Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Carter, and I'm gonna be guiding you through our lesson today where we're going to be looking at selecting and refining our prints.

In today's lesson, we are not only going to actually create some prints, but we're also going to look at how we can then refine those through both cutting and through adding extra media.

Now for this lesson, you might have some prints that you've already got, that you'd like to include, and of course you can do that, but I'd really like you to have a go at producing new pieces and then thinking about how you can develop them.

To have some fantastic learning today, you need to be willing to have a go at all of the tasks that we're going to be doing, and answering all of those questions so that we can make excellent progress and have a fantastic day.

I'm sure we're going to learn loads and you're going to be fantastic.

Let's get started.

By the end of today's lesson, you're going to be able to say, "I can refine and develop my prints by adding mixed media and cropping to develop them into a concertina book." In order to do this work really effectively, there are some words we need to feel very confident using throughout the lesson.

The first is series.

In art, a series is a coherent and unified body of work that employs a similar theme, subject matter, or palette of colour across a number of artworks.

Composition.

Composition is how the different parts of your artwork, like the shapes, the colours, and objects are arranged on the page to make it look balanced and interesting.

Our lesson's got three cycles today.

Initially, we're going to look at how we can plan and create a print series.

We're then going to look at refinement through cropping into a concertina book, and then the third cycle is refinement through mixed media.

Let's start with planning and creating a print series.

Issy is wondering why artists practise printmaking.

Can you think of any reasons? Issy shares, artists practise printmaking to make copies of their artwork or as experiments and to be creative.

Did you come up with anything different? Some people think that artists only use printmaking to create multiple copies of their artwork for sale, but some artists create a series of prints designed to be seen together as a whole.

These works often share common visual elements.

A print series is a coherent and unified body of work.

It uses a similar theme, subject matter, or palette of colour across a number of artworks.

A print series can tell a story or show a journey using pictures, symbols and colours instead of words.

It does not always have to illustrate a full story like a book, but it usually shows visual or thematic link between each print.

Do you think you've ever seen a print series before? This is an example of a print series.

How is this a coherent and unified body of work? Pause the video and give yourself time to consider that question.

What did you say? Did you notice that the symbol of a silhouette of someone moving is features in all three of the images? It's a little bit harder to see in the image on the right, but if you look at those pink shapes at the bottom, that's actually the shapes of the legs, and when you look closely, you can actually see the foot.

So although it's obscured, it is still in the work.

And maybe the artist wanted that page, that journey to seem a little bit less clear than in the other two images.

Have you noticed that some of the colours are also across all three pieces, which make them feel more like they are linked to each other? Artists who've created a print series with a common theme include Elizabeth Catlett, who created a body of print works, which examined the Civil Rights Movement.

Paula Rego reimagined children's stories in her nursery rhyme series from 1989.

And Grayson Perry has created and exhibited a number of prints featuring fantasy maps.

Okay, check for understanding time.

True or false? A print series must always tell a story like a picture book or a storyboard.

Pause the video and decide if you think that is a true or a false statement.

Great work, if you remember that, that was false.

A print series does not always have to illustrate a full story like in a book, but it's about the relationship between the work so that they have a visual relationship and work together as a whole around a common theme.

What visual elements might an artist use to be coherent and unified when planning a print series? Jacob shares, "Repeating motif or image in each work." Sam includes, "Using similar colours or progressing through colours." And Jun says, "Employing similar skills and processes." An artist might repeat visual elements to create a coherent and unified body of work for a print series.

Okay, another check for understanding time, True or false? A print series will not have any visual elements that repeat, each print must stand alone.

Pause the video and decide if you think that that is a true or a false statement.

Well done if you said that that was false.

A print series is a coherent and unified body of work that employs a similar theme, subject matter or palette of colour across a number of artworks.

This will often mean that the work has repeating or common visual elements.

The theme for this series was journey.

Do you think that you can see that in the work? In the work, the artist, has made the theme more personal to them, and they've repeated visual elements.

Have you noticed the motif of people walking is repeated across the ball, and that there are some common colours across all of the pieces? Okay, so we're gonna start our first practical task.

For Task A1, I'd like you to decide on a personal theme and repeating visual elements for the print series, with the broad theme of journey.

You are going to be using gelli printing to make this.

You should consider repeating motifs, symbols, or images like the silhouettes which have been provided for you.

They can be found in the additional materials, but remember, you can always personalise your work and not necessarily always have to use the images we've provided.

You might consider colours, marks or textures.

Think about if there's a journey you'd like to express in this piece of work.

Remember that the journey doesn't have to be necessarily a big grand journey.

You might want to choose a journey you frequently undertake, something that's normal for you and create it within your artwork.

There really are lots of opportunities.

Pause the video and make those decisions now.

How did you get on? I wonder what you've chosen to make your work about.

There are many possibilities, but you might have said something like this.

And Issy shares, "My theme is my walk to football practise.

I will repeat colours from our football kit in my work." And Lucas shares, "I want to repeat natural textures for my theme of journeys and growth in nature." And Sophia shares, "My journey will be growing up.

So I'll repeat bright colours and a child's silhouette." Can you see how there's so many different options? I wonder how different yours is to some of these.

If you're working with a large group, you might all like to share your different ideas.

So for A2, we now need to create a six print series using gelli prints.

So you're gonna need six images that you can use at the end of this task.

You should employ some of these skills, so masking the plate with silhouette stencils, overlapping multiple prints, applying paint with a brush for a painterly effect.

You could print over prints you've already made if they fit the visual narrative that you decided on in task A1.

The silhouettes shown here are featured in the additional materials, but remember, you could personalise these.

Remember, this is the process for creating a gelli print.

You start by laying the stencils on the gelli plate.

You then roll it with acrylic paint and remove the objects, allowing that first layer of paint to dry.

You then roll another layer of colour over the top, and these steps can be repeated as many times as you want.

While that last layer of acrylic paint is still wet, apply paper over the gelli plate, add pressure and allow it to dry.

When that's dry and you peel off your paper, your print will be revealed.

A top tip for this is to remember that you can use a hair dryer to speed up that drying process so that you can make all six of your prints.

Pause the video and get started on your creations now.

How did you get on? There are so many options for what you might have come up with, and you might have something that looks a little bit like this.

Andeep shares, "I can see vibrant colours as well as people walking in Issy's work.

The colours make me think of it as a series." Do you think your work feels like a series already? So we're now moving on to refinement through cropping into a concertina book.

The printing process is complete.

Are these prints finished? What do you think? Some people think that once a print is made, it's finished, and no further changes can be made.

But prints are not static, they can be manipulated and developed further using mixed media and physical alterations like cutting/ The process of refining a print is an important step, as it enhances visual interest and highlights specific areas.

Creativity doesn't have to stop after the initial print.

What would you do to enhance the visual interest and highlight specific areas? Look at this piece of work, think about where you would want to highlight and what you could do to enhance that.

And if you look here by trimming, cutting up and cropping the prints, we can create interesting compositions.

Look really closely at that image on the left.

And how by cutting out the figure, not only have we now got a silhouette, we've also got that figure, so we now have two images.

It creates the visual idea that that child is coming away from the background and moving forward, and creating that sense of journey through the work.

And you can see in the other prints that there are other figures that have been cut out, and there's a beginning to think about how those things might be trimmed down and cropped in to make them more interesting and focused.

Okay, check for understanding time.

What are the most likely reasons that trimming, cutting up and cropping prints can refine the artwork? Is it A? "It allows artists to create dynamic compositions." Is it B? "It makes the prints smaller but less interesting." Is it C? "It prevents layering and mixed media techniques?" Or is it D? "It removes weak areas while preserving the best parts." Pause the video and decide which reasons you think are the most accurate.

Well done, if you noticed that there were two possible correct answers.

So both A, cropping, cutting and trimming work can allow artists to create dynamic compositions and it removes weak areas while preserving the best areas, are correct.

Artists can select alternative methods to present their print series instead of just having an image on a wall and a gallery.

Examples of this include William Kentridge, who printed his work "Breathe" in 2008 in a book.

Jill McKeown presented her work "Blurring the Edges", one, two, three and four from 200, as a concertina book.

And Moses Ros hung his prince as a mobile in SKYWIDE - a Rotunda Installation in 2024.

Examples of artworks which have been presented in unexpected ways include Jitish Kallat who created "Epicycles 5" in 2022, giant double-sided collages each over seven feet tall that allow viewers to see both the front and the back.

Both Shahzia Sikander's "Epistophe" 2021 and Adelaide Damoah's, "The Rebirth of Anna" from 2018, featured the bringing together of imagery to form a formidable sculptural tapestry.

So that means that we've got all these different elements brought together, to form a tapestry like structure that makes use of that similar imagery.

Could these presentation methods be used for print series, do you think? Okay, check for understanding time.

True or false? Artists always show a print series as a set of individual prints on the wall in the gallery.

Pause the video and decide if you think that is a true or a false statement.

Great work if you said that that was false.

Artists can share their print series on a wall, but they can also present it in many other ways, including a book or like Jitish Kallat, it could be on these great big frames which are double-sided, so they're almost like a sculpture that you can walk around, or like Adelaide Damoah, could be actually as a tapestry.

How has this presentation of the series enhanced the work? So what do you think makes it more effective, because it's been put into that concertina book? A concertina book can show a journey step by step, like the pages unfolding in a story.

And for this theme in particular, it really enhances what the artist is trying to say because it a narrative where we naturally start to look at the work in a specific order.

So from the west, that would be from the left to the right, but in certain Middle Eastern countries, that would be from the right to the left.

We are going to be creating a concertina book to display your print series.

How could this enhance your theme of a journey? Jacob shares, "It will create a linear frame to lay out the work." And Sam adds, "The viewer might read the prints in order and it will get more control of how it's seen." And Jun shares, "It will open and close like a paper map." Okay, so we're gonna get started on our task.

So you'll need to trim, cut, crop, and play with the prints to create interesting compositions and present them in a concertina book.

For your first step, you need to decide the order of your prints.

You should think about how this will tell the story of your journey.

Number the prints in pencil on the back so that you remember the order.

Pause the video and make those decisions now.

How did you get on? You might have done something like this.

And Lucas shares, "This order shows the theme of journey as people are walking as a repeated image, so that motif is coming back up again.

But the colours are slowly changing from cool colours to warm colours from the left to the right.

Great work, Issy." So the way that Issy has used those colours and allowed them to change slowly over the prints creates more of a sense of narrative or that the environment is changing through the journey.

So for task B2, you're going to trim, cut up and crop your prints to create interesting compositions.

You should consider carefully what you will crop away.

Think about what shapes you will create.

You could also keep your scraps for later use in this work.

If you are feeling particularly uncomfortable with the idea of cutting up your original prints, you could consider either photographing or photocopying the work so that you have a record before you start cutting up your prints.

Pause the video and get started cropping now.

How did you get on? You might have done something that looks a little bit like this.

And Sophia reviews, "I like how Issy has chosen to trim one print into a walking person shape to show the theme of journey in this print series." So for task B3, we are now gonna present the prints in the Concertina book.

You should fold the paper neatly so that the folds are perpendicular to the paper edge.

So that means that they're at a right angle.

Present the work in the correct order.

Remember to use those numbers that you already decided in the previous task.

You can always tack stuff down with blue tack or masking tape to make sure you've got it correct before you secure it with glue.

The construction for your concertina book should look something like this, where you fold a long thin sheet of paper into a concertina.

Look at how those folds are perpendicular or on a right angle, to the length of the paper.

This means that when you fold it down, it's gonna be really neat and professional.

Going to arrange and glue your prints, and then stand up your completed concertina book.

One of the benefits of a concertina book is that automatically it's able to hold itself up and creates an ability to present your work beautifully as well.

Pause the video and get started creating your Concertina book series.

How did you get on? Do you like how your work is freestanding and shows off everything you've done? You might have done something that looks a little bit like this.

And Andeep says, "I can see the theme of Issy's work, and I really like how she's used purposeful cropping to focus your attention on the walking figure." It might be nice to put all of your work up free standing so you can see what everyone's been able to produce.

So we're moving on to refinement through adding mixed media.

Adding mixed media to prints can highlight certain areas.

What refinements can you see on this print? Well done if you've noticed that that circle's been drawn on.

Why might an artist want to highlight certain areas of a print? What do you think? Laura shares, "The artist might want to draw viewer's attention to that part of the print." Can you think of any other reasons beyond that? How could we refine these prints to enhance the theme of journey? Alex shares, "We could add drawn or painted elements which link to the theme.

And Aisha responds, "Yes, or we could sew into them if we wanted instead of drawing." There are lots of opportunities when you are enhancing your work to use all sorts of different media.

Think about things, which you are a strength of yours and how you can bring that into your print series.

Okay, check for understanding time.

What is the most likely reason an artist might add mixed media to a print? Is it A? It helps highlight certain areas.

Or is it B? It makes the print less detailed.

Or is it C? It removes texture from the print.

Pause the video and decide which you think is the correct answer.

Well done if you said it helps highlight certain areas.

Mixed media additions could include drawing with pen, colour pencil or oil pastel.

Painting into work freehand or using stencils.

Collaging with papers or other prints.

Sewing and embroidery.

Embellishments like gold leaf, just to name a few.

Okay, so check for understanding time.

You're gonna fill the gap using the words in the wordbank.

Mixed media additions in could include, drawing with pen colour something or oil pastel.

Painting and working freehand or with something, collaging with papers or other something.

Something and embroidery, or embellishments like something leaf.

And your wordbank words are gold, pencil, prints, sewing and stencils.

Pause the video and work out the answer now.

How did you get on? It's quite a lot of words to put into the correct places.

Great work if you said that it was colour pencil that you could paint free hand or with stencils, that you could collage papers or other prints.

That you could use sewing and embroidery or embellishments, like gold leaf.

Okay, so moving into task C, we're going to refine the print series by adding mixed media to enhance the theme and highlight certain parts of the print.

For task C1, decide on the media you will use and how you will add it.

Think about an answer.

What imagery best enhances your theme? What media will you use? Will mixed media be used throughout or selectively? Which colours will create impact? And what areas do you want to highlight? Pause the video and think about and answer each of those questions.

You might have said something like this.

The imagery of an arrow will show the direction of travel and flying birds could represent travel too.

I will use paint and collaging.

I will use collage of birds selectively to represent the good at the end of the journey, but the painted arrows will appear throughout the series.

I will add complimentary colours for impact, and I will highlight my silhouettes of the figures.

Did you say things that were similar? So for task C2, we're gonna add the mixed media into the print series.

You should, take your time and work neatly and with purpose.

Focus on enhancing your theme.

Consider how the additions will draw the viewer's attention and apply the mixed media across your full print series.

Pause the video and get started now.

How did you get on? I wonder what mixed media you chose to use.

You might have produced something that looks like this.

And Issy shares, "My theme is my walk to football practise, and I really like how the circles I've added deepen this idea." It's lovely how they make you think about the football, especially in that bottom left image where it looks like the child might be kicking it along on the way.

I also like how she's added paint into the background to fill that quite blank area with something that has a bit more texture.

How did yours come out? So in summary of our lesson, working into and refining prints, a print series is a coherent and unified body of work that employs a similar theme, subject matter or palette of colour across a number of artworks.

Artists can develop their work through a range of refinements, including processes to remove and to add.

By trimming and cutting up prints, we can create interesting compositions.

And by adding mixed media to prints, we can highlight certain areas.

You should be so proud of the work you've done today.

It's a really big lesson with lots of stages, and you've gone from having no prints to having a completed concertina book, which has also been refined with mixed media.

You've had to work incredibly hard and engaged really well with everything we've done.

You should be really proud of your achievements today.

I look forward to seeing you in our next lesson.

Well done.