Making original drawings on ipads and transferring to screens to make a handprinted screenprint edition
Artist Printmaker, Nina Morgan worked closely with learners from Swansea schools to explore the relationship between digital drawing and traditional printmaking. Nina’s workshops take inspiration from the different approaches of Welsh artists and she is assisted by other experienced outreach artists. The project theme is linked to existing topics and is confirmed at the inset session after discussion with teachers.
The aim of the project was to provide schools with a wide range of support to explore the full potential of using the excellent Hwb in creative ways, marrying creative input with digital competency
Hwb is the Welsh Government’s digital learning platform used by schools across Swansea for cloud-based teaching, learning, and administration. It provides free access to tools like Microsoft 365, Google for Education, and various resources, with Swansea council implementing “anytime anywhere” access via safe digital infrastructure. All the students taking part had full access to ipads not only to draw directly on them, but to share the work with classmates and other schools taking part.
The process of drawing is very important to us in every process we use. We can use it to train the eye to observe and store information visually. It can also be an important release for a journey into our imagination finding ever-new ways of expressing ourselves.
We think it is important to increase our visual vocabulary alongside our written and vocal skills and support the confidence to experiment and discover mark making techniques in a range of media.
Drawing in black and white for screen printing
Drawing on an ipad or tablet is no easier than drawing on paper and in some ways is more difficult as the pen or stylus is quite slippery
on the glass surface. But many graphic artists and designers find there are so many advantages that outweigh this drawback. So much
design is done digitally nowadays that it makes sense to introduce young artists to the advantages and creative possibilities of a digital
approach.
Advantages of developing an image working digitally
- Drawing on an ipad or tablet is no easier than drawing on paper and in some ways is more difficult as the pen or stylus is quite slippery on the glass surface. But many graphic artists and designers find there are so many advantages that outweigh this drawback. So much design is done digitally nowadays that it makes sense to introduce young artists to the advantages and creative possibilities of a digital approach.
- It is possible to save successive ‘stages’ of the design so that more risks can be taken in trying out new things. Also the students who work more quickly can embark on another design/ or be encouraged to add more detail or experiment further without risk of losing the best example.
- It is very easy to ‘undo’ or ‘erase’
- A major advantage creatively is the possibility of working white on black OR black on white. A design will often have much more impact if it has a 50/50 ratio of black to white or even more with a higher percentage of black.
- Another big advantage is the range of ‘brushes’ and textures that can be used.The digital drawings were then transferred to screens and the students each print a small edition. We produced 4 prints per student depending on the complexity and time taken. Swansea Print Workshop retained one for exhibiting purposes and we also sell them along with our other artist print sales. They have proved very popular purchases on our open day sales.
Colour is added during the printing process through a process called Chine colle.
This process involves pasting or collaging decorative or colourful strips of paper which can be torn or cut onto the paper before the print is
made. These can be decorative elements found in magazines /coloured tissue paper / or even pieces of text which have a relevance to the
theme. It has to be very thin paper as in news sheet otherwise it will disrupt the printing surface. This process would have to be carried out at
least a day before the print day to allow for the glue to dry.
The Arts in Education Team, Education Department of City & County of Swansea, has been delighted to work in collaboration with Swansea Print Workshop on the New Traditions in Print Project which took place over 4 years from 2015
The Arts in Education Team, Education Department of City & County of Swansea, led by Caron McColl | Arts Grant Manager | City and County of Swansea, worked in collaboration with Swansea Print Workshop on the New Traditions in Print Project over a period of four years. The project was supported by the Arts Council of Wales for the whole of that period.
