Valentines Card

I made a Valentine's Day card with my Print Gocco. I thought it might be interesting to show the process of how I create this type of work. The first thing I do is come up with a sketch. Since the Gocco is a screen-printing process, I know I'll be limited in my color. Because of this, it's really important to decide how and where I'll be using color before I start drawing. Doing this lets me easily figure out where to put solid blocks of color, how much detail I'll need in particular areas, etc. Depending on the materials at hand, I might do the color study with markers or quickly in Photoshop.

The next thing I do is enlarge my sketch on a photocopier and then trace over it with a lighttable. This will be a simple black and white drawing. Sometimes I might draw certain elements on different pieces of paper and scan them in separately if it's easier to do that than separate in Photoshop.

The next step can be pretty complicated because I have to finish my artwork digitally (such as reversing the bricks) and separate the linework into two color plates. I use a lot of layers and channels to do this. Here are my final plates, which I print on a carbon-based printer and then burn my screens with.

Then I burn my screens and print. The final result looks like this! If you like it, go to my etsy shop and get some to give to your special friends. (The image at the top of the post is a Photoshop rendition that digitally applies the qualities of a print).