Digital Prints

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Mastering Digital Printing
Lithography
Invented in 1798, lithography is a “planographic” process that was championed by artists
such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Goya, Picasso, Degas, Braque, and Miro. To make a
lithograph, the artist uses a greasy medium such as crayon or tusche to create an image on
a stone or metal plate. The surface is then dampened with water, which is repelled by the
greasy areas, sticking only to the sections of the plate that have not been marked by the
artist. Printer’s ink is then applied to the plate with a roller. This, in turn, sticks only to
the greasy sections, as the water protects the rest of the plate. The stone or plate is then
covered with paper and run through a printing press to create the print.
Screenprints (Serigraphy)
This technique was popularized by artists like Andy Warhol who exploited its bold, commercial
look. To make a screenprint, an image that has been cut out of a material (paper,
fabric, or film) is attached to a piece of tautly stretched mesh. Paint is then forced through
the mesh—the “screen”—onto the sheet of paper below by means of a squeegee. The uncovered
areas of the screen allow the paint to pass through, while the areas covered by the image
shapes do not. For works with more than one color, a separate screen is required for each
color. Screenprints, silkscreen, and serigraphy are different words for the same process.
Monotypes/Monoprints
As their names imply, monotypes or monoprints (the words are often confused and sometimes
used interchangeably) are prints that have an edition of a single impression. The
artist creates an image on a smooth, flat surface, which is then covered with dampened
paper and run through a printing press or rubbed with the back of a spoon or with another
tool, or even the artist’s hand. Only one unique print results.
Digital Prints
Announcing a new, major, high-quality printing category—digital prints! Claiming that
this is an official classification in a rapidly evolving field is a risky, even foolish, endeavor,
but you have to start somewhere, and this is a place to draw a line in the sand. At the very
least, we can consider digital printing to be a new tool for photographers and artists who
want to expand their artistic options.
While there is no end to the inventiveness of rival terminology—”giclées,” “IRIS prints,”
“inkjets,” “virtual paintings,” “digigraphs,” “limited editions on canvas,” “digital pigment
prints,” “pigmented inks on archival paper,” (do I need to go on?), let’s keep it to one overall
term for the moment—digital prints, which I define as prints resulting from a digital
master or matrix. Whether they are “originals” or “reproductions” is another issue, which
I discuss below.
Of course, artists being artists, all these nice and neat categories are frequently violated.
For example, wedding and portrait photographers are famous for coating and embellishing
their prints. Kolibri Art Studio, a leading serigraph atelier in Torrance, California,
offers both serigraphic and digital printing to artists who will sometimes start with a digital
reproduction and add serigraphic embossing, texturizing, or gold-leafing on top. New
York City’s Pamplemousse Press creates digital editions that combine IRIS printing with