GRAPHICS

Programme

The broader graphics programme introduces printmaking and manual graphic processes as ways of thinking through line, mass, contrast and texture. Techniques such as etching, linocut and lithography establish the wider field, while the current detailed practical block focuses on relief printmaking and linocut. Students begin with materials, tools and safety so that the physical logic of carving and printing is understood from the start.

The practical sequence then moves through a series of focused assignments: an ex libris, graphic still life, silhouette and landscape, followed by a multi-colour print. Each task isolates a specific problem, including negative space, mirror transfer, mark-making without halftones, strong black-and-white contrast, large masses, spatial depth and the rhythm of marks. Multi-colour work adds registration and the preparation of more than one printing block.

The course finishes with an independent project that brings these skills together through the full production cycle. Students move from concept and image construction to carving, registration and final printing, learning how the demands of the process influence the design of the image itself. The final project is meant to strengthen both practical control of relief printmaking and a graphic way of thinking that can be applied beyond a single technique.

What You Will Learn

• use line, mass and texture as primary expressive tools
• understand negative space and inverse thinking
• work with strong black-and-white contrast
• describe volume and texture through the rhythm and weight of marks
• build silhouette, depth and spatial hierarchy
• prepare multi-colour prints
• complete an independent printmaking project

How You Learn

Each assignment isolates a particular graphic problem before combining several of them in the final project. Students learn not only how to carve and print, but how the requirements of the process change the way an image is conceived — from reversal and negative space to the discipline of working with limited tones and separate colour layers.

Outcome

Stronger graphic thinking and practical experience of relief printmaking, including the ability to move from an initial concept through carving, registration and printing to an independently produced final work.