I decided to buy a screen, ink, and some butterfly clamps as I was very eager to try some screen printing but due to coronavirus I don’t have access to any of the university facilities, I bought some drawing fluid and screen filler as I don’t have any UV bulbs or means of reliably exposing my screens and began drawing.

 

This was the first design I drew out, I wasn’t sure how the smaller lines and dots would come out in the print as I had never used drawing fluid, so I made sure to vary my mark-making, having some thick lines, dots, lines and big blacked-out areas. This illustration was a response to a thought I had quite early on in the project, in my Key Thoughts – Death and Meaning blog post I wrote

“I’ve been isolated but going outside and taking time to smell the fresh countryside air, seeing the trees and clouds and the stars around me makes me feel so happy to be alive”

I wanted to draw how I felt while I was present in nature, I like changing my perspective and trying the view the world around me as if I have no understanding of what anything is, looking at trees and clouds with complete presence, just seeing what is in front of me, not thinking about anything else. Ever since I moved to Brighton I have loved going to the beach and seeing the sky and the sea, thinking about how big they are and just standing in the gap between them. I tried to capture that depth and scale while drawing myself in a nieve childish way, stuck in the middle and observing everything.

I originally printed on newsprint to test out the ink screen and the detail I could achieve, not expecting anything finished but just to experiment with the process.

Considering this was my first print I was pretty happy, It showed me that thin lines were possible with the drawing fluid, but I also knew based on this that the ink was too thick so I needed to buy some printing medium, as I said I printed this on newsprint so this also meant the print came out quite blotchy. Based on this information I bought some nice cotton paper and printing medium.

 

I then started to draw out a design inspired by my original detective illustration,  I knew that thin lines would work but hadn’t tested cross-hatching so this was a good opportunity to experiment with more detailed shading, I didn’t spend long on this design as it was a test print but I tried to focus on getting relatively crisp lines as I knew that would make the print much better and regardless of drawings complexity or quality, painting crisp lines and having a good balance of positive and negative space within the composition would give it a personal, “hands-on” quality that making offers, while still being clean enough to look finished.

I was still getting to grips with the printing process but I was very happy with how this came out, there are lots of happy little accidents that give the illustration a bit of flair, for example, the hands didn’t fully print, but instead, half printed, still giving the impression of a hand without all the marks. I still had issues with the consistency of the ink, but I was getting closer to what I wanted.

 

Helio

Previously I mentioned Helio Gracie as an inspiration for my shaman character, I really liked the small drawing I did of him and felt it would work well as a print, Helio Gracie was a big influence on me when I was very young as I have always been a fan of the Gracie family and to me, Helio teaches three main principals that have helped shape who I am

1: Efficiency, is defined as achieving maximum results in the easiest way possible, and extends beyond Jui Jitsu and into life through eating healthy, being honest and respectful, and being morally correct and hardworking.

2: Patience, against larger opponents the person who exhausts the least will usually win, so rather than attacking constantly, timing and impulse control is more favorable, this example extends to being patient with friends as well as enemies, thinking clearly without impulse and taking time to consider your options are all key parts of living patiently. Patience encourages self-control.

3: Control, control in Jiu-Jitsu is imposing your will and negating the attempts of your opponent, but beyond this, it’s about controlling your choices – self-control, discipline and putting in the work that is necessary to succeed

Gracie Jui Jitsu is about empowering the weak, it is a style that dismisses many of the physical attributes that people use as a crutch and relies on technique over anything.

These values were key building blocks for me and so determined many of the things I give meaning, because of this I wanted to create a Print of Helio out of respect for the family.

 

Helio Reference image for print

 

I used a slightly different approach and instead of using drawing fluid I made paper stencils, I did this by drawing out light tones on one piece of paper, mid-tones on another, and dark tones on a final piece, then I printed each of these on top of each other, starting with the lightest colour. I used 160gsm cartridge paper along with a 50/50 mix of ink and medium, to create the prints below as well as many others (14 in total).

 

unfortunately, the screen wasn’t totally dry while printing the final layer so I got some bleeding but I’m really happy with the result, all 3 layers were drawn independent of each other so I’m glad the proportions were correct enough to have decent alignment, I think the slight shifts in proportions of each layer create a nice loose style. I’m not a fan of the darkest layer as it looks very stenciled on but I think that might just be a reality of working with paper stencils and a craft knife.