Print Brigade

Two cool dudes, one sweet love. Her name: Print Brigade. Hand drawn typography is a beautiful thing and Chris Piascik and Vaughn Fender celebrate it in their joint company Print Brigade. PRBR makes tees, totes, and prints for women and men.

I went to art school with these two. Their screen printed and lino cut posters could be found in the class and on dorm room walls. So it’s nice to see that what they loved back then, they are still making now.

The point: all you need is one art friend, encourage each other to create, stick with it, and allow yourself to be wooed by typography from time to time!

Pikaland Contributor: Racheal Anilyse

I’m so happy to introduce one of our first contributors to Pikaland: Racheal Anilyse! Racheal has been running Underground Art School, a magazine devoted to advocating the work of art students, graduates, and creative professionals new to their field since 2008 and has her own Etsy shop where she sells prints (and soon to come, more lovely original works!) She will be blogging mainly about hand-drawn typography and ink/tea-stained art.

I’m really excited about this, as Racheal herself runs her own wonderful blog and there’s always something wonderful brewing up over there!

Watch out for her first post coming up after this. Welcome dear Racheal!

Lori Dean Dyment: Monotype/Studio Sale

I am intrigued by monotype printing, and this explanation courtesy of Wikipedia is of great help for those who might not know that much about the process of producing a piece of monotype:

Monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface. The surface, or matrix, was historically a copper etching plate, but in contemporary work it can vary from zinc or glass to acrylic glass. The image is then transferred onto a sheet of paper by pressing the two together, usually using a printing-press. Monotypes can also be created by inking an entire surface and then, using brushes or rags, removing ink to create a subtractive image, e.g. creating lights from a field of opaque color. The inks used may be oil based or water based. With oil based inks, the paper may be dry, in which case the image has more contrast, or the paper may be damp, in which case the image has a 10 percent greater range of tones.

Unlike monoprinting, monotyping produces a unique print, or monotype, because most of the ink is removed during the initial pressing. Although subsequent reprintings are sometimes possible, they differ greatly from the first print and are generally considered inferior. A second print from the original plate is called a “ghost print” or “cognate”. Stencils, watercolor, solvents, brushes, and other tools are often used to embellish a monotype print. Monotypes are often spontaneously executed and with no previous sketch.

I just discovered that Lori Dean Dyment is one of many who practices this method of printmaking. And good news to those who love this form of printmaking: she’s having a big studio sale for August where large pieces are available at 50% off.