This post continues the profiling of the production of my handmade art postcards. These works were created from a combination of drawing and printmaking in small editions of 10 to 50. It must be stated that each of the cards is an original print, or monoprint…similar in design but with no exact duplicate. For example the three prints from the Landscape No. 2 edition below, whilst carrying the same title, number and technique, all bear some visual differences. My first postcard post was from the Abstract series…the postcards in this post are from the subsequent Landscape series. Some have abstract elements. With few exceptions these cards fall within the postcard size dimensions of 10cm x 15cm.
In the postcard art above I employed a restricted palette in comparison to the Landscape No.3 and No.4 cards which followed (see below in this post). These have a combination of textures that range from watery and weedy to grassy and sandy surfaces.
UPDATE MARCH 6, 2017: Below are are photos of my completed art postcards…bundled up for carting to the gallery and then spread out on a display table for sale.
Art postcards sorted and stacked for cartage to gallery. (Photo by Dr. Michael Hill)
Those cards spread across a table in the gallery for sale. (Photo by Dr. Michael Hill)
I can’t repeat often enough how much I enjoy the process of design and production of my art postcards!
I have completed production and commenced publication of the fifth issue of my artist book/comic…BLOTTING PAPER: The Recollected Graphic Impressions Of Doctor Comics. The pages are being printed, collated, trimmed, bound and covered. Copies will soon be mailed to readers. Each copy will have an original postcard size print on the cover.
It has now been four years since publication of the first issue. That was launched at Hondarake-Full of Books in Sydney in February 2012 (see earlier post about the launch). A further four issues have been produced and published. I am now considering collecting these issues into graphic novel form. This will allow me the opportunity to make revisions to the story and artwork. The five issues have generated 200 pages of material. This may be altered following editing and development of the existing material. There also remains the possibility of a further new chapter! We’ll see about that!
This is the next report documenting production of my artist book/comic…and ultimately graphic novel…Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics. Creation and production of the forthcoming issue 2 Tickets to Tokyo Bay has begun. It deals with the continued adventures of the cats Busch and Cohl and their canine acquaintance Barks. Set mostly in Japan it also has some scenes in Germany. It follows these characters in funny animal cartoon style. It also includes further recollections from the archives of my alias, Doctor Comics. These refer to his visits to Japan and research of manga, his favorite form of comics.
The characters Barks and Busch travel from Germany to Japan by sea, arriving in Tokyo Bay. Their passage by sea is cheaper than flight buts not without some difficulty and discomfort in cramped quarters below deck.
Disembarkation in Tokyo leads to some fun and frolicking and access to a wider range of food. They visit a manga fair and then go to Kitchen Town where they eat cake.
Printmaking has been employed in the design with techniques including woodblock, linocut, rubber, bakelite and wooden stamps. There is also drawing, collage, calligraphy and handwriting plus more cartooning. The intention is to produce a comic in an artist book type format…and to have it ready for self-publication around the end of this year.
This is the third report documenting production of the fifth and concluding chapter of my artist book/comic Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics. Production of the new issue 2 Tickets to Tokyo Bayis continuing with images currently being created along with some previously made works recorded during my travels in Japan and Germany. The script has first been developed in word form and accompanied by some conceptual colour coding. This was followed by a second draft consisting of roughly sketched visuals of the script with coloured pencils and associated descriptive comments or dialogue. There are examples of both of these development stages, below.
One scene in the script is a graphical recollection of my Doctor Comics alias. It reveals the design of one of his logo stamps/seals or chops that was roughed out on a paper napkin in a Sydney restaurant with guidance from a member of the Japanese Consulate. Here is a scan of that design development along with attachments including a photo and a Japanese photo booth print sticker.
This post profiles another artistic medium that I have been printmaking in recent years. This is the design of limited edition art postcards. These are some of my earliest designs. More will be added in future posts. I hand-printed these postcards that were created from a combination of drawing and printmaking. I would make random, numbered editions of say 8, 19 or 33. A print run greater than 50 was rare. The total would be determined by the amount of blank cards, ink and time available for finishing. Once I completed a session it meant the end of that particular batch as I would not repeat the design. Cards in an edition are all original prints. These are called monoprints, so-called by being similar in design but with no exact duplicates in the batch.
The following three postcards show variations produced in the same edition. (1) the overlaid pink patch is in a different position on each card…and its shape and strength of colour vary. (2) the dragon stamp(the small curvy line) is not in the exact same position. It is on two cards but not the third. Its legs seem absent in two of the impressions. (3) the large black and yellow mass varies in colour and texture from card to card. (4) the Post Office franking machine marking is at the top, bottom or missing(only visible on reverse side of card). (5) my MH signature seal, whilst generally in the same position, is actually upside down on two of the cards…an bloody unbelievable, creative oversight! I’m sorry!
The drinking of beer, usually a bottle of stout, marked the end of an edition and celebration of completion. This was often late in the afternoon as I never seemed to print in the mornings or evenings. After a couple of years I supplemented this hand-made approach with digital printing, making copies from the scanned original. But then, lacking satisfaction…and missing the additional ink staining on my jeans, I abandoned that and returned to the hand-made printmaking process. Consequently, both my level of satisfaction and the print marks on my jeans improved, Michael.
UPDATE OCTOBER 12, 2015: A selection of these art postcards have been displayed in exhibitions. The first in 2007 titled Abstract Nos. 1-11 at the DAB LAB Gallery, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building of the University of Technology, Sydney.
Pop-Up Postcard Exhibition by Dr. Michael Hill: Abstract Nos.1-11, DAB LAB Gallery, UTS, 2007.
Detail: Pop-Up Postcard Exhibition by Dr. Michael Hill: Abstract Nos.1-11, DAB LAB Gallery, UTS, 2007.
Exhibition flyer designed by Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics.
Reverse of ABSTRACT exhibition flyer designed by Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics.
UPDATE NOVEMBER 6, 2015: At Hondarake Full of Books in 2012…the launch of my comic Blotting Paper was accompanied by a mini exhibition of my art postcards…33 in all from 32 different designs.
An exhibition of handmade art postcards…accompanying the launch of my artist book/comic Blotting Paper at Hondarake Bookshop, February 2012 (Photo by Louise Graber).
Fukushima Kids 2013 Auction, Japan: 10 of my art postcards…each print a monoprint and thus unique…were contributed to this cause and event. The reverse side was signed and dated with my artist’s stamp. These postcards were made on machine made cardboard following the Japanese sosaku hanga method of printmaking.
I am beginning this post with a progress report. Issue 4 of my artist book/comic Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics is not yet complete! I still need about another month to finish this issue. I do think that this is the penultimate report though… and further more,…due to its increasing length, I think I shall now start referring to it as a graphic novel.
The cats go to Germany with Doctor Comics’s big stash of comics related books, mementos and research materials. They meet a canine character who kindly assists them in arranging their affairs. Beer is drunk, comics are consumed and a plan devised.
The black cat, Cohl, sorts through Doc’s research materials. He reflects on some of his deeds including one that involved Belgian comics. Cohl also begins to emulate Doc’s art practice. This involves making sketches, playing with art materials and doing some drawing and printmaking. The other cat, Busch, who is not black, enjoys German beer, fish and fun. Both cats and their canine companion find enjoyment from the eating of chocolate.
More developments and an update on progress will be posted on this blog in around a month’s time. After I bring this chapter to completion we move to Japan, the setting for the next chapter.
More visual developments and an update on progress will be posted when I near completion. See you in Japan, so to speak…the setting of the next chapter, Michael.
Here is the next report, first one of the year, documenting production progress of my artist book/comic/graphic novel…Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics…Chapter 4-Beer, Chocolate and Comics. The story continues with both cats arriving in Hamburg in a shipping container on a freighter…and ends with them, seemingly accompanied by a newly acquired canine friend on another freighter bound for Tokyo Bay! However did that come about? Well, Japan is the setting for the subsequent chapter…as long as this scenario is not altered in the coming weeks.
I am continuing my graphic experiments with ink and paint on paper that is printed then torn and drawn upon…and sometimes collaged, to create documents, scenes and settings as well as thought and voice balloons for the characters.
The following quick sketches were made on my previous travels in Germany. They were kept in notebooks till it seemed they had some relevance and resonance for this project…and now I am finding ways of working them into this chapter.
More visual developments and an update on progress will be posted on this blog in three or four weeks time…as I continue to close in on completion of the comic.
UPDATE 20 JANUARY 2015: In response to a query in the comments…(see below)…I have added examples of how I intend using the abstract landscapes as backgrounds…or graphic expressions.
More visual developments and an update on progress should be posted on this blog around the end of the month…as I near completion of the comic…and, as always, your feedback on my blog is most welcome.
This is the first report documenting the production of the fourth issue of my artist book/comic…Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics.…it continues from posts on the first chapter/issue The Ingurgitator,…the second chapter/issue A Blot On His Escutcheon…and the third chapter/issue The Chthonian Turn: The Cats’ Revenge (see links to posts #1-36 below). The new chapter Beer, Chocolate and Comics deals with the cats’ recovery from the demise of their patron, Doctor Comics. It also covers their travels in Europe and their contact with the world of European comics. Printmaking is again involved in the production of this issue…with woodblock, linocut and the use of rubber, bakelite and wooden stamps. There is also drawing, handwriting and some cartooning. The intention is to produce a comic in an artist’s book type format. I hope to have it ready for publication early next year…but we’ll have to see about that…just as we will also have to see if my long term plan of combining these four separate issues…and subsequent issues into a full length graphic novel comes to fruition.
This issue has a marked European flavour…no surprise perhaps following the careful research into Belgian and German chocolates, comics and beer…that I undertook on my recent trip there…Michael.
I decided to participate in this event in which participants do a drawing each day during the month of October. I took the option, however, of only doing it every other day. So I planned to produce an inked image on the odd numbered dates-1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th etc. That amounts to a potential 16 drawings over the period. These were progressively posted here on my blog and dated. I also added an image of the drawing implement(s) employed. I saw this exercise as an opportunity to ‘warm up’ for issue 4 of my Blotting Paper artist book/comic…another experimental image-making outlet.
A new drawing made on every odd numbered date of the month.
Midway through the month…I managed to maintain my planned participation of posting an ink image every other day. Next stage…I am move in the direction of making blind contour drawings of moving subjects.
A return to abstraction for the final four images! I am switching to printmaking, exchanging the pen for a brush and using sumi ink to make monoprints.
My artist book, The Grafik Guitar, has undergone a marked transformation by being bound and covered by designer Imogen Yang. This has resulted in an elegant and artistic encasing collection of the prints.
The book consists of 38 prints on the theme of deconstructing the elements of the guitar. The images were carved in lino and wood. I followed the Japanese creative print (sosaku hanga) approach using Japanese knives, gouges and chisels. The book was then printed on Chinese 2 ply paper with Dr. Ph. Martin’s water colour ink and some sumi.
Imogen emboss-printed the guitar strings block onto a strip of kangaroo skin for the front cover. Then she got me add my MH signature chop. Her use of 6 thick binding strings to the front and back cover boards echoes the guitar’s 6 strings. I can’t explain the stitching pattern she has employed to bind the pages together. As an iteration of the cover design she used my separate guitar strings prints for the endpapers.
The book is currently on display at the Art Gallery of NSW. It is part of the 16th annual exhibition of the Australian Bookbinders. The exhibition runs from 7th November to 14th December in the Research library and archive.
THE MAKING OF The Grafik Guitar ARTIST BOOK This follow-up addition to the above post shows some of the printmaking. I made 38 monoprints on the theme of the deconstruction of some elements of the acoustic guitar. These included the machine head, tuning pegs, fretboard, strings and sound hole. The separate elements were carved in lino or wood then overlaid in various combinations and intensities to form composite monoprints. The Japanese creative print method (sosaku hanga) was employed. This blocks were carved with Japanese knives and chisels. They were printed on Chinese paper with water colour ink, sumi and additional hand colouring.
I incorporated elements of that design in a subsequent project. It involved the design of the cover for publication of the conference proceedings of the international popular music studies conference. Titled CHANGING SOUNDS: New Directions And Configurations In Popular Music in Sydney, IASPM 1999. (Picture below). I also presented a research paper at that conference.
Publication of the second issue of my artist book/comic Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics, Chapter 2: A Blot On His Escutcheon is forthcoming. September is looking increasingly likely subject to completion of the printing, binding and delivery of the comics. The comic will form part of an exhibition of my works on paper at a new gallery in Glebe called GAUGE. Below is an image of the title page. The image has been constructed from elements of photography, printmaking, typography and collage. It shows Doctor Comics returning from a shopping expedition. UPDATE: Exhibition dates have been firmed to 18-29 September 2013 but still no firm launch date for the comic…which is beginning to raise thoughts in the long term of its potential development into a graphic novel. We will have to wait and see about that!
Doctor Comics 