S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4

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Monologue

This month has been a very long and quite depressing month for us.

Perhaps you already know why so we’d just skip it for the sake of the

delayed contents. Here at Dear we work independently, and sometimes

being too independent makes us lose track of stuffs, especially when new

opportunity and projects came. That’s the stuff that happened to us. Sorry.

For the next few publications we’re going to focus on another series.

This time about production, especially print production, and to start

we’re discussing the oldest technology that were invented as a media of

communication at that time. As the publication goes on, we’re going to

discuss stuffs that are more modern and developed. But as always, and

again for the sake of enjoyment we’re still keeping things simple.

On this moment we reflect on ourselves and the past 8 months. We see

ourselves grow, and we are thankful, especially to those who dropped and

say hi, we are grateful for the appreciation. We are still learning, still trying

stuffs, but to see someone that supports us is one of a kind joy. So thank

you, for you readers, for supporters of our work, we are totally happy of our

work. and so, please enjoy our production.

Contents

The Print Age 4Early Large Scale Productions 6Demand and Supply 8Article References: 12Image References: 12

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In a world where our eyes serve as the window of our soul, we

see and discover new things in life. Visual communication today

is not the same as 1 millennia before.

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G R A P H I C P R O D U C T I O N

This discussion focuses on the

logic and progression of several

techniques, not an in depth

procedure of the technique itself.

So for those expecting a detailed

information about the production,

we encourage you to have your own

research as describing the detailed

process will take too much space.

The Print Age

Though our publication deck

sounded heavy the discussion is still

light, so hold the urge to close the

page. Design or art or simply letters

are produced everyday in a pace

we can’t possibly imagine unless

we see it for ourselves. Countless

of production, especially prints, are

made, and perhaps most of them

are ignored as people say today is

the age of digital communications.

The use of digital devices as a

means of communication and

information source starts to kill

print, slowly.

Some may argue the misuse and

excessive use of paper is the reason

that digital media are developed.

First it was a development that

acts as an alternate solution for

the global warming issue around

4-6 years ago, but as we see now

that digital media has slowly shift

and gains an important position

in our everyday life, making prints

somewhat less fancy than before.

As time progresses, human mind and technology also

develops in a never ending cycle of demand and

supply. Human thrives for more, while technology always

evolves to quench a never ending thirst of the mind. In just

one day our eyes could not escape visual communication.

May it be printed or digital. Visual communication is

everywhere. Visual communication will develop and evolve

in various form and means as long as the human race has

the infinite thirst of knowledge and the thrive for perfection.

G R A P H I C P R O D U C T I O N

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Cylinder Seal

But back before the term RGB is in

a trend, people literally work hard

for graphic production.

Take an early example of

hieroglyphs and cave markings left

by the early civilizations. The marks

were sign of communication and

records which we can understand

now, but these kind of graphic

production are somewhat one of

a kind and is basically a drawing

gesture, something fundamental

that some people still do today.

Another record of graphic

production would be stamps, which

are used as seals.

One tool that is quite unique is the

cylinder seal. Used to produce a

seal that uses less force than a flat

square stamp, the cylinder seal can

also be used to create a seamless

patterned seal. The tool is simply

a cylinder, made with metal or any

hard other objects that had the

desired graphic as a embossed

relief. The cylinder is then pressed

and rolled on a clay or any material

to stamp on. The material then

will have the desired graphic in a

debossed manner.

The logic of stamp is later on

developed in wood cutting, in which

the relief this time is applied with

ink and then used on the desired

material. In this manner the image

produced may be a soft surface,

as previously stamps are used with

force to create a deboss effect, ink

stamps may be used to produce

image without harming the material.

Ukiyoe, or woodblock printing is a

popular art in Japan, as woodblock

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G R A P H I C P R O D U C T I O N

G R A P H I C P R O D U C T I O N

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Great Wave off Kanagawa by a famous

Woodcut print artist, Hokusai.

Opposite Page: Wood Etching

printing needs a artist craftsmanship

to etch or cut the wood. The artist

then apply colored ink on the wood

to create a colorful image. Each

colored are normally applied on one

wood, so to produce a 4 colored

image, normally it would need 4

woods, with one color on each

wood. This craft needs precision to

perform well.

Though normally one color per

wood is used, some artist manage

to create several techniques

and also tricks to overcome the

limitation. One coloring technique

that is often used are gradients, as

it can create depth on the image

and also save cost and space in the

production. Another technique is

by dividing the colors on separate

distant area so that it is possible

to use two colored inks on one

application. The logic behind

woodblock is quite similar with the

basic logic of screen printing. The

context of wood block usage are

often images, as it is quite hard to

etch a letter on wood, especially if

the letter is used as a passage. This

shows the limitations of woodblock

printing, as the ones that can craft

well are usually talented or skilled

person, this makes the production

of woodblock limited and time

consuming. Another limitations

where the size. In which to create

the print a wood is needed, so to

produce a huge image it would

require a huge wood as the base

for cutting. Even if the wood

is not gigantic, it is still hard to

bring 4 woods from one place to

another place to create a 4 colored

image. The media of wood is not

flexible at that time and has many

limitations although the results were

captivating.

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G R A P H I C P R O D U C T I O N

Early Large Scale Productions

Around 900 AD, the demand for

books has started to grow. At that

time to produce books, scribes or

scholars are employed to write a

book, making a book production

very time consuming and also

energy consuming. Production

using woodblock print is also out of

the question since creating a master

for printing, especially text are very

delicate, and time consuming. It

was time for a new technique or

production to emerge.

Recored first at China, made by

Bi Sheng, he used a sticky clay in

small pieces and then cut them

as alphabet characters, Chinese

characters to be exact, which were

as thin as coins, and then heated so

that the clay becomes hard. These

characters where then arranged on

a mixture of pine, resin, wax and

paper ash. The characters were

arranged with a help of an iron

frame to help the adjustments,

and to hold them. After adjusted

the characters were pressed with a

wooden board to help it become

flat.

Later on the flattened characters

were used with a stamp like

mechanism to create prints,

especially text prints. This method

answers the first demands of book

printing, though it still has flaws it

started a path of moveable type in

China. One refinement made after

Bi Sheng’s invention was by Wong

Zhen that made the characters

by wood to create a sturdier and

stronger character that won’t break

easily. Another refinement was by

Hua Sui that made the characters by

bronze, providing an even sturdier

character then Wong Zhen’s.

Early tools for printing in China after various developments.

G R A P H I C P R O D U C T I O N

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Although the term moveable type

wasn’t use to describe Bi Sheng’s

invention, the definition of the

term moveable type fits on how

the method of Bi Sheng works.

Moveable type was described as

a printing technique that uses the

arrangements or adjustments of

the smallest type of the print to

compose a document, which is

type.

The term moveable type is used

to describe the invention of

Gutenberg. Johannes Gutenberg,

or Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden

zum Gutenberg, was a goldsmith,

blacksmith, printer and also

publisher. A pioneer of moveable

type printing.

Gutenberg was credited for the

innovation of moveable type in

Europe, also the invention of

matrix and also hand held mold for

supporting the printing process,

though some argue that Gutenberg

does really uses them.

Other than tools and also methods,

From top to bottom: Gutenberg, Matrix, and hand mould.

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G R A P H I C P R O D U C T I O N

Another printing technique that

we would like to point out is the

Lithography, which means to write

on stone. Lithography uses the

principle that oil and water does

not mix. The technique was first

used by Alois Senefelder, a German

actor and playwright. Alois first used

lithography to produce play scripts.

The technique goes as the mirrored

image is sculpted on the base,

which is limestone at that time.

The image to be produced or the

positive image is made higher than

the negative image. The positive

image is then applied with a water

repelling substance while the

negative image retains water. The

limestone is than given ink, and the

positive image automatically repels

the water and captures all the ink

which is later pressed on paper to

create a print.

Creating lithography with limestone

also enables to artist to create

texture and also renders an image

more easily than woodblock.

Although the use of limestone

Gutenberg is also credited as the

first that uses oil based inks for

printing.

One of Gutenberg’s most famous

work is the Gutenberg Bible, which

also helped the Bible to spread

faster than before. With printing

the Bible has also become easier

to read. Gutenberg also still

incorporates

scripts,

ornaments in

his Bible so that

the Bible still

has an aesthetic

beauty, though

not all Bibles

has the artistic

decoration.

The Gutenberg

Bible also forms

a standard

for the later

Bibles that were

produced, such

as 36- Line Bible, Mentelin’s Latin

Bible and Eggestein Bibles in which

they follow Gutenberg’s format.

Gutenberg’s Bible details.

G R A P H I C P R O D U C T I O N

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in printing is not really used in

printing anymore, the principles of

lithography itself is than used on

various printing and also developed

for other printing techniques.

Demand and Supply

As time progresses, people will

need more things and surely

new methods and techniques of

production will be available. As

artists or designers we may not

need to be fully master production

techniques, but it is important to

understand and to appreciate the

production aspect of design and

art. We can learn and enjoy various

medias, especially print medias

because people of the past develop

and refine various methods to

remove boundaries on production.

When we understand the hardships

behind the production process,

perhaps we can learn more and do

more by emphasizing the unique

points of the production. If we

are blind of all the techniques,

A lime stone for lithography

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G R A P H I C P R O D U C T I O N

It enables us to work faster, but

when we are blind, than technology

wouldn’t be a supportive aspect in

our work flow, perhaps it may even

make things complicated if we knew

nothing at all. Keep learning folks,

don’t stop after you finish creating

your design. Learn to maximize your

design with various productions

available at your disposal, exploit

the techniques, as a designer or

artist, it never hurts to have more

arsenal for creating your work isn’t

it? Push yourselves, learn more, try

more stuffs.

Article References:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodblock_printinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder_sealhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movable_typehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi_Shenghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(printing)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_mouldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Koenighttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithography

Image References:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Johannes_Gutenberg.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Gutenberg_Bible_4.jpghttp://sites.lib.byu.edu/sc/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2011/05/IMG_06951.jpghttp://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/a-primer-on-communication-studies/section_15/dde15d9dccb73a8f916c0e3409a1761f.jpghttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G4XBuPv9lSc/TwbGVzMxdkI/AAAAAAAAA_g/fK4Hfc0sDBg/s1600/5%2B%2BArsenal%2B-%2Bcap%2BA2%2B-%2B1%2Baa.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/BulletMolds.pnghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Lithography_stone_Princeton_motif.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Preparing_a_Woodcut_Design.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa2.jpghttp://www.itemview.com/item_pages/images/full_size/36103.jpghttp://www.absolutechinatours.com/UploadFiles/ImageBase/Bisheng-printing-chinese-inventions-5.jpg

than other people that are open

and learn more surely will be able

to produce more. Mix media in

production is also possible when we

understand various techniques. The

possibility is limitless if we truly want

to push ourselves into creating more

with different, various and multiple

techniques. We believe great works

are produced with careful though

throughout all aspects, not just in

computer using a software only.

In the end technology is meant

to help us to be more productive.

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Next Discussion:

And we keep on going. After discussing a little about early graphic

production, we’re gonna talk about the next technologies, which we can’t

really talk much yet since there are still final things to be decided. The

content is on it’s way, so perhaps the next one will be far faster from this

one. Really.