Block Print
Self Destruction
Size: 23cm x 15cm Medium: Block Printing Date: September, 2017 The piece "Self-Destruction" was created to show the horrid effects of using unnatural or harmful products. This can be interpreted deeper than simply a symbolic representation of the harmful effects of cigarette smoking. Rather it can symbolize the deterioration of the environment, where the woman is Earth and humans are the cigarette. This piece was inspired by other pieces of the German Expressionist movement, influential artists for me include Georg Ehrlich and Erich Heckel. |
Critical Investigation
This is one page from my sketchbook about my critical investigation
“Erich Heckel.” IFPDA - Artist, www.ifpda.org/artist/1016. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.
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“Georg Ehrlich.” – Leicester's German Expressionist Collection, www.germanexpressionismleicester.org/leicesters-collection/artists-and-artworks/georg-ehrlich/. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.
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“Self-Destruction” is inspired mostly by German Expressionist, Erich Heckel, as well as Georg Ehrlich. Before I began sketching anything, I began by researching art from the German Expressionist movement because I was somewhat at a loss of what to create and knew that looking at other art would inspire me. I knew I wanted to do something related to this movement because I knew that this movement would allow me to use this technique of art to its advantage as I’d be using more lines and less detail as it’s hard to carve, however, besides that I only knew I wanted the subject to be female. I then came across “A Young Girl” by Georg Ehrlich, which grabbed my fascination. Georg Ehrlich was an artist and sculptor, he fought in WWI and experienced the economic depression after the war, causing many of his works to evoke sadness. By seeing that piece, I knew I wanted a female subject in this pose with similar features such as large eyes, long hair, etc. I then came across “Roquairol, Portrait of E.L. Kirchner” by Erich Heckel, who was a German printmaker and one of the founding members of the famous collective “Die Brücke.” This piece was quite captivating for me because I really liked the animal-like features and the use of harsh lines and value in his portrait. By seeing this piece, it struck the idea of having a skeletal mouth. This idea made me think that I could show that this skeletal mouth was being caused by cigarettes to show the repulsive effects of using unnatural or harmful products. Aside from that, because I liked the use the harsh lines and value in Heckel’s piece, I knew I wanted to incorporate that within my piece. Erich Heckel’s subjects often outsiders, such as a circus performer. Thus, I wanted my subject to resemble an outsider as well, where I thought that her self-destructive ways of smoking and her physical deterioration could resemble an outsider. Lastly, I wanted to incorporate the moods of both pieces into mine. “A Young Girl” seems to have a slightly somber mood because the girl looks sad and exhausted, and I definitely wanted to evoke a similar mood. However, I wanted to make the mood more extreme than this by also incorporating the mood of “Roquairol, Portrait of E.L. Kirchner,” which seemed somber as well but more intense by the use of bold and harsh lines.
Process
1. Research
First, I began by researching art from German Expressionism to help inspire an idea. Which helped me come up with an idea as well as a theme.
2. Planning
After researching, I began by sketching out my ideas that incorporated features from the art I researched. I drew the first sketch, right after seeing "A Young Girl" by Georg Ehrlich as I knew I wanted my subject to be a female with similar features. I then saw “Roquairol, Portrait of E.L. Kirchner” by Erich Heckel, which inspired the second sketch with the skeletal mouth. The last sketch is a finalized version from the first and second sketches.
3. Carbon Copy
A carbon copy is a method of transferring an image onto another surface. I did this because I didn't want to redraw my finalized sketch, since I was already really happy with it. To create the carbon copy I first cut out my finalized sketch, which was already previously drawn in the right size because I traced the soft-cut printing block before drawing the sketch. Then I colored the entire back of the drawing with pencil.
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After coloring the back, I taped the drawing onto the soft-cut printing block. I then retraced over my entire drawing, in order to transfer the graphite onto the printing block. I went over the printing block once more with pencil to darken the transfer.
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4. Carving
To begin carving, I placed the printing block on a hard and sturdy surface. I then carved away all the white areas on the printing block. I mostly used a fine blade tool, since most of the areas where smaller or required finer detail such as the eyes, mouth, hair, etc. I also used a medium blade tool for the larger areas.
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5. Printing
This is one page from my sketchbook of my process about printing
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To begin printing, I first took my ink tray, a roller, and some block printing ink. I then used a spatula to place some ink on the tray. Then taking the roller, I evenly spread the ink on the tray and roller itself. Then, I covered my block print with ink using the roller, making sure it was evenly and thoroughly covered with ink. Next, I carefully placed a piece of paper onto my block print. Prior, I made sure that my hands were clean to prevent any smudging. Then, I applied pressure using the barren, making sure I used even pressure throughout and did it thoroughly. Then I carefully peeled the paper away. The first photo to the bottom left of the paper shows one of my completed prints. However, I wasn't completely happy with it since some areas weren't carved enough. So I washed my block print off and went back in to carve away some areas. And I repeated the printing process until I was happy.
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Above are the four prints I ended up making in the order I made them. I was going to choose the third one as my final piece, however a wet spot somehow showed up in the bottom right. Therefore, I ended up choosing the second one I made as I think it's the cleanest one of the four.
Experimentation
I used different tools to experiment with to find which tool created my desired texture while also being the right size. I tried using a triangular blade tool, but that was only useful for defining outlines and not smaller detail or larger areas. I found that the smallest fine blade tool worked the best throughout, as it not only was small enough for detail, but it also created a cool scratchy texture. I also found that the medium blade tool worked well with carving larger areas, such as the neck.
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In addition, the entire printing process what experimental for me until I created a print that I was most satisfied with. When I was initially finished carving, I began printing. However, the first print didn't turn out to my liking because I realized that I didn't carve enough as there were some unwanted black spots. Thus, I washed off my print and went back in to carve. Once I thought I carved enough, I printed again but then soon realized I still needed to go back in to carve. I experimented my going back and forth from printing to carving until I was satisfied with the negative space created.
Reflection
I am quite satisfied with my final piece, it turned out very close to my final sketch which makes me proud. I'm also very satisfied with my final piece especially considering that this was my first time ever trying the block-printing method; I think it looks pretty good for someone's first time. At the beginning of this project I was nervous, because it was brought to my attention that my initial idea wasn't a wise decision for block-printing because it included too many fine lines and detail. Thus, I decided to put that idea off and come back to it for dry-point. Because of this, I had to start from square one which I thought would put me significantly behind. Thankfully, after some research, I was able to compose and even better idea in a more timely manner that was more visually appealing to me with a more meaningful theme to me as well. Before, the initial sketch was something very typical of something I would draw. But the block-print forced me to consider the use of black and white areas and a sketch that would include detail that wasn't so fine, since there wouldn't be a tool to achieve that. It forced me to execute the project with a completely different artistic approach that I'm used to, and it lead me to try a new style of art which was very similar to German expressionism. This project allowed me to explore myself as an artist, with helped me grow my knowledge of artistic styles and methods.
On the flip side, there are small things about the block-print that bother me because it isn't perfect. If I had more time with the project, I'd spend more time carving and perfecting the piece to make sure that the intended negative space was blank. Yet this is not the case, because in the negative space you can still see streaks of ink. In addition, the print job itself wasn't completely to my liking. There were some blotchy areas, I couldn't quite get the ink to be evenly distributed to avoid this. In the future, I now know to pay more attention to the negative space to make sure they're deep enough and to evenly distribute the ink.
My struggles were mild with this piece. Since this artistic method was new for me, I of course struggled with carving. It was hard to navigate the tools successfully at times, which resulted in my carving outside of the lines. Thus, it forced me to carve more negative space to disguise the mistakes, as I wouldn't want a random blank spot in the hair or something. I eyebrows turned out much thinner than they were supposed to because I kept messing up as the edges weren't as smooth as I wanted them to be. The eyes were the biggest struggle, it was extremely difficult to carve such small areas. It didn't turn out the way I wanted because they simply wasn't a smaller tool to get into such crevices. The mouth was also a challenge, but turned out well. All in all, the struggles I faced were significantly reduced by creating this instead of my initial idea.
My piece was inspired mostly by German Expressionist, Erich Heckel, as well as Georg Ehrlich. When researching German expressionism for inspiration, I came across “A Young Girl” by Georg Ehrlich, an artist and sculptor, which grabbed my fascination. By seeing that piece, I knew I wanted a female subject in this pose with similar features such as large eyes, long hair, etc. These aspects are evident within my final sketch and final block-print. In addition, I found “Roquairol, Portrait of E.L. Kirchner” by Erich Heckel, who was a German printmaker and one of the founding members of the famous collective “Die Brücke.” By seeing this piece, it struck the idea of having a skeletal mouth. I also wanted to incorporate the use of harsh thick lines and value as Heckel did, which is also evident within my piece. Erich Heckel’s subjects were often outsiders, such as a circus performer. Thus, I wanted my subject to resemble an outsider as well, where I thought that her self-destructive ways of smoking and her physical deterioration could resemble an outsider. Lastly, I wanted to incorporate the moods of both pieces into mine. “A Young Girl” seems to have a slightly somber mood because the girl looks sad and exhausted, and I definitely wanted to evoke a similar mood which I think I evoke successfully. I also wanted to add to the mood by incorporating the use of bold and harsh lines like seen in "Roquairol, Portrait of E.L. Kirchner." Which I also think I achieved as well.
On the flip side, there are small things about the block-print that bother me because it isn't perfect. If I had more time with the project, I'd spend more time carving and perfecting the piece to make sure that the intended negative space was blank. Yet this is not the case, because in the negative space you can still see streaks of ink. In addition, the print job itself wasn't completely to my liking. There were some blotchy areas, I couldn't quite get the ink to be evenly distributed to avoid this. In the future, I now know to pay more attention to the negative space to make sure they're deep enough and to evenly distribute the ink.
My struggles were mild with this piece. Since this artistic method was new for me, I of course struggled with carving. It was hard to navigate the tools successfully at times, which resulted in my carving outside of the lines. Thus, it forced me to carve more negative space to disguise the mistakes, as I wouldn't want a random blank spot in the hair or something. I eyebrows turned out much thinner than they were supposed to because I kept messing up as the edges weren't as smooth as I wanted them to be. The eyes were the biggest struggle, it was extremely difficult to carve such small areas. It didn't turn out the way I wanted because they simply wasn't a smaller tool to get into such crevices. The mouth was also a challenge, but turned out well. All in all, the struggles I faced were significantly reduced by creating this instead of my initial idea.
My piece was inspired mostly by German Expressionist, Erich Heckel, as well as Georg Ehrlich. When researching German expressionism for inspiration, I came across “A Young Girl” by Georg Ehrlich, an artist and sculptor, which grabbed my fascination. By seeing that piece, I knew I wanted a female subject in this pose with similar features such as large eyes, long hair, etc. These aspects are evident within my final sketch and final block-print. In addition, I found “Roquairol, Portrait of E.L. Kirchner” by Erich Heckel, who was a German printmaker and one of the founding members of the famous collective “Die Brücke.” By seeing this piece, it struck the idea of having a skeletal mouth. I also wanted to incorporate the use of harsh thick lines and value as Heckel did, which is also evident within my piece. Erich Heckel’s subjects were often outsiders, such as a circus performer. Thus, I wanted my subject to resemble an outsider as well, where I thought that her self-destructive ways of smoking and her physical deterioration could resemble an outsider. Lastly, I wanted to incorporate the moods of both pieces into mine. “A Young Girl” seems to have a slightly somber mood because the girl looks sad and exhausted, and I definitely wanted to evoke a similar mood which I think I evoke successfully. I also wanted to add to the mood by incorporating the use of bold and harsh lines like seen in "Roquairol, Portrait of E.L. Kirchner." Which I also think I achieved as well.
Connecting to the ACT
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
The inspirations helped create the ideas in my piece, because without researching “Roquairol, Portrait of E.L. Kirchner” by Erich Heckel, I would have never been inspired to use a skeletal mouth in my design. In addition, you can see a similar subject in a similar pose as in “A Young Girl” by Georg Ehrlich in my piece. Furthermore, you can see movement, line, and value used similarly to create a similar mood as seen in “Roquairol, Portrait of E.L. Kirchner” by Erich Heckel.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The point of view regarding Erich Heckel was that he often created pieces that featured outsiders, such as circus performers or even himself. This was possibly to communicate the struggles of an outsider, and/or to normalize them. In addition, the point of view of Georg Ehrlich was that he fought in WWI and experienced the economic depression after the war. Thus, many of his works evoke a somber mood, as seen in "A Young Girl."
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I can conclude that people, such as Georg Ehrlich, use art as a way to express certain emotions and as a way to help cope with difficult times as he fought in WWI and experienced the economic depression after the war. Thus, I can conclude that an artist's environment and culture influences their art. As far as Erich Heckel, I can conclude that artist's find interest in what society deems to be unusual, as many of Heckel's subjects were outsiders. They use these unusual concepts or people as subjects to normalize them or even help communicate their significance, struggles, etc.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research was to depict and evoke melancholy, while Heckel's theme was to communicate the struggles of an outsider, and/or to normalize them.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I can infer than Georg Ehrlich struggled with depression at times, because of how he fought in WWI and experienced the economic depression after the war. This is evident in his art, as many of his subjects evoke a sense of melancholy as seen in "A Young Girl." In addition, I can infer that Erich Heckel held an interest for what society thought was to be strange, since many of his art focused on subjects who were considered outsiders, such as circus performers or even himself. Because of this, I can infer that maybe this went beyond an interest and that maybe he felt the need to communicate the hardships of an outsider, and/or to normalize them.
Bibliography
“Georg Ehrlich.” – Leicester's German Expressionist Collection, www.germanexpressionismleicester.org/leicesters-collection/artists-and-artworks/georg-ehrlich/. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.
“Erich Heckel.” IFPDA - Artist, www.ifpda.org/artist/1016. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.
“Erich Heckel.” IFPDA - Artist, www.ifpda.org/artist/1016. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.