Tag: woodcuts

POSTCARD-Fifth Series

Art August 12, 2017

Continuing the profile of my art postcards here are some more recent examples from this year on various themes. These cards are hand-printed, created from a combination of drawing and printmaking in low print run editions. Once I finished a session it meant the end of that particular batch. I would not repeat the design or reprint it. Cards in an edition are all original prints, similar in design but are mono prints in as there are no exact duplicates. They fall within the standard postcard size dimensions of 10cm x 15cm or a near approximate. More information about this project is contained on the four previous POSTCARD posts (see the links below at the bottom of this post).

My previous POSTCARD posts form part of my graphic based material that includes painting, printmaking, cartooning and scrapbooking: THE GRAFIK GUITAR BOOKBINDING THE GRAFIK GUITAR CARTOON MORE CARTOONS RESEARCH CARTOONS UNIVERSITY CARTOONS POSTCARD POSTCARD-Second Series POSTCARD-Third Series POSTCARD-Fourth Series POSTCARD-Fifth Series PRINT Fish Two SCRAPBOOK SCRAPBOOK-More Pages SCRAPBOOK-A Few Pages More plus the posts on production of my artist book/comic BLOTTING PAPER: Issue #1: No.1 No.2 No.3 No.4 No.5 No.6 No.7 No.8 No.9 No.10 No.11 No.12 No.13 Issue #2: No.14 No.15 No.16 No.17 No.18 No.19 No.20 No.21 No.22 No.23 No.24 No.25 No.26 No.27 No.28 No.29 Issue #3: No.30 No.31 No.32 No.33 No.34 No.35 No.36 Issue #4: No.37 No.38 No.39 No.40 No.41 No.42 No.43 No.44 Issue #5: No.45 No.46 No.47 No.48

PRINT Fish Three

Art, Comics, Film, Japanning June 5, 2017

This is the third post on the fish prints I made with woodblock printmaking techniques for the experimental animated film Toxic Fish. The fish in this sequence is the Kohada or Gizzard Shad. Its static shape on the woodblock contrasts with the flooding of coloured toxins around it.

Inking prints for the animation in the studio.

Other posts of my graphic based material include: THE GRAFIK GUITAR BOOKBINDING THE GRAFIK GUITAR CARTOON MORE CARTOONS RESEARCH CARTOONS UNIVERSITY CARTOONS POSTCARD POSTCARD-Second Series POSTCARD-Fourth Series PRINT Fish One PRINT Fish Two PRINT Fish Three SCRAPBOOK SCRAPBOOK-More Pages SCRAPBOOK-A Few Pages More and my artist book/comic BLOTTING PAPER: Issue #1: No.1 No.2 No.3 No.4 No.5 No.6 No.7 No.8 No.9 No.10 No.11 No.12 No.13 Issue #2: No.14 No.15 No.16 No.17 No.18 No.19 No.20 No.21 No.22 No.23 No.24 No.25 No.26 No.27 No.28 No.29 Issue #3: No.30 No.31 No.32 No.33 No.34 No.35 No.36 Issue #4: No.37 No.38 No.39 No.40 No.41 No.42 No.43 No.44 Issue #5: No.45 No.46 No.47 No.48

PRINT Fish Two

Art, Comics, Film, Japanning January 28, 2017

This is the second post in my series of fish prints made using the woodblock printmaking method for my experimental animated film titled Toxic Fish. As the ocean fish are poisoned their bodies swell up then disintegrate. The static shape of the fish from the woodblock holds firm at first before being flooded by toxins. The method employed was to gradually over-ink the block so that details were dampened into puddles and definition reduced.

A woodblock print with overlaid hand-colouring for the animated film Toxic Fish-© 1990 Michael Hill.

Here is a photo of me carving one of the blocks using a Japanese chisel. Warning! This is not the safe way to do it. It should be done on a fixed bench and one should carve away from, not towards, oneself. The photo is condensed pose of the process for promotional purposes.

Hand carving one of the woodblocks for the animated film Toxic Fish-Photograph © 1990 Demetra Christopher.

If you liked this post you might like to look at others on my Blog. PRINT Fish One PRINT Fish Two PRINT Fish Three

PRINT Fish One

Art, Film, Japanning July 23, 2016

This series of posts will profile a collection of creative prints that I have made over the years, beginning with a series of fish. Using the woodblock printmaking method with variations in inking to make monoprints, the prints made could be used in animation. Seven species of fish were featured, the first of which, featured here, was the Japanese Tai or sea bream. I was very attracted to the idea of working in either animation or printmaking at the time but found it difficult to choose between the two. I found the answer in combining both mediums. Animation’s enormous greed for artwork could be more speedily satiated by using the print medium. I was doubly happy but have since settled on making comics which falls in the space somewhere in-between the other two.

Shooting my 1990 animation Toxic Fish on the Oxberry animation rostrum camera with artwork produced from woodblock printmaking.

Posts of my graphic based material include: THE GRAFIK GUITAR BOOKBINDING THE GRAFIK GUITAR CARTOON MORE CARTOONS RESEARCH CARTOONS UNIVERSITY CARTOONS POSTCARD POSTCARD-Second Series POSTCARD-Fourth Series PRINT Fish One PRINT Fish Two PRINT Fish Three SCRAPBOOK SCRAPBOOK-More Pages SCRAPBOOK-A Few Pages More and the posts on my artist book/comic BLOTTING PAPER: Issue #1: No.1 No.2 No.3 No.4 No.5 No.6 No.7 No.8 No.9 No.10 No.11 No.12 No.13 Issue #2: No.14 No.15 No.16 No.17 No.18 No.19 No.20 No.21 No.22 No.23 No.24 No.25 No.26 No.27 No.28 No.29 Issue #3: No.30 No.31 No.32 No.33 No.34 No.35 No.36 Issue #4: No.37 No.38 No.39 No.40 No.41 No.42 No.43 No.44 Issue #5: No.45 No.46 No.47 No.48

POSTCARD-Second Series

Art April 26, 2016

This post continues the profile of my artistic activity of producing handmade art postcards. As previously stated, these works were created from a combination of drawing and printmaking in small editions of 10 to 50. 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 minor visual differences. Whereas my first postcard post was from the Abstract series in this post the postcards are from the subsequent Landscape series, some of which may abstract elements. With few exceptions these cards fall within the postcard size dimensions of 10cm x 15cm.

In both the above set and the postcard that follows I used a restricted palette in comparison to the Landscape No.3 and No.4 cards that follow in this post. There is a combination of textures present from watery and weedy to grassy and sandy surfaces.

UPDATE MARCH 6, 2017: Here are a couple of photos of my assorted art postcards bundled up in a box for carting to the gallery and then spread out on a display table for sale.

Art postcards sorted and stacked for cartage to gallery.

Those cards spread across a table in the gallery for sale.

Posts of my graphic based material include: THE GRAFIK GUITAR BOOKBINDING THE GRAFIK GUITAR CARTOON MORE CARTOONS RESEARCH CARTOONS UNIVERSITY CARTOONS POSTCARD POSTCARD-Second Series POSTCARD-Third Series POSTCARD-Fourth Series POSTCARD-Fifth Series PRINT Fish One PRINT Fish Two SCRAPBOOK SCRAPBOOK-More Pages SCRAPBOOK-A Few Pages More and the posts on production of my artist book/comic BLOTTING PAPER: Issue #1: No.1 No.2 No.3 No.4 No.5 No.6 No.7 No.8 No.9 No.10 No.11 No.12 No.13 Issue #2: No.14 No.15 No.16 No.17 No.18 No.19 No.20 No.21 No.22 No.23 No.24 No.25 No.26 No.27 No.28 No.29 Issue #3: No.30 No.31 No.32 No.33 No.34 No.35 No.36 Issue #4: No.37 No.38 No.39 No.40 No.41 No.42 No.43 No.44 Issue #5: No.45 No.46 No.47 No.48

THE GRAFIK GUITAR

Art, Japanning March 27, 2016

My artist book The Grafik Guitar consists of 38 monoprints on the theme of the deconstruction of elements of the acoustic guitar, namely 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 adopted as part of the approach to this project using Japanese knives and chisels. The blocks were printed on Chinese paper with water colour ink, sumi and additional hand colouring.

A design application of the work was made in the form of a poster, program cover and published conference proceedings cover for an international popular music studies conference in Sydney, IASPM 1999.

For further development of this work see: BOOKBINDING THE GRAFIK GUITAR

Other posts of my graphic based material include: CARTOON MORE CARTOONS RESEARCH CARTOONS UNIVERSITY CARTOONS POSTCARD POSTCARD-Second Series POSTCARD-Third Series POSTCARD-Fourth Series PRINT Fish One PRINT Fish Two SCRAPBOOK SCRAPBOOK-More Pages SCRAPBOOK-A Few Pages More and the posts on production of my artist book/comic BLOTTING PAPER: Issue #1: No.1 No.2 No.3 No.4 No.5 No.6 No.7 No.8 No.9 No.10 No.11 No.12 No.13 Issue #2: No.14 No.15 No.16 No.17 No.18 No.19 No.20 No.21 No.22 No.23 No.24 No.25 No.26 No.27 No.28 No.29 Issue #3: No.30 No.31 No.32 No.33 No.34 No.35 No.36 Issue #4: No.37 No.38 No.39 No.40 No.41 No.42 No.43 No.44 Issue #5: No.45 No.46 No.47 No.48

POSTCARD

Art, Comics, Germania, Japanning August 5, 2015

This post begins a profile of another artistic activity that I have been active in for a few years now, that being the design and printing of limited run art postcards. These are some of the early cards. More will be added in subsequent posts to this one e.g POSTCARD 2, 3 etcetera. 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 I had and the available time for production. Once I finished a session that meant the end of that particular batch as I would not repeat the design. Cards in an edition are all original prints, or monoprints, so-called by being similar in design but with no exact duplicates.

First postcard in my Abstract series-© 2006 Michael Hill

The following three postcards show variations produced in one 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 in almost the same position on two cards but not the third and its legs seem absent in two impressions; (3) the large black and yellow mass varies in colour and texture from card to card; (4) the Post Office marking is at the top, bottom or missing; (5) my MH signature seal, whilst generally in the same position, is actually upside down on two of the cards…a creative accident!

A postcard from my Abstract No.2 series-© 2006 Michael Hill

Another postcard from my Abstract No.2 series-© 2006 Michael Hill

A third postcard from my Abstract No.2 series-© 2006 Michael Hill

Reverse side of postcard from Abstract No.2 series-© 2006 Michael Hill

A postcard from my Abstract No.3 series-© 2006 Michael Hill

A postcard from my Abstract No.4 series-© 2006 Michael Hill

A postcard from my Abstract No.5 series-© 2006 Michael Hill

Beer drinking, on most occasions a bottle of stout, marked the end of an edition to celebrate completion. This was usually late in the afternoon as I never seemed to print in the mornings. After a few years I supplemented this hand-made approach with digital printing, making copies from the scanned original. But then I eventually abandoned that and returned to the hand-made process.

UPDATE OCTOBER 12, 2015: A selection of these art postcards have been displayed in exhibitions over the past few years, the first in 2007 titled Abstract Nos. 1-11 at the DAB LAB Gallery in the courtyard of the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building of the University of Technology, Sydney.

Pop-Up Postcard Exhibition: Abstract Nos.1-11, DAB LAB Gallery, UTS, 2007

Pop-Up Postcard Exhibition by Dr. Michael Hill: Abstract Nos.1-11, DAB LAB Gallery, UTS, 2007

Detail: Pop-Up Postcard Exhibition: 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 Michael Hill

Exhibition flyer designed by Dr. Michael Hill

Reverse of ABSTRACT exhibition flyer.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 6, 2015: At Hondarake Full of Books in 2012 the launch of my artist book/comic Blotting Paper was accompanied by a mini exhibition of 33 0f my art postcards from the Abstract, Landscape and Seasons series.

An exhibition of postcards accompanying the launch of my artist book/comic Blotting Paper at Hondarake Bookshop, February 2012 (Photo by Louise Graber)

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 postcards, made in small sets of 5-30, each print a monoprint, unique. Reverse side is signed and dated plus has artist’s stamp. Cards can be kept or mailed. These postcards were made on machine made cardboard following the Japanese sosaku hanga method of printmaking.

Posts of my graphic based material include: THE GRAFIK GUITAR BOOKBINDING THE GRAFIK GUITAR CARTOON MORE CARTOONS RESEARCH CARTOONS UNIVERSITY CARTOONS POSTCARD POSTCARD-Second Series POSTCARD-Third Series POSTCARD-Fourth Series POSTCARD-Fifth Series PRINT Fish One PRINT Fish Two SCRAPBOOK SCRAPBOOK-More Pages SCRAPBOOK-A Few Pages More and the posts on production of my artist book/comic BLOTTING PAPER: Issue #1: No.1 No.2 No.3 No.4 No.5 No.6 No.7 No.8 No.9 No.10 No.11 No.12 No.13 Issue #2: No.14 No.15 No.16 No.17 No.18 No.19 No.20 No.21 No.22 No.23 No.24 No.25 No.26 No.27 No.28 No.29 Issue #3: No.30 No.31 No.32 No.33 No.34 No.35 No.36 Issue #4: No.37 No.38 No.39 No.40 No.41 No.42 No.43 No.44 Issue #5: No.45 No.46 No.47 No.48

BLOTTING PAPER The Comic: Production Report No.42

Art, Blotting Paper, Cats in Comics, Comics, Germania, Japanning April 9, 2015

Not quite there yet! I might still need another month to finish this issue. So I’ll say again, this time with the added word “hopefully”, that this looks like being the penultimate report documenting production of the fourth issue of my artist book/comic Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics, Chapter 4: Beer, Chocolate and Comics before completing the final chapter tentatively titled 2 or 3 Tickets To Tokyo Bay?

Chapter title page, handwriting on painted paper collage-© 2015 Michael Hill

The cats go to Germany with Doctor Comics’s stash of comics related books, mementos and research materials. They meet a canine character who kindly assists them in arranging matters. Beer is drunk, comics are consumed and a plan devised.

Chapter page, collage of painted paper, woodcut print and ink drawings-© 2015 Michael Hill

One of the cats, Cohl, sorts through Doc’s research materials and reflects on some of his deeds including one that involved Belgian comics. Cohl also attempts to emulate Doc’s art practice, making sketches and playing with art materials, more drawing than printmaking. The other cat, Busch, enjoys what Germany has to offer in the way of beer, fish and fun. Both cats and their canine companion enjoy the chocolate.

Chapter page detail, inked calligraphy brush on paper-© 2015 Michael Hill

Chapter page detail, collage of photograph and found graphic packaging-© 2015 Michael Hill

More visual developments and an update on progress will be posted on this blog in around a month’s time as I bring this chapter to completion and start moving towards Japan as the setting of the next chapter. In the meantime, for a continuing visual history record and time-line overview of this project that covers all four issues, you can read the BLOTTING PAPER production reports on the following posts:

Issue #1: No.1 No.2 No.3 No.4 No.5 No.6 No.7 No.8 No.9 No.10 No.11 No.12 No.13 Issue #2: No.14 No.15 No.16 No.17 No.18 No.19 No.20 No.21 No.22 No.23 No.24 No.25 No.26 No.27 No.28 No.29 Issue #3: No.30 No.31 No.32 No.33 No.34 No.35 No.36 Issue #4: No.37 No.38 No.39 No.40 No.41 No.42 No.43 No.44

BLOTTING PAPER The Comic: Production Report No.38

Art, Blotting Paper, Cats in Comics, Comics, Germania December 2, 2014

This is the second in a series of regular reports documenting the production of the fourth issue and chapter of my artist book/comic Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics. These reports are updated approximately on a monthly basis. The new chapter Beer, Chocolate and Comics deals with the cats recovering from the demise of their patron and their travels in Germany and the world of European comics.

Double page handprinted spread from Chapter 3–© 2014 Michael Hill.

Continuing the turnaround of events and forward momentum that the above image from Chapter 3 illustrates the cats begin to get on top of things, take control of their situation and consequently develop and express their characters on their travels abroad.

Beer label collage character from Blotting Paper comic-© 2014 Michael Hill

I have been playing around with a beer label collaging idea, mostly from Belgian and German bottles, and have come up with this character so far but I expect there will be others. With the European theme and setting I am also considering including some bilingual content, preferably English and German and possibly even doing a combined issue #4-5.

Fish woodcut from way back-© 2002 Michael Hill

Fish woodcut with pyschedelic sauce from way back-© 2003 Michael Hill

The subject of fish and the technique of woodblock printmaking also return. And there is cooking too, of both fish and comics!

The Busch approach to managing a comics collection-now available as a postcard-© 2014 Michael Hill

More visual developments and an update on progress will be posted on this blog around the end of the year. For a visual diary record and time-line overview of this project that covers all four issues you can read the BLOTTING PAPER production reports on the following posts:

BLOTTING PAPER The Comic: Production Report No.28

Art, Blotting Paper, Comics October 8, 2013

This post covers the setting up of the exhibition Blotting Paper: Works On Paper 18-29 September at GAUGE Gallery, Sydney that included the 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.

View of the gallery from across the road. (Photo-© 2013 Michael Hill)

The set up begins-art waiting to be hung. (Photo-© 2013 Michael Hill)

More frames awaiting hanging. (Photo-© 2013 Michael Hill)

Roughly positioned on the gallery floor adjacent to the intended wall position. (Photo-© 2013 Michael Hill)

The smaller work-freshly framed cartoons in blister wrapped stacks. (Photo-© 2013 Michael Hill)

Cartoon frame corners. (Photo-© 2013 Michael Hill)

Cartoons unpacked, decornered and hung. (Photo-© 2013 Michael Hill)

The show takes shape. (Photo-© 2013 Michael Hill)

Looking through the GAUGE Gallery window at the Blotting Paper exhibition. (Photo-© 2013 Michael Hill)

The next post will cover the finished look of the layout and hang of the exhibition and include photos of some of the visitors to the show. For a visual diary record and time-line overview of this project, see all of the BLOTTING PAPER production reports. Issue #1: No.1 No.2 No.3 No.4 No.5 No.6 No.7 No.8 No.9 No.10 No.11 No.12 No.13 Issue #2: No.14 No.15 No.16 No.17 No.18 No.19 No.20 No.21 No.22 No.23 No.24 No.25 No.26 No.27 No.28 No.29