Sketching Techninques – Learning Activity

Printing terms

Wood engraving – The motive or text is carved out of a piece of wood, rolled with paint or ink and then pressed to make a print. Wood is great because it can be light in weight and easily engraved (it’s a soft material) . It can be great for bigger prints and smaller prints.

Linocut – The image is cut out of soft linoleum. The artist then puts ink on it and creates prints by being pressed. Great for beginners and it’s the softest material to engrave on.

Drypoint. The image is scratched out of a soft metal, glass or acrylic glass plate, before being inked up and printed off on a press.

Etching. Wax is applied to a stiff metal plate. Some of the wax then gets scratched away to form an image or design. The metal plate is placed into an acid bath to eat away at the exposed metal. The plate is inked up (pushing ink into the grooves) before being printed off on a press.

Engraving. A line is cut into the metal plate, inked up, and printed off. (Bank notes are produced in this way).

Lithography. Wax is applied onto stone tablets. The tablets are inked up (the ink will not stay on the wax, so it creates a “negative drawing”), and a drum is rolled across the tablet before transferring the ink (and therefore the image) to paper.

Screen-printing. Masks are made up (these masks prevent the ink from reaching certain areas of the paper) before coloured inks are pushed through a ﬁne silk screen using a rubber squeegee, past the masks, and onto the paper.

Monoprinting – The motive is created on a plate, either by painting the motive or covering the plate in paint/ink and scraped off leaving negative space. A paper is then laid over and rolled, to make sure all the paint is being transferred.