Printmaking is one of the oldest techniques used to reproduce images and has a history that goes back centuries before the current digital age. While originally used to reproduce religious texts and manuscripts, printmaking developed through time to serve an extended purpose in relation to social and technological change. Today‘s designers often integrate both conventional and digital techniques, using digital printing systems and photographic equipment. Design students in a world of digitalization are also required to be able to integrate forms and information in order to create an impressive visual communication, using a variety of print media. Printmaking enables them to learn structured practical work that enhances their imagination as it provides them with the opportunity to gain valuable experience that encourages critical thinking and innovative creative processes. During my semester at NSCAD, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend the Introduction to Intalgio Printmaking course outside the Interdisciplinary Design Program.
As a communication designer, I rely heavily on computers as part of my creative repertoire. Initially, working with Intalgio seemed quite alien to me, alien in terms of being much more hands-on. However, I quickly learned to incorporate my strengths as a communication design student into the conception and composition of the works. My first project, in which we were asked to create a hard ground plate to etch and reworking it afterwards to create a different atmosphere in the work, dealt with our connection to earth by combining the Four Elements with mankind. For my second project, in which we worked with soft ground to transfer textures and drawings, I told the story of Fahrenheit 451, the book I had read a short time before and which inspired me strongly. There I was working with the texture of matches and burnt books to create a narrative. Unfortunately, I was not able to complete my third project due to Covid-19, in which we would have incooperated Aquatint and Chine-Colle, we had previously learnt in class, into our work. The practical elements allowed me to practice a more integrated approach to the design and learning process, with the lecturer making historical references and explaining terms that come from traditional practice. It enabled me to experience an indirect method of working, since I had to modify my actions based on previous outcomes, as I had to predict how changes in the plate will change the final print.
