Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Junior Cert Option - A Guideline


Junior Cert Art Project – Option

For the option you can choose between creating a lino print or a fabric print. However, if any of you have a hidden talent for embroidery or any of the other options on your exam paper, you can discuss this with me and we can come to some arrangement.


Lino Print
Lino printing is the process whereby you carve shapes out of a piece of lino to reveal a design in relief. (like a stamp) When you print off the lino block any areas you have carved out will remain the white of the page, and any areas left in relief will print the colour of the ink you have rolled on the lino.


Where do you begin?

In order to create a successful lino print you need to create a design that is appropriate for lino. Choosing the right image can play an important part in this process. It works better if you work from a photographic source rather than one of your own observational drawings.


Choosing the right image

Images that work best for lino are ones that have high contrast between dark and light. Make sure your image and design are A4 in size.

Manipulating an image

When creating a black and white lino print design you need to ignore all of the grey tones in your image. By using a programme to higher the contrast between black and white, it deciphers for you whether a certain grey is closer to black or white in tone. As a result you end up with a black and white image that is perfect for lino. You can use various programmes to manipulate the contrast of your image e.g. Paint or Photoshop



         Original Image          Manipulated Image


Tracing the image

Your first design drawing should be in black and white. Use a black pen and marker to trace image. Remember that your lino design should not have any tonal work. By using a marker you will ensure that your design is purely black and white.



                Original Image          Lino Print

Support Studies

-       Image that you have chosen to use for design
-       Lino prints found online of a similar subject matter to yours. (Take note of the name of the artist)

Preparatory Work

-       Tonal study drawing
-       Design drawing using black marker
-       Cut out with black and white card
-       Close up drawings of parts of image using a variety of media

* See Preparatory sheet for fabric print on final page




Fabric Printing (Process you used for shoe print last year)

Where do you begin?

You can work from a photographic source or draw from observation for this option

-       Start with a colouring pencil tonal drawing

-       Then create a design using paint, or marker separating the drawing into blocks of colour

-       Make sure your design is blown up to about A3 in size

-       Carefully trace off each colour on separate pages to create stencils


   Original Image  3 Colour Design     White Stencil   Blue Stencil   Red Stencil


Choosing the right image

The image of the ‘Statue of Liberty’ on the following page is an excellent choice for the fabric print. The statue is in full sunlight, which shows the form of the object very well. We can clearly make out very defined shapes of colour which makes life much easier when designing stencils. In the final fabric print, we can see that three tones of green were used on the figure and two tones of grey on the plinth. Choosing an image that has several tones of the same colour works really well in fabric printing as it gives a three-dimensional effect.
                Fabric Print          Original Image

Support Studies

-       Image that you have chosen to use for design
-       Stencil prints found online of a similar subject matter to yours (Take note of the name of the artist)

Preparatory Work

-       Tonal study drawing in colour
-       Design drawing using markers or paint
-       Cut out with coloured card
-       Close up drawings of parts of image using a variety of media


* See below for an example of a preparatory sheet for a fabric print

 Example of a preparatory sheet for a fabric print