Printmaking: the main processes (relief, intaglio, screen print and monoprint), how each makes its marks, and how printmaking supports experimentation, repetition and layering for AO2.

What this dot point is asking

Printmaking is a family of processes for making images that can be proofed, layered and repeated, which makes it a rich source of AO2 evidence (exploring, selecting and refining). Each process (relief, intaglio, screen print and monoprint) makes its marks in a different way and offers something distinct. This dot point is about how the main processes work and what each contributes, so you can select and develop a print process with intention.

Why printmaking suits AO2

Printmaking is naturally a process of experiment and refinement, which is exactly what AO2 rewards. Because you can take proofs at each stage, the development of an image is visible: each state records a decision. You can also layer colours, repeat an image with variations, and combine processes. A printmaking sequence that shows an image evolving through several proofs is strong AO2 evidence, far more than a single finished print.

Relief and intaglio: opposites

The two traditional families of printmaking are opposites in how they hold ink.

Screen printing and monoprint

Two further processes extend the range.

• Screen printing (serigraphy) pushes ink through a fine mesh that has been blocked out in places by a stencil, so ink passes only where the stencil is open. It gives flat, even areas of colour, prints layer by layer (one colour per screen), and suits bold, graphic, repeatable images with crisp flat shapes (as in Warhol's work).
• Monoprint (monotype) makes a single, one-off impression: you paint or draw in ink on a smooth plate, then transfer it to paper. It keeps a painterly, spontaneous quality and is excellent for quick, expressive image-making and for combining with other media.

Working in states and layers

The professional habit that earns marks is working in states. Take a proof, look at it critically, then alter the plate or stencil and proof again. A reduction lino cut, for example, prints one colour, then more lino is cut away and the next colour printed over it, so the block is progressively destroyed and the image built in layers. This visible, staged development is precisely what AO2 means by reviewing and refining, and it suits printmaking better than almost any other medium.

Try this

Q1. Explain the difference between relief and intaglio printing in how the ink is held. [Knowledge recall]

• Cue. Relief prints the raised surface (you cut away the whites, ink the raised areas with a roller); intaglio prints the recessed line (you incise lines, push ink into the grooves and wipe the surface, and a press lifts the ink from the recesses).

Q2. Explain why working in states and proofs makes printmaking strong evidence for AO2. [Short explanation]

• Cue. AO2 rewards reviewing and refining ideas as work develops; taking a proof, reviewing it, then altering the plate and proofing again makes each decision visible, so the series of states directly evidences the development the objective rewards.