printmaking koi fish designs for students

The direct method currently is used throughout the world to record images of a wide diversity of subjects.

They also used wood and carved images into that.

This methodology is generally applicable to making a print from a fish. The subsequent prints, with fainter traces of ink, were hand colored to more closely resemble the appearance of the real subjects. The initial dark print was used as a work copy or proof print. In other cases a flattened, dried leaf or plant was coated once with black ink and then repeatedly printed in a printing press. Often the prints were done in black ink, and the flowers later painted or drawn in by the artist. When rubbed by hand or run through a printing press, a mirror image was produced of the topside and underside of the same leaf. Typically both sides of a leaf were coated with ink, and the leaf was then placed inside a folded sheet or between two sheets of paper. In the earliest nature prints, inks or pigments were applied directly to the relief surface of leaves and/or other relatively flat natural subjects in order to capture images of their sizes, shapes, surface textures, and delicate vein or scale patterns. Similarly, nature prints evolved in the western world beginning as a functional process and later becoming an art form. Frequently, the work includes a red seal (chop) and/or some Kanji calligraphy indicating the artist's name and information, or important subject matter. Finished works can be mounted on scrolls, wet mounted to canvas, or mounted to background washi paper, then matted and framed. Color is usually added to artistic version of these creations, either by using colored inks directly on the fish, or by adding color to the piece afterwards, with transparent washes of inks or color mediums. This most closely approximates the original form of gyotaku, the record of the fisherman's catch. Through the process, the image is reversed a second time, resulting in a right-oriented impression.Īt times direct prints are left in the black and white state they are printed in, with the eyes painted in afterwards, in gray-scale. In this method, the final image is not reversed as it is in the direct method. The transfer film is then lifted and carefully placed and pressed upon the target surface. The image is then lifted from the subject after placing and pressing a piece of nylon or polyethylene on the ink-covered object. In tensha-hō, the subject is prepared and inked as in the direct method. These are situations when it would be impossible to apply the foundation of the work directly to the surface of the inked subject. It was developed when the objective of the printing was to create the image on a hard surface such as wood, leather, plastic or even the wall of a dwelling. The transfer method ( 転写法, tensha-hō) is lesser known and used.The fish offers the detail of its relief through the silk, and the ink is applied painstakingly to the silk while adhered to the fish, with tampos (applicators made of silk wrapped around cotton). This method involves adhering washi paper, silk, or other fabric to the fish using rice paste. The indirect method ( 間接法, kansetsu-hō) is a more painstaking process, and yields very delicate and detailed images.At this point, dampened washi ('rice' paper) is applied to the fish, and an image is created by careful hand rubbing or pressing. The fish is cleaned, prepped, supported, and then inked. The direct method ( 直接法, chokusetsu-hō) is the closest the original method.This original form of gyotaku, as a recording method for fishermen, is still utilized today, and can be seen hanging in tackle shops in Japan and Okinawa.Įventually it evolved into an art form with three different approaches: It is rumored that samurai would settle fishing competitions using gyotaku prints. Prints were made using sumi ink and washi paper. The gyotaku method of printmaking uses fish, sea creatures, or similar subjects as its ' printing plates'. This form of nature printing was used by fishermen to record their catches, but has also become an art form of its own. Gyotaku ( 魚拓, from gyo 'fish' + taku ' stone impression') is the traditional Japanese method of printing fish, a practice which dates back to the mid-1800s.

Printmaking koi fish designs for students