Digitally Screened Prints

I've used a number of terms over the last few years to try and describe my digital painting technique. Graphic Interpretations, Algorithmically Synthesized Micro-Paintings, Grain Paintings, but I think Digitally Screened Print Master is the most descriptive of my intention. I began this journey with the paint program searching for a way to add greater texture and depth to my images, both digital photographs and virtual photographs. The raw photos and renders looked too "flat", too orderly, I guess too digital!

My first experiments with the paint program I lost more of the detail than I wanted and ended up too much like a simulated painting. I wanted to retain the crispness of my images but infuse them with a bit more of an analog feel. Growing up wanting to be a painter, I always admired Andrew Wyeth's work, especially the crisp almost photographic look of his dry brush works. So in part, the process allows me to express a bit of the painter in me.

The "PRINT" IS THE THING! and I guess I wanted some control over how the ink is applied to the paper. Not in the mechanical sense but in the dot distribution or screening of the image. This allows me to put emphasis on the details I choose in addition to the usual photographic controls. Utilizing the synthesizer I create around 5 or 6 layers or "screens" of the image. The first layer puts down the color dots and fills the page with color. I can vary the size of the dots and the softness with which they blend. The next several layers are created with tiny brush strokes that highlight certain areas. One adds detail to shadows another adds strokes around edges and mid tones to increase detail in those areas. The white areas of the canvas in these screens becomes transparent as they are overlaid on top of the color layer adding increasing amounts of dot detail to the whole image. The overall effect is sort of like film grain in that it seems to increase apparent sharpness of the print. The process gives me infinitely fine control over every area of the final print.

After trying thousands of paint patches I finally created a small palette that generates a series of screens that compliment one another and add just a touch of a graphic quality to my images or more if I wish. More than that I feel a distant connection to my first paint program MacPaint in that it taught me how far a few dots can go.

The image above shows a small 300 x 300 area of an image and how the various screened layers look before combining them together in Photoshop. All my new images are being re-rendered to a long side pixel resolution of 10,000 pixels. This results in files that are nearly 200 Megapixels and chock full of tonal detail as a result of the hi res screening technique. These images are designed to be printed large 4-6 feet or more on canvas or watercolor paper preferably. I will be offering a personally printed edition of 10 of all my images at 18" x 12" (or near equivalent) on 17" x 22" Watercolor paper. Prints are pulled from original Photoshop layered file (without jpeg compression in AdobeRGB space), individually signed and numbered by the artist and a certificate of authenticity is included. Prints start at $250, contact me for more info.