[River in Autumn - 9] First few proofs ...

Posted by Dave Bull at 4:47 PM, September 13, 2008

Continued from [River in Autumn - 8] | Starting point of the thread is [River in Autumn - 1]

So, with a few days of proofing under my belt, perhaps it's time to show some of the results. Although I've been pretty open with the process of making the prints in this series, I haven't shown many of the proof printing steps. The reason is simple - most of them just don't look any good. This print is really quite complicated, and there is no way that I can prepare a sheet of paper, sit down with the block set, print each of the steps in turn, and then show you a 'beautiful print' right off the bat. Even though I know where I want to go, there is simply no way that I can put my feet in all the correct footsteps between 'here' and 'there'. At least not first time up. For a relatively simple print, I can usually get pretty close on the first time, but not with something like this.

So what I usually do - and what I did this time - is not attempt a 'real' print at first. I do a run-through of the block set, using colours/tones that should be related to what I expect to use, and generally keep things on the light side, to keep everything clear and visible. This gives me a 'feel' for the blocks, and I start to uncover such things as which block should be printed before others, etc. etc. things that are not clear until you actually try them.

But of course, the result doesn't look good; it's a kind of parody of what the print will (hopefully) come to look like later. Once this first sheet is done, I take it upstairs, pin it up on my cork board, and get busy with other work, of course taking a look at the proof now and then, to let it seep in ...

I then make myself a 'change order' list, starting to make notes about what needs to be altered to bring this sample closer to the final version, then get downstairs and have another go at it.

Each proof stage uses two sheets. With a print like this - around thirty steps - it's just too easy to screw everything up with a dab of 'too much pigment' on one block or something like that, so having a 'backup' copy right there at hand saves a great deal of time. One of the two sheets ends up being a 'quick test' sheet, and the other one the actual 'proof'.

Anyway, here we go. Here is a scan of the first rough version (images are all clickable for enlargements):


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