9 Printmaking Techniques You Should Know

Today, we rely on traditional printing techniques less and less frequently, preferring digital reproduction over physical ones. However, contemporary artists and illustrators still sometimes revive and reinvent traditional techniques, augmenting them with modern technology. Techniques like mezzotint, screenprinting and monotype all produce different results and require different skills. Read on to learn more about different printing techniques that are popular among artists worldwide.

Generally, all printmaking techniques can be categorized as intaglio or relief types. Working in relief technique, an artist carves printing elements in such a way that their desired image stands above the matrix surface. Intaglio techniques represent the opposite approach, with the principal image sinking into the plate.

Etching is one of the most popular intaglio printing techniques. An artist covers a zinc or copper plate with an acid-resistant substance and leaves it to dry. Later on, they remove parts of the dried substance with metal tools, creating an image for the printing plate. When the design is finished, the plate is treated with acid that dissolves the top layer of unprotected metal parts. As a result, the image is fixated on the plate, sinking lower than the protected material. When covered in ink and put in a printing press with a sheet of paper, a single etching can produce up to a dozen copies, with the plate slowly disintegrating from pressure.

Rembrandt van Rijn is one of the most famous artists who worked with etchings. He used a mix of resin and beeswax to protect his plates from acid. One of his most significant features was the outstanding amount of lines used for every image.

2. Woodcut

Woodcut printing is perhaps one of the easiest and most popular techniques used in art. The design is carved right into a block of wood that is then inked and pressed to a piece of paper. The wood has to be cut along the grain to avoid splinters and sanded to smoothen the texture. Also known as woodblock printing, it allows the creation of complex and multi-toned compositions from a combination of carved blocks. Unlike metal plates, the wood does not wear out quickly but can crack under the pressure of a printing press. For that reason, blocks used for printing are usually rather thick.

Undoubtedly, one of the most outstanding uses of woodblock print belongs to Japanese art. In the Edo period, Japanese artists and authors created entire books with woodcut prints, incredible in their tone, complexity, and narrative structure. By the nineteenth century, Japanese woodblock prints had spread over Europe and influenced generations of modern artists like the Impressionists or the Art Nouveau illustrators.

While working in lithography technique, artists do not have to carve their image into the matrix material—they can simply draw it on a prepared limestone with an oil-based crayon. The entire surface of the stone is then treated with talc, gum arabic, and acid. This mixture fixes the drawn image contour on the stone and makes the blank parts ink-repellent. The image is then wiped out, since the grease has already settled, and the visible part of the crayon can damage the impression. Then, the artist applies water and oil-based ink to the stone.

The greasy contours of the drawn image repel water and hold ink, while the clear rest of the plate does the opposite. Then, the reverse copy of the original drawing can be printed on a damp sheet of paper. Lithography was widely used both for scientific purposes to reprint illustrations in atlases and treatises and in experimental compositions of modern artists like Edvard Munch and Odilon Redon.

4. Screenprinting

Screenprinting has its roots in 10th century China. It became truly popular in the 20th century and it is closely associated with the American hero of Pop Art Andy Warhol. Warhol reproduced hundreds of his drawings and paintings in his Factory with the help of assistants, raising concerns about authenticity in art.

Unlike many other printing techniques, screenprinting does not require pressure to create an impression. A piece of fine mesh (traditionally made out of silk, hence the name) is stretched over a frame. Then the entire negative space of a soon-to-be printed image is covered in light-sensitive emulsion. When exposed to light, the emulsion hardens and blocks the mesh, leaving the contours of the image intact, so that the paint can pass through the fabric.

Along with etching, engraving was the most popular printing technique among the masters of the European Renaissance. Engraving itself does not have to be necessarily connected to prints, since it can be treated as an artwork of its own. Over the centuries, engravings were done in wood, stone, glass, and precious metals like silver and gold.

With engraving, the artist cuts or scratches the image directly into the surface of their base material. It can be either relief or intaglio type, depending on the material and the desire of the artist or their commissioner.

Despite its relative simplicity, etching has many nuances that present a challenge to artists. One of them is the inability to apply a gradient tone or shadow, especially when compared to other popular artistic mediums like paint. To indicate the subtle tone nuances, engravers used small and intensive hatching, using both parallel and intersecting lines.

6. Drypoint

Drypoint etching is often confused with engraving, yet it is distinctive enough and highly valued by artists and art collectors. The image is created on the matrix with a sharp-pointed needle. allowing for thin lines and subtle details. The significant feature of the drypoint technique prints is their rich, velvet-looking texture of dark tones. It is created by sharp ridges of metal left by the needle during engraving. For a long time, artists considered these ridges to be the flaw of drypoint and tried to file them away before recognizing their aesthetic possibilities.

Widely used in the 15th and 16th centuries, drypoint gradually lost its influence. However, it was revived at the beginning of the 20th century by Expressionist artists who experimented with printmaking. From other intaglio techniques, drypoint is probably the most fragile. The sharp edges of the engraved lines quickly smooth out under the heavy printing press.

Mezzotint is a complex printmaking technique, capable of producing impressive results of detailing and tone variety. The main benefit of the mezzotint technique was its ability to create nuanced and rich gradations of dark color in print. Invented in the 18th century and widely used for the reproduction of portraits, it gradually fell out of favor when new, easier techniques were introduced.

Similarly to other pre-modern printing processes, it features a metal plate that is treated with a metal tool to create rough texture. Covered with small dents, the surface would hold more ink, thus producing an intensely colored print. For lines and highlights, the dents are made smooth again. The smoother the surface, the less ink is going to stick to the plate, making parts of the print either lighter or completely clear. Apart from the complexity of creating an image, mezzotint has another important issue. The rough texture of the matrix wears out after a few impressions, with color gradually fading with each new print.

8. Aquatint

Similar to mezzotint, aquatint is another way of producing subtle tones in print. The technique received its name for its likeness to watercolor. In most cases, the aquatint technique was used in combination with other printing methods like engraving. Artists apply a layer of powdered resin to the metal plate, then heat it to melt the powder into tiny dots. When immersed in acid, the channels between the dots create the impression of evenly distributed color. To create a darker tone, the artist increased the time of the plate’s treatment with acid, so it could hold more ink.

Aquatint easily allows the use of several colors in printing, yet also has a short lifespan, with print quality deteriorating with every impression. In the eighteenth century, the aquatint technique was a tool widely used for reproducing oil paintings, watercolors, and pastels. Many printed works of the great Spanish master Francisco de Goya were created using aquatint.

Monotype is the easiest and almost intuitively understandable technique of printing. It does not require complex instruments or chemical substances. The required design is drawn or painted on a non-absorbent surface like glass, stone, metal, or plastic, and then pressed to a sheet of paper or piece of fabric. The biggest flaw of monotype is its non-reproducibility: one plate can create only one impression, with the image destroyed immediately after a single use.