Screen printing brief

Roman Cieslewicz

Roman Cieslewicz was born in 1930 in modern day Ukraine, where he studied at the school of artistic industry from 1947-49. He moved and lived extensively around Europe in his 20s, designing posters and magazines for various publishing houses, slowly gaininng a name for himself. It was until 1963 , when he settled down in Paris, the city he would live in for the rest of his life, where he fully established his graphic design career and style. His most renounded style consists of collage of unusual associtations, to create a simplistic yet highly effective juxtapositon. However Cieslewicz never conformed to one style or medium, consistently developing and evolving as an artist and graphic designer as his career progressed. He famously payed the same attention and care to all clients, whether designing a paper bag or a poster for Louis Vuitton, which helped him gain such respect as a graphic designer.

Roman Cieslewicz work

It is difficult to pinpoint specific elements of Cieslewicz's work due to the various styles and mediums he used over his career. Therfore, after looking through his various works, I decided to focus on a series of designs made for a series of books in 1968. He brought his bold graphic style to the “10/18” series, using flat fields of colour to render stylised portraits of the authors, reminiscent of Cuban poster artists working a little earlier in the 1960s.

Colour: The designs only consist of 3-4 colours per cover to acheive a bold and minimal design that engages the viewer through his use of contrast of the bright colour against black shadow. The colours are also purposefully unrealistic, with the use of greens, purples etc as skin tones, in order to create a playful feel to the designs.

Shape: Another crucial element of Cieslewicz's designs is the use of shape over lines. When combining his minimal use of colours with block shapes, he is able to create an entirely unique look that stands out from other designs. It is this reason that I have chose this style to screen print as the design had to be a silhouette rather than a complex line drawing. However, the ability to draw a balance between simplicity and recognisabilty of the subject is a challenging task and therefore I will have to put much work into the design before creating the stencil.

Texture: Cieslewicz was designing before the creation of digital design, and consequently all his work was hand made. As a result his posters and illustrations are full of human quirks and textures that would have otherwise be lost in the process of digital creation. This is another reason as to why I feel that he is the perfect artisit to study for my screen printing breif as screen printing is a handmade and human process, meaning my prints will be full of human flaws and textures that will replicate the authentic feel to Cieslewicz's work.

My client:

"Stones Throw" is an independent American record label founded in 1996 by Peanut Butter Wolf. Most notably the record label released Madvillainy by Madlib and MF DOOM in 2004. However it isn't only records the company produce. In recent years there collaborative merch with musicians globally have further brought public interest into the company, ranging from t shirts to action figures.

Therefore, I plan to utilise my screen prints to create merchandise of musicians in collaboration with stones throw. I plan for my screen prints to be scanned into a computer, and can therfore be used not only on t shirts, but also posters etc.

Poster No.1

For my first poster I decided to use Amy Winehouse as the subject of the design, chosen for her striking appearance that can easily be recognised in a two tone design. What makes this design different to my second is the fact that it uses only black for it to work, acting as an outline of her face and a shade. On the other hand the second design uses pink to outline and black to only shade. Whilst this made it easier print, it made it a lot more difficult to design. It took many drafts to find a design that accurately portrait Winehouse, in a clean, simple and most importantly recognisable look, that could of course be screen printed.

Overall I think this poster was successful in capturing the distinct look of both Cieslewicz's style and Amy Winehouse herself. However I think it is held back by it's simplicity which is what I attempted to overcome in my second print.

For my first step, I had to choose who my design would be of. I ended up choosing musician Amy Winehouse as there are already many stones throw collaborations with her. I found this image of her which I felt would be perfect for my design as it encapsulates key facial feautures that would make the design recognisable.

Once I was happy with my design, I had to scalpel it out and place it carefully onto my screen. When first making a print, the paper would gain static and with the help from the ink stick to the screen making it easier for me to unfold creases that were letting ink through.

For my first print, I printed over a orange and green colour block, trying to replicate Cieslewicz's designs further. However the green didn't stand out enough against the black and as it was my first print, there were many leaks in the print. After several more attempts I laned on the prints pictured at the top, repeating the same process for my second print execpt using two different layers.

Print No.2

For my second poster I decided to use musician Erykah Badhu as my subject. The pink and black design takes inspiration from her bright psychedelic album covers. The contrast between the colours is very bold, making it perfect for a t shirt design etc., as not only is it eye catching buy moreover it makes the design more recognisable

A key design feature of the design which makes the design versatile is the ability to change its colour in post. Once the screen print was scanned into photoshop, I was able to simple use the hue saturation tool to redesign the image in multiple different variants. What's best is that when using the tool it does not alter or remove the authentic texture of the screen print, a crucial factor in emulating the Cieslewicz's work. An example of this can be found below.

When evaluating the success of the poster, I feel it is successful in emulating the style of Cieslewicz as it plays a duality in maintaining the ultra simple 2 tone design, yet portrays the complex human quirks within the design as seen through it's texture.

Sewing texture

In order to portray the versatility of the design. I have decided to sew into one of my screen prints, using several different stitching styles that complement the pink. In doing so, I have added texture into the headscarf, creating a multi medium design, that could be produced onto bags and clothes. Whilst when evaluating my own execution of the idea, I feel as if it could be improved due to the inconsistency in several stitches. Moreover, if I had more time, a more complex design would better suit the overall print.

Page updated

Report abuse