Blotted Line Monoprinting with Acrylic Ink & Watercolours

In this class you will be learning the art of blotted line monoprinting which was frequently used by Andy Warhol for his commercial work in the 1950s. 

Monoprinting is a form of printmaking that has lines or images that can only be made once, unlike most printmaking, where there are multiple originals.

The blotted line technique combines drawing or tracing and printing and is suitable for beginners and experienced artists alike. What I really love about the blotted line technique is the fact that it allows people who think they can't draw or are very new to drawing to create a beautiful ink drawing. 

And although this technique involves the tracing of a source image, due to the student's very individual way of holding the pen and tracing the image, the finished print will be unique to them. You will be able to distinguish the different styles of different students.

For the more experienced or professional artist the blotted line technique can be used in a more advanced way, help with creative blocks and be combined with other techniques.

You will be learning what tools and materials you'll need for this class and get to find out about the special Bamboo pens I'm using when doing blotted line monoprints. I will show you how to go about choosing a suitable source image, how to set up your printing station and you can follow me doing two different monoprints.

I'll be starting with a simpler source image - flowers in a vase and  showing  you the process of monoprinting from start to finish.

Don't worry if you are new to using water colours, I've tried my best to simplify the method to make it achievable for everybody. I find that water colour pencils are a really good way of getting into using water colours. So, in the first video, I'm showing you how I use water colour pencils to colour in the monoprint.

In the second video, I'm using a simple set of kid's water colours, just to be able to show you what can be achieved with affordable products. Obviously, if you have a really nice set of high end water colours, I encourage you to use those.

The second monoprint will be a monoprint portrait of a girl and source images like this require a little be more skill or practice, but please don't be put off, I find that after a bit of practice most of my students get really fantastic results mastering more complex monoprints.

Again, I'll be using water colour pencils and water colours to colour this second monoprint.

I'm looking forward to seeing you in my class!

PS You'll find a list of the tools and materials as a PDF file as part of the class project info.