Project #2
(Click to enlarge pictures)
Planning
Inspiration
The inspiration for this piece came from the works of Kathe Kollwitz. After completing my previous project, I hit somewhat of an imaginative block as of what to do for this project. My personal life had been a bit of a rollercoaster for multiple different reasons, and I felt like I needed to express that in some form. I also was moving towards doing a block print or dry point, as I had enjoyed working on them last year. An obvious choice for working with one of these mediums would be an expressionist artist. I started my search for an expressionist artist with Kathe Kollwitz, a German artist. I looked through google images just to get an idea of her work and did research on any of her works that stuck out at me. There were three different works that caught my eye initially: The Young Couple, Misery (1897), and Brot!. I really liked the strong detail in The Young Couple, but I decided against it due to some time constraints. It was a tough decision for me to decide how to incorporate both into my idea, but I eventually decided on using Brot! as the base structure. In this time in my life, I felt that I needed to shed off some negative parts of my life and accept more responsibility, This made me consider incorporating some aspects of the seven deadly sins within this piece, to show me pushing these negative aspects away.
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(Click to enlarge pictures)
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Planning Sketches
As per usual, I had a main page that would allow me to lay out all of my different thoughts for this process and start on a preliminary sketch for a few different ideas. I went back to my overarching theme of Conflict, along with my usual branch off into Self-Conflict for this project. After looking through Kollwitz's extensive collection of works, I listed them and started a minuscule sketch on Misery. This gave me an idea as to the general design of the piece, as I only wanted to do a full scale sketch for my final idea. At this point, I had also decided that Dry Point would fit better with this project in comparison to Block Print. It was also one this page that I started to lay the foundations for my final choice of using Brot! and my concept with the seven deadly sins.
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For this sketch I decided that I only wanted to do a finalized conceptual sketch instead of doing two separate sketches, for what are essentially the same thing. There were a few important changes that I made for personalize this. Firstly, I wanted to turn the woman into a man of my general size and attire to insert myself into this position. Another idea that I had was with the text along the bottom that says Brot!, which means bread in German. As I do not want to talk bread in my life, I wanted to change it into something that would fit my concept of sheeding off some negative parts of my life. My initial thought was to the word 'Go!' (Gehen in German), as to make it seem like I was forcing these two beings next to me to leave. Another plan was to change the faces of the children next to me into something that would better represent which ever 'sin' I chose to use. My initial plan for this sketch was to do a general sketch on one side and do it again on the other side of the paper, as I would have to sketch the entire plate in backwards anyways. However, while working through, I realized that I could print off a separate piece of paper and use that to get the general shape and then use this to get more of the detail.
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Process
Experimentation
To the right, you will see the seven prints that I made and my scratch plate itself. It took me a while to get in the system with my scratching tool to make sure I didn't let it slip and scratch off too much. It was somewhat difficult to figure out how deep and shallow I wanted to make certain areas of the plate. However, since I have done this process before, I was able to scratch in the other side with ease after a little bit. The thing that I had experimented with was using the the correct amount of ink on the plate. In the time that I had one day with this, I got these seven prints done. On the first print, I feel that I cut the paper way too small, which I remedied with the prints afterwards. I had used far too much ink on the some of them, and I took off way too much on the last one. I think that the third one has turned out to be the best of the set. |
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Process
Drawing: The first step in this process is taking the sketch that you have and trying to trace it as best as possible onto the scratch plate. I just did very light marks in case I made a mistake so I would not have to restart.
Scratching: After I had finished with redrawing it, I began the process of etching it into the plate. With the tool that I had used, only one side of the tool actually dug into the plate the way that I had wanted it to. Scratching into the plate is definitely the most challenging part of the process if you have unsteady hands. I had to go very slow as to not mess up significantly.
Scratching: The printing process is rather complicated, but is easy to repeat in succession. Firstly, you must take the paper and soak it in a tub of water to loosen the fibers so the paper will press into the lines when you roll them. Next, you have to take the ink and spread a thin layer across the scratch plate to make sure you fill in the lines that you made. After that, you have to remove the excess so it won't just come out as a solid block of ink. I had used newsprint to accomplish this. When you have sufficiently removed enough ink, you must lightly dry off the paper, but not to completely dry it. Then, align the paper so that it is centered onto the plate and roll it under a roller. Then, peel the paper off of the plate and view the print.
Scratching: After I had finished with redrawing it, I began the process of etching it into the plate. With the tool that I had used, only one side of the tool actually dug into the plate the way that I had wanted it to. Scratching into the plate is definitely the most challenging part of the process if you have unsteady hands. I had to go very slow as to not mess up significantly.
Scratching: The printing process is rather complicated, but is easy to repeat in succession. Firstly, you must take the paper and soak it in a tub of water to loosen the fibers so the paper will press into the lines when you roll them. Next, you have to take the ink and spread a thin layer across the scratch plate to make sure you fill in the lines that you made. After that, you have to remove the excess so it won't just come out as a solid block of ink. I had used newsprint to accomplish this. When you have sufficiently removed enough ink, you must lightly dry off the paper, but not to completely dry it. Then, align the paper so that it is centered onto the plate and roll it under a roller. Then, peel the paper off of the plate and view the print.
Reflection
Overall, I feel much better about this project than my first Dry Point last year. I was pleased with the way each of the print turned out. I believe that my use of the original piece to get the general outline of it allowed for cleaner lines and proportions. I am also happy with the detail that I put on the bottom half of the piece. One thing that I would definitely need to improve on for my next project would be my time management. One thing that I should that I think would improve it would be to add some watercolor to perhaps better accentuate with of the seven deadly sins I used for the children, as there is typically a color associated with each.
ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
Kathe Kollwitz was known for her portrayal of struggles of the common people in early modernized German life, which I adapted to portray my own struggles in my life.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I feel like Kathe Kollwitz would appreciate the concept of my inspiration, as she had to deal with a lot of troubling things throughout her life.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While researching, I learned of the multitudes of struggles that the German people had to endure during this time, but they were steadfast and pushed through it all in the end.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My overall theme is conflict, but for this specific piece I focused on Self-Conflict
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
In the end, I inferred that anyone could be struggling with multiple different issues in their lives and sometimes need help pushing past it all.
Kathe Kollwitz was known for her portrayal of struggles of the common people in early modernized German life, which I adapted to portray my own struggles in my life.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I feel like Kathe Kollwitz would appreciate the concept of my inspiration, as she had to deal with a lot of troubling things throughout her life.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While researching, I learned of the multitudes of struggles that the German people had to endure during this time, but they were steadfast and pushed through it all in the end.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My overall theme is conflict, but for this specific piece I focused on Self-Conflict
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
In the end, I inferred that anyone could be struggling with multiple different issues in their lives and sometimes need help pushing past it all.