Ink Block Prints

For this project my class was asked to carve out some printing blocks for inking. It also had to be a self portrait so the subject of my ink pad was me. For our formative, we had to carve mini linoleum blocks to prepare for the bigger summative. For the formative, we had to carve opposites (ex. sun and moon, fire and ice) and create a stamp. We had to learn how to ink the stamps and print them. The summative wasn't much different, but we had to make bigger stamps and most of us had to use pictures of ourselves to carve. First, we took our pictures and "posterized" them, leaving only two values (black and white). Then we printed out the picture and traced/transferred the image onto the linoleum with graphite. Then, using carving tools, we carved out the white places to create the stamp. We had to create four inked images, a black and white, an extended drawing, an alternate background, and an artist choice.

Since this project heavily relies on the copying of a picture, there aren't too many compositional choices that I made. There is not a range of value, nor much texture in the first print. The main focus of this project was line and space, in my opinion. I carved out more white on the bottom of the image, with isn't what it looks like in the photograph. I did this to create more interesting negative space and so that the bottom didn't look so dark and untouched. I also carved out some waves in the hair to add some cool lines and shapes, which also helped make it look more like hair by creating movement. In the second print (extended print) I used some gouache to paint in purple flowers around my cheekbones, eyes, hair, and also along the top and bottom border. I chose to concentrate a lot of flowers near the eyes since that is where people tend to look at first, so I decided to create emphasis around that area. I also added some color to my face with watercolors. The third and fourth prints were alternate background prints and the fourth one was made up of washi tape. My project did go through some minor changes, one being that I kept changing the nose since I couldn't get it right. I still think I that I was way off on what it ended up being.

There aren't really any stories to the prints. but the alternate prints relate to my life and me as that was what we were supposed to do. I love painting flowers, especially in watercolor however I couldn't use them as the ink is not water-proof. So I used gouache instead for the extended print. I chose the background for the third one because I just liked it. I am also a washi tape collector and I used one of my favorite patterns for the artist's choice. In the end, I liked the extended print the most since I think it shows the most creativity, so I am most proud of that. I struggled with printing, though. I found that I didn't carve some sections deep enough and I had to go back and keep out carving more. Patchy printing also occurred since I usually didn't put enough ink on the block. But eventually I did carve it out and got the hang of printing. If I could revise something, I think it would be the nose since it doesn't look right. I would also try to make my expression more similar to my expression in the photo. In the photo, I am smiling while in the prints it looks like I'm not. I think I had to round out the cheeks more and push them up, plus soften the eyebrows and the eyes (squintier).