Making the Cock Pheasant print

So I've been busy building up my stock of prints in the hopes of setting up my Etsy store again.  Prints such as the wood engraving "Home Sweet Home" have been doing really well (if I do say so myself) so make sure you get your hands on one before they run out! Anyway the print "Cock Pheasant" has just this second come out and is now available from both myself AND the Hare's Tail in Clare (for more information, visit my Facebook Page) so I thought it would be constructive to give you guys something you absolutely, definitely, uncontrollably desire - a little walk-through of the experience...see knew you'd be pleased ;)

                 

It took me a while, as it sometimes does, to develop a design that I was happy with. It's funny how sometimes I can sketch something so quickly and be really pleased with it and then other times I can spend ages trying to find a design that is satisfying. Anyhow...once that was done, I painted it up in full with some watercolour and then transferred the design to a block of Plywood and carved it into what would eventually become this, the blue block.

                 

Matching colours can be a pain, especially when you're trying to minimize waste, luckily, on this occasion I knew exactly what I needed to do to achieve the best colours. Rolling a thin layer of ink is easy enough but being able to ensure an even layer on the block isn't. It took me multiple attempts to get a clean print but once I had the knack it didn't take me too long to print the edition.

                 

Once all the blue was printed, I carved the red block from a sheet of lino, carving away all the areas I didn't want to print. 

                   

Now...this print was made around the two weeks I went on holiday so the blue had a huge drying time! However this only made printing the next colour easier.

                   

I used my book press to print these guys, the press weighs a tonne and it sure does require a little elbow grease to work it!  "Cock Pheasant" is an edition of 25 prints, all numbered, named and signed ;) If you have any questions then please comment below and I will try to answer them as soon as possible. Of course you can head over to my Facebook page and contact me there if you'd prefer! For now I'll leave you with a little snap shot of the next print "Midnight Stroll" that will be coming out hopefully next week *fingers crossed*. There is a short video of the making of this print over on my YouTube account, so head on over and take a look! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RvWPmAD7ks

                         

Have a lovely rest of the summer!

Will Baker Illustrator :)

As the Crow Flys

This is only going to be a real short post but it's one I thought would be nice to write; it's a little tale of the short phase I had around Christmas that evolved long drives, drawing tall spindly trees and... crows. They're fascinating aren't they? So mysterious and sinister yet beautiful. Anyway I loved drawing them in a sort of rushed, sketchy style with a scratchy dip pen.

                                  

Terrible photo eeek! This photo is an example of some of the ones I took around Christmas of the crows.

                                  

Using inks and watercolours in as many different and experimental ways as possible, I was able to recreate the tree from the photo.         

Pardon the abnormal and slightly out of proportion girl thingy, it was a Saturday evening experiment that turned mad.

A few days later I was delighted to finally visit Curwen Studio in Linton for a session of Drypoint Etching - a wonderful gift from my folks and one I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in printmaking! Whilst there I used this sketch for a drypoint print. The presses we used printed a treat, something for me to think about in the future. 

                                   

There were so many techniques I could use, my favourite being masking table and sandpaper. 

A few days later I started to wonder if I could use masking tape and other textures to create an image, a process known as collograph. I used a number of cards and papers to build up my image ad then coated the whole thing in varnish to seal it.

                                         

There were so many different ways of applying the ink to create different effects. With this form of printing, EVERYTHING is unpredictable, you've just got to go with it. This is what I got: 

                                          

I got a few good prints from it but nothing compared to the quality I could have gotten with an etching press at Curwen. There is so much that this form of printmaking has to offer and I can't wait to explore it but for now I'm just going to sit and sketch a few design for some wood engravings.

Have a nice summer.

Will Baker Illustrator