Understanding Printmaking Techniques

Printmaking is the practice of transferring an image from a prepared surface (a plate, block, stone, or screen) onto paper or another material, usually to produce multiple original impressions rather than a single unique piece.

The four major families

• Relief printing — ink sits on a raised surface, with recessed areas carved away and left uninked (woodcut and linocut are the most common forms).
• Intaglio — the image is incised or etched into a plate (usually metal); ink fills the recessed lines and is transferred under high press pressure (etching, engraving, drypoint).
• Planographic — image and non-image areas exist on the same flat surface, separated chemically rather than physically (lithography is the classic example).
• Screen printing (serigraphy) — ink is pushed through a fine mesh screen, with a stencil blocking ink from non-image areas; unlike the other three, it doesn't require a press.

What makes a print "original"

An original print is pulled directly from a plate, block, stone, or screen the artist made or worked from by hand — as opposed to a photomechanical reproduction of an already-existing painting or drawing. Original prints are typically produced in a limited, numbered edition (e.g. "12/50") and the plate or block is often defaced or destroyed afterward specifically to keep the edition finite.