion of my few limited edition A2 pieces), and this honestly just seemed completely stupid and would be destroying all the hard work I put into creating these final prints in the first place...
• So after the backwards and forwards struggle, i made the decision that was best for me and I decided that a digital crop of one of my finished prints was the way forward. I could protect my actual prints from the chop, whilst providing a snapshot of the larger original compositions for the audience at the exhibition. The prints would be digitally printed to the best quality I could afford, on the best quality stock to try and appeal to more people and fit in better with the prints produced by my colleagues (unbeknown to me at the time that a good chunk of people from my course were also producing digital prints for the exhibition - with apparently no qualms from the tutors might I add.......)
Final designs / final choice:
Chopping up digitally reduced my stress levels considerable and i was able to play around with both of my A2 final prints in various ways to see which ones worked best within the 30 x 30cm frame constraints.
I felt after checking out various options, the detail within my print "Despina" provided the most interesting square compositions when chopped up and continued to play with this more within Adobe Photoshop.
Final composition from the exhibition:
All packaged up:
Securing to the frame:
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| Signing |
Information slip / mini version of my larger original print (included in each of the 4 packages for sale):
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| All packaged :) WOOOO! |
"Off The Page"
The event was a complete success and had such great vibes from start to visit. Everyone that came - students, friends, tutors etc all were so supportive and being the first event I have had work on show - I felt proud to be a part of it.
Everyones work was of such high quality for the "Authors" brief and I think this was the perfect way to showcase this work and end a difficult but enlightening 504 module.
Personally this was a great chance to bring my partner along and introduce him to all the great friends I have made on the course and have a taste of what being an illustrator in industry is like. This event reconfirmed my love of my practice and motivated me once more to strive for success in what could be a really enjoyable career. It is possible - i Just need to work hard to achieve it.
Good News!
In the end a total of 2 of my final prints sold, which was a real bonus following the successful and enjoyable event.