Intaglio Etching

How do artists & designers create works of art or design that effectively communicate?

I chose my design for my etching because I think that arcade machines are really cool, and I really like the retro aesthetic and wanted to make an etching that reflected that. I’m hoping I somewhat succeeded in doing that. I found the printing process to be quite messy and was constantly concerned about accidentally getting ink on everything, whether that be clothing or finished prints. Overall that was the main challenge, although using enough pressure while doing the initial etching was also difficult. My printmaking was mostly successful, but most of all was the way I was able to use the cotton swab to wipe away unwanted ink to create the illusion of reflected light. I thought that was really cool, and I liked using the technique to create my final prints. I don’t really like my final print because it's not up to my expectations/standards. I standards are usually really high, and this project is no exception. I just feel like the overall result was more childish than ominous, which was not my intention. I also don’t like how the colors in my colored final seemed so saturated, instead of the dark values I had originally anticipated. I would work more on etching in my values correctly, because when I first did the etching, I accidentally darkened the area where the light hits the floor, instead of the floor itself. I was able to fix this using watercolor and ink, but it still bothers me a lot. I also wish that I had mixed more of my watercolors, instead of just using them straight. I think this would have improved my colors a lot, and made the finished piece look a lot more put together.