Hello,

I've recently updated the designs for my Taketori series ( http://esorigami.net/mokuhanga/works/taketori/ ) and one problem (truly speaking they are two) arised while finishing the one I think might be the best: design number 6.

The print #6 — "dragon's neck", basically, it will be as follow:
1) Keyblock (the lines in vector except the dragon)
2) Sky (two bokashi: top-half deep blue/black, half-bottom blue as the sea line between sea and sky)
3) Whole ship (gray base)
4) Thunder & ship wood
5) Seal frame
6) Seal "text zone"

And here comes my "problem". I want to show the dragon as hidden but visible. I mean, I don't want it to be seen as part of keylines.

I've thought of some things but I don't know if they will be good so people can actually see or (better) intuit the dragon's there. All options have both horns and claws in "white" (unprinted) to focus the eye in that part.

Option A:
- Dragon embossing (lines would be "flat" and the body embossed)

Option B:
- Dragon embossing (lines would be embossed)

Option C:
- Dragon "keyblock" (in grey)
- Dragon belly polished (but beeing a blue bokashi I don't know if the effect might be visible at all)

Or anything else I haven't thought about yet.

Note: The ship is OK, I mean, I know it's not "properly" draw meaning I broke the visual space to achieve an optical effect of beeing in movement. It's more visible when you see it actually drawn.

Off-topic: I'm going in a trip tomorrow and I'll come back on Sunday, so I won't be able to answer inbetween.

Again, thank you very much for everything.

Sincerely,
Franz

Well, you're kind of asking an 'art' question rather than a 'technique' question perhaps - but I suspect that it would be more effective if the entire column of wind contained the dragon., At present, it is simply too small and insignificant to have much impact.

If the entire column - swirling wind + debris + water etc. etc. - had some visual clues (a claw here and there; a massive eye peering out at one place) the dragon could very effectively be hidden ...

The column could be done with a combination of embossing and lightly printed streaks of greys and blues ... Could be very effective, I think.

Also Franz, if I could offer a word of general advice, it would be better for you at this point not to try and plan this series too far ahead. Get the first print under your belt before moving too far forward. You are going to learn so much in the actual doing, that you will end up changing your approach as you go along, and as your abilities and experience begin to add up.

Yes, I think it's something inbetween.

The idea of the embossed column with printed streaks and some parts of the dragon is quite nice. Thank you very much for your opinion. Probably, I'll go that way.


Thanks for the advice. I know I will probably change things as I move along learning the technique but 'cause the woodblock didn't arrive and I couldn't start to size the paper, the only thing left to keep the project moving and not getting stuck was finishing some of the other designs.

May they not be carved finally, at least they helped to improve the design pipeline (sketch, vector, hand drawing with brush, digital composition).

Off-topic: I arrived early today and the blocks before yesterday so I will start carving this evening. I was starting to fear the knives would rust before they arrive.