Drypoint Prints – a tutorial video on drypoint etching on mylar drafting film

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Drypoint on Drafting Film

A  drypoint-from-drafting-film printmaking experiment resulting in the art above is posted on my youtube channel.

You can make a drypoint engraving on matte finish mylar – or polyester drafting film. Print multiples in an edition, and paint each one in a different palette with watercolor, gouache, colored pencil or your media du jour. 

Try tracing a figure study from one of your sketchbooks (like I did below). Lay a small sheet of matte finish Dura-Lar drafting film over your reference material, and trace the image with your pencil. Scribe the line-work with an etching needle.  Ink the mylar, wipe & print… voila. 🙂

Drawn Line Printmaking with Drypoint

The resulting print in this experiment was terrifically sketchy. (My technical art terminology works best when its descriptive, don’t you think?)

An edition of three sketchy intaglio Drypoint prints are perfectly suited for watercolor. I had a lovely afternoon of dabbling in washes, dry brush and glazing on these tiny drypoint art prints.

Drypoint Prints at Home

If you’re unfamiliar with drypoint engraving, you might enjoy this explanation (see the article here) by the British artist’s group Artists & Illustrators. They give a straightforward description, with encouraging words for folks who don’t have access to a local studio to borrow time on a printing press:

But before you go gallivanting into the abyss or dismissing it entirely, how about trying it at home? A DIY print can be created using drypoint card or any card that is laminated on one side (like card from a cereal box) for the plate, a nail or other sharp implement to make the drawing, and a rolling pin, bayer or hand-made palm-press to press it.

Artists and Illustrators

For more on that, check out my printmaking pal Brian Holden’s latest post on his experiments with drypoint from household materials here.

Drypoint Demo Video Tutorial

There’s a little speed painting in the demonstration video (below), as well as some easy-peasy, non-toxic art studio clean up tips if you use oil-based printing inks.

Solvents scare people away from using oil-based printmaking inks, and I don’t blame them.

But there are alternatives to cleaning up in the studio.  Citrasolv and Lysol wipes do a fantastic job on oil based printmaking inks, as you’ll see in the clean up clip in the video below.

 If you don’t see the video window above, you can watch it directly on youtube here.

Let’s Inspire Each Other

We’re hurling through February, and it’s a great time to make art on chilly days, in a chair, with a cup of tea and an audiobook.

What are you experimenting with in your art?

What’s pulling your creative wagon these days?

What creative works are you reading about to stay inspired? Fill me in with a few comments on your latest happenings.

See you in the next post!
Belinda

P.S. You can subscribe to get each art post via email (it’s free) right here.

Art Quote
Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.

Do it or don’t do it.

It may help to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself, you hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.

You shame the angels who watch over you, and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God.

Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.

Steven Pressfield

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