FAQ
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What is a Lithograph?
The answer is more than a simple yes or no. I would like to approach your question by assuming you may not have much information about the difference between a hand lithograph and offset lithography. This way, I can provide a more complete answer.
Hand Lithograph
When a hand lithograph is made, the artist draws directly on the printing element, such as stone, aluminum, Mylar, or another prepared surface. From this drawing, the prints are inked and pulled. A separate drawing or printing surface is often used for each different color.
Each print records the unique mark of the artist and the direct presence of the artist’s hand.
Offset Lithography
When prints are made using offset lithography, an original artwork, such as a painting, drawing, or watercolor, is taken to a commercial printer. The printer photographs the original and then converts the colors into a four-color printing process: red, yellow, blue, and black.
A negative is made for each of these colors, and a photographic plate is prepared for printing. These plates are usually run all at once on large, high-speed presses.
In this process, the mark of the artist is often lost in the translation from the original artwork to the photograph and then into color separation. Depending on the printer, the colors can vary significantly from the original.
What is a Collagraph Print
Collagraphy (sometimes spelled collography) was introduced in 1955 by Glen Alps and is a printmaking process in which materials are applied to a rigid substrate such as paperboard or wood. The word is derived from the Greek words koll or kolla, meaning glue, and graph, meaning the activity of drawing.
The plate can be intaglio-inked, inked with a roller or paintbrush, or created through a combination of methods. Ink or pigment is applied to the resulting collage surface, and the board is then used to print onto paper or another material using either a printing press or various hand tools. The resulting print is termed a collagraph.
Materials such as carborundum, acrylic texture mediums, sandpapers, textiles, bubble wrap, string or other fibers, cut card, leaves, and grass can all be used in creating the collagraph plate. In some instances, leaves can also be used as a source of pigment by rubbing them directly onto the surface of the plate.
Different tonal effects and vibrant colors can be achieved through this technique due to the depth of relief and differential inking created by the collagraph plate’s highly textured surface. Collagraphy is considered a very open and experimental printmaking method.
Ink may be applied to the upper surfaces of the plate with a brayer to create a relief print, or ink may be applied to the entire board and then removed from the upper surfaces while remaining in the recessed areas between objects, resulting in an intaglio print. A combination of both intaglio and relief methods may also be employed. A printing press may or may not be used in the process.
Source: Wikipedia – Collagraphy
Is digital printing considered Fine-Art?
Fine art prints are often produced from digital files using archival-quality inks and printed onto acid-free fine art paper.
When looking for a print that will last for decades, it is important to choose a paper that is acid free. The acid content found in many papers causes them to turn yellow, become brittle, and crack over time. Acid-free papers made with 100% cotton fibers help ensure that a print will look as good many years from now as it did the day it was printed.
The printers used for fine art printing are typically high-end professional machines utilizing 8 to 12 ink colorants, allowing for a very large color gamut. When these colors are mixed together, they are capable of producing millions of different color variations. This range is significantly greater than that of a typical large-format printer.
Digital files suitable for fine art printing may come from a variety of sources, including digital cameras, scanners, or computer software programs such as Adobe Photoshop.
When creating digital files for fine art printing, it is important to ensure that the image resolution is appropriate for the intended print size. For optimum results, images should generally be prepared at 300 dpi (dots per inch) at the final print size. However, if the image quality is exceptionally strong, resolutions of 150 dpi or sometimes lower may still produce acceptable results.
Citation: Fine Art Printing (A1 Posters & Laminators)
What is Mural Painting?A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly onto a wall, ceiling, or other permanent surface. A distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the composition.
Some wall paintings are created on large canvases that are later attached to the wall surface, often using techniques such as marouflage. This approach has been in common use since the late 19th century.
Murals date back to Upper Paleolithic times, including the cave paintings found in the Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave in Borneo (approximately 40,000–52,000 BP) and the Chauvet Cave in southern France (around 32,000 BP). Ancient murals have also been discovered in Egyptian tombs (around 3150 BC), the Minoan palaces (1700–1600 BC), the Oxtotitlán caves in Mexico (around 1200–900 BC), and in the ancient city of Pompeii (around 100 BC – AD 79).
In modern history, the term became especially well known through the Mexican Muralism movement led by artists such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco.
There are many different mural styles and techniques. One of the best known is fresco, which uses water-soluble paints applied onto damp lime plaster. Because the plaster dries quickly, artists must work rapidly while maintaining the unity of the overall composition. Colors often lighten as they dry. Another long-standing method is marouflage, where painted canvas is adhered to a wall.
Today, murals are created using a wide variety of oil- and water-based media. Styles range from abstract compositions to highly realistic trompe-l'œil works, a French term meaning “to fool the eye.” Artists such as Graham Rust and Rainer Maria Latzke helped revive interest in trompe-l'œil mural painting during the 1980s, leading to renewed popularity in both public and private spaces throughout Europe and beyond.
Contemporary mural techniques also include transferring paintings or photographic images onto poster paper or canvas and then applying them directly to a wall surface, creating the appearance of a hand-painted mural or immersive scene.
Citation: Wikipedia – Mural
How to contact Ernesto Trujillo
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