Printmaking techniques: the main relief, intaglio and stencil methods (monoprint, lino and block printing, screen printing, etching) and how the matrix, editioning and registration work, used to explore and refine an appropriate process for the idea.

What this dot point is asking

Printmaking makes images by transferring ink from a prepared surface, and each method gives marks their own character. This dot point is about the main printmaking processes and how the matrix, editioning and registration work, because choosing and refining an appropriate print process, with its distinctive marks, is exactly the kind of AO2 development the marks reward.

What printmaking is

Printmaking makes an image by transferring ink from a prepared surface, the matrix, onto paper. Unlike drawing directly, the process stands between you and the final mark, and it gives prints a character of their own: the crispness of a cut edge, the texture of inked relief, the unpredictability of a monoprint. That distinctive quality is the point of choosing print; a print that just copies a drawing wastes what the process offers. Most school printmaking is relief, monoprint, screen or simple intaglio.

Relief, intaglio, monoprint and screen

The processes differ in which part of the matrix prints. In relief (lino and block printing), you cut away what should stay blank, ink the raised surface, and print it, giving bold shapes and strong contrast. In intaglio (etching), the ink sits in incised lines below the surface and is forced onto the paper under pressure, giving fine line and tone. A monoprint is a one-off: you ink or draw on a flat surface and take a single, often unpredictable, textured print. Screen printing pushes ink through a stencil on a mesh, giving flat, graphic areas of colour, ideal for layered, bold imagery.

The matrix, editioning and registration

Three ideas run across printmaking. The matrix is the prepared surface (the lino block, the screen, the etching plate) that holds the image and can print repeatedly, except a monoprint, which prints once. Editioning is printing a consistent series of identical prints from the matrix, which tests your control. Registration is aligning multiple colours or blocks so they sit correctly on the paper, the key technical challenge of multi-colour relief or reduction prints. Managing registration and producing a clean edition is precisely the refinement AO2 rewards.

Choosing and refining an appropriate process

As with all media, AO2 rewards choosing a process appropriate to the idea and refining it. Bold, graphic shapes suit relief or screen; fleeting texture suits monoprint; fine line suits etching. Match the process to the meaning, then develop control through proofs and editioning. Annotating why the process suits the idea, and how each proof improved the print, connects the printmaking to AO2 and AO4.

Try this

Q1. State the main printmaking families and what the matrix, editioning and registration are. [Knowledge recall]

• Cue. Relief (lino/block, prints the raised surface), intaglio (etching, prints incised lines below the surface), monoprint (a one-off from a flat surface) and stencil/screen printing (ink pushed through a stencil); the matrix is the prepared printing surface, editioning is printing a consistent series, and registration is aligning multiple colours or blocks.

Q2. Explain how a candidate evidences AO2 refinement in a relief print. [Short explanation]

• Cue. Choose relief because its bold marks suit the idea, then develop control through a sequence of proofs that each fix a problem (ink weight, clean cutting, registration of a second block) and produce a consistent edition; this progression of improving proofs is the refinement the higher AO2 bands reward, with the print's distinctive marks tied to the meaning (AO4).