The clearest night is the coldest. ([info]octantis) wrote,
2006-04-06 23:51:00
  • Mood: tired

Mantis Print

I've seen some of the amazing stuff people have done in their printmaking classes, people like [info]pacrat and [info]eselgeist, and my art advisor suggested I might like printmaking, so this quarter I'm doing just that. Today was the second day of class, and here's my first print. Pretty basic, but it's a start.



Greenish

If I remember right, the instructor called this a monoprint. We rolled a color of ink onto a metal sheet with a brayer, then... did stuff to it. In my case, I used a brush to wipe away ink to make the mantis and its branch, then I made the foliage by poking ginkgo leaves I found out on the campus. Then you soak a sheet of paper, lay the plate in the press, lay the paper on top, lay on a sheet of newsprint and felt blankets, and run the thing through the press. The results are sloppy, and I didn't get the plate seated right so the bottom has some fubaration, but it was fun to do, and the results gave me a little charge.

I didn't have reference at the time, so the mantis itself is a bit inaccurate. I forgot its little fingerthings, its butt is huge, and its legs might be on weird. Recognizeable will do for me, though.

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  • 15 comments

[info]dingybatty

April 7 2006, 07:15:49 UTC 6 years ago

That's actually very pretty. I love the color. And I read "its legs might be on weird" as "its legs might be on weed." XO

[info]octantis

April 7 2006, 07:39:57 UTC 6 years ago

Thanks! They might well be on weed. XP The legs are supposed to attach in the front more or less together, but I fooled myself with perspective, so the legs in the background look like they're stuck on some random spot on the far side of the abdomen. @_@

[info]dingybatty

April 7 2006, 15:50:54 UTC 6 years ago

Ohh! Well see, I don't know insects very well. So I would never have known! ;D

[info]turbinerocks

April 7 2006, 07:42:09 UTC 6 years ago

Damn, dude. o_o

[info]amarafox

April 7 2006, 11:42:41 UTC 6 years ago

That's awesome :D

And things don't haveto be perfectly accurate, it screams 'mantis!' to me :)

[info]tuftears

April 7 2006, 21:03:10 UTC 6 years ago

Yeah, very nice work! Even the bottom bit of smearing can be explained as 'hillside'.

[info]rowyn

April 7 2006, 23:51:24 UTC 6 years ago

The whole looks startlingly lifelike, as if you'd taken a photograph and run it through a bunch of filters that turned it monochromatic and fuzzed out the details -- rather than something you drew freehand. When you pointed out the details that you got wrong, I can see it -- especially in the misattached legs. But when I first saw it, the only thing that looked "off" was the positioning of the head. The pose and tilt to the head has a mammallian rather than insectoid look to it, to my uneducated eye. =)

Still -- nice work! Especially for your first try in a new medium. =)

[info]octantis

April 8 2006, 07:55:21 UTC 6 years ago

Thanks! I'm glad you find it lifelike, if you do then it gets the essence of mantis across. :)

The head might seem a bit odd, but mantids are kind of oddballs among insects when it comes to the structure of their heads. To my knowledge, the praying mantis has the greatest range of neck movement of all insects. I believe it's the only insect that can swivel its head 180 degrees. Not only does it make it harder to get the drop on it, but it allows the mantis to judge distance better with its stereoscopic vision, making its lunges deadly accurate.

[info]rowyn

April 8 2006, 12:41:46 UTC 6 years ago

Ah, yes, I see where they do that "look sideways right at you" thing that insects usually don't. Ooo, creepy. :)

[info]gwynbones

April 8 2006, 10:33:55 UTC 6 years ago

That's so cool! I love the feel to it, it reminds me of some Chinese ink prints, very simple and elegant.

[info]twilightspeaks

April 8 2006, 11:19:11 UTC 6 years ago

I. Love. This.

[info]chefmongoose

April 8 2006, 16:17:39 UTC 6 years ago

"Bow before Zorak!"

What exactly is a 'brayer'? I think the printmaking turned out very well, m'friend. It's a nice print indeed, well-composed, and the color works very nicely. Good art.

--Chiaroscuro

[info]octantis

April 8 2006, 20:32:01 UTC 6 years ago

"I want some gum." "Zorak, do you even know what gum is?" "No. But I want some."

It's a little roller with a handle that you use to spread the ink on the plate. I think the roller is made of rubber so there's some give, and it applies the ink evenly.

Anonymous

May 9 2006, 01:05:57 UTC 6 years ago

Really like this print. I'm featuring it at www.ginkgodreams.com on May 23.

Kelly

[info]malreux

May 13 2006, 03:25:45 UTC 6 years ago

Yes, really nice shawn
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