I often think about the line quality of different printmaking techniques. The word quality may be misleading.
Sometimes the word quality refers to good or bad. But that is not how I am using it, when I talk about the line quality in artwork.
Maybe character of line would be more accurate. I am talking about:
- thick – thin
- smooth – jagged
- expressive – loose
- sharp – mechanical
It is also about the expressive nature of the line and the feel or emotions it evokes.
A line can vary in thickness, length, shape, color, value and direction. Lines often help lead the viewer around the artwork.
In my practice of printmaking without a press, I explored different methods of printing that allow for and create marks of different line quality.
The different lines in these gelatin prints were created by the different tools that I used to produce the mark. For example the “bubbly” like lines were offset printed with a mop head.
Trace monoprinting is all about the fuzzy line quality that is made on the back side of the paper to transfer the ink to the paper. Ohh I love that fuzzy line and I am not sure you could get that kind of mark any other way.
In soft plate relief printing, I search for tools to make lines with a wide range of characteristics. In the print above, I used pens, container caps, weeds, twigs, pattern wheel and masking stencils. I think I love turning found objects into printmaking tools.
I hope I have given you a new way to think about line in your artwork.