SCREENPRINT WORKSHOP

Prior to the screen printing workshop I was worried about how I would use this method to its most potential. I've had a small amount of experience with screen printing and I've always struggled to understand the best way to use techniques such as overlay, gradients and effective colours and shapes. 

I remember at the end of first year I said that I'd like to improve and be confident by using screen printing so before the workshop I spent a long time designing for this workshop.

Thankfully, I had already had some previous experience with this same design due to the lino and mono print workshops being before this one, so I had a small understanding of what worked and what didn't in terms of layout and the actual images used in the design itself. Due to this, I was able to come up with a fairly simple (simple in terms of MY way of working) design that I was confident would print well.

I really tried to use the half tone and colours in the most effective way. A lot of my screen prints in the past have just ended up looking like line drawings, which, in my opinion, completely takes away from the point of using the method of screen printing. 

MY FINAL EXPERIMENTAL SCREENPRINT

WHAT WENT WELL?

• I'm actually really really pleased with how my screen print turned out!! I think it was really the composition and overall design of the print that made it so successful in my eyes. The use of overlay in the design including the line art itself and also the colours makes it a really interesting and intricate design.
• I used a small amount of half tone, just to experiment with the idea of it and see how it could work in different ways across the print. I think it's worked really well, it adds a different element of detail without overpowering and overcomplicating the design.
• I do quite like the colour choice, I chose the green to signify the natural aspect and the red represents the idea of fertility, however this is something I think I might need to work on if I'm do to this print again.

WHAT COULD OF GONE BETTER?

• As I've said, the colour choice could have gone slightly better, I feel like it might represent the idea of blood or danger which isn't what I want to portray in my design at all!! I also think that I went a bit far with the coloration of the baby in the green. I feel like it looks slightly odd and maybe even supernatural compared to the plants and flora surrounding it. I might have to work on this if I take it forward to a final design. Perhaps I could consider simplifying my use of colour without having to take away from the use of overlaying that I've used. 
• This was an A4 piece and I feel like on the paper it feels a bit cramped, I would like to experiment with this design on a larger scale so that the design can breath and the viewer had a chance to explore different elements of the design without being rushed around the detail. It's hard to explain, but I know what I mean, hopefully that makes sense. 

I had so much fun screen printing, I was so happy with how my designs were coming out, I really enjoyed experimenting with the line art to see what different effects i could get out of it. These doubled prints give an almost psychedelic look to them, which although, to me, looks visually interesting, it certainly doesn't give the right message or meaning to my prints that I have wanted to create.

Initially, my design had a green border around it, I did like this concept as it gave a handmade look to it, not taking away from the more refined detail in the print, but I feel like it cramped the design even more, restricting it to the barriers of the border, and especially as I'm exploring nature and an overgrown environment it almost seems contradictory to add this element of a border!!