My need for analog
Quitting Twitter gave me space to work on projects that are important for me. Today I want to show you them.
Hello my friends,
Another week, another post. But today I won’t share with you insights on my social medias life but will share with the results of it. What happened since I did quit Twitter?
I am a maker. I love to make. I love to spend time out of the screen. That is why I share an atelier with my friends Oncle John and Traz.
This is a place where I don’t work on the computer, except for printing. And as I found some more time lately, I do spend more time there. We did acquire a second Riso machine, we installed a screen printing table and the place is perfect for crafting and making.
So I make. Today I want to share my current projects with you, all analog. I love so much doing handcraft stuff, having hands full of paint/ink, touching and smelling the paper, seeing the end result and being in a state of happiness.
Here are the different projects I worked on the last 2/3 weeks I think.
1. Stencils and Ink.
I shared already a few pictures of these projects but they really were the switch back to analog for me. I did take Tom Haugomat’s course on Domestika where he shares his techniques using stencils and stamps ink to create illustrations.
I decided to try to apply this technique to my work and did this experiment few months ago (click on the image to see the video):
I was so happy with it. The way the layers overlap is just everything I like. I started to have ideas on how to use it in other projects. I took my iPad and decided to see how I could reuse some of my old works and modify them so I can apply this technique on them.
Here are 2 examples I worked on:
Then, I was invited to participate to an exhibition in Brittany. I talked already about it last week so I used the same style. On the back is “Ile de France”, the Paris region. I did print it on my printer as I did not have time to screen print it. And on the top, I did a stencil of the word BREATHE. I used stamps ink to create the lettering. I was fascinated by that texture it brings to the word.
Then, I discovered many passe-partout while cleaning my office.
I instantly got ideas on how to use them with stencils. I could make small illustrations/lettering works in that style. Let’s see with a mix of what I have on the iPad how it could work…
And ohhhh I like it so much! I mean this is exactly me: kind of mid-century type and illustration, everything overlaps and hand made. So here is my first next project: using these passe-partout with a series of lettering/illustrations using stencils and ink.
2. Screenprints
I have planned a collaboration with my friend Yannick for a long time now. He would do a photo and I would screen print a lettering on it and see what happens. But first I screwed the insolation process when I made the screen and then I did not find the time to do another one. But this week I finally took that time to create the stencil of the lettering. I did not insolate it actually but used the paper technique from Bobbinhood. I used a plotter and did cut the lettering on a waterproof piece of paper. Then I taped it on a screen.
This technique is great but limited. As you can see, I have to add manually the counter forms for the Bs. But still, I like it very much because it is way more easy to do than a regular screenprint.
I plan to print this dude this weekend. I have to print some photos first as I will print on them. I will show you when it is ready :)
A sketch a day keeps depression away
Another screen print I work on these days is that old lettering piece I did some time ago:
This one is really important because it means a lot tome. And I think it could mean a lot to other people too. So when you feel sad or depressed and you have that print hung on a wall, you can remember that drawing a sketch can help your mental health. And as I always says, walking does the same job :)
This morning I did insolate the screen and will probably print during weekend or beginning of next week :) See the process below:
3. Riso Riso!!
I don’t have a defined project for that technique but last week I did a long trip in another region of France to get another Riso machine.
It is partly broken but the drum still works and we could use it on our other machine. Risography is a bit DIY as the machines we have are pretty old and a bit capricious. So you have to work on them some times and use the screwdriver pretty often. But old machines are cheap and the result with that technique is fantastic. So I spent some time this week changing ink from black to fluo orange on our first machine and tried to understand the problem on the second one haha :D
But here are the first tests on fluo orange. There is still some black ink on it but it should go away after some more prints.
Risography is also a great stencil technique and the colours give great overlapping too. Right now we just have orange and black inks. But if we can make the other drums working, we will probably buy some gold and get a kind of green turquoise called “Teal”. Riso is great for illustration and zine printing. So we might do a zine maybe soon??
I think that is all I am working on right now. I mean analogically talking. On the fonts side, I sent to paid subscribers the beta version of my new font on Tuesday so they can test it :) If this is something you could be interested in, you can subscribe and get many benefits. This is just $5 a month and you can stop it any time you want :) There is also a 14-days free trial period, so why not try?
I hope you enjoy reading and watching all these projects I work on. It also means new prints soon on my shop. I may also plan to create an Etsy shop for them soon but not sure yet. But again, see what you can do when you spend less time procrastinating on social medias. I am really happy to get my life and creativity back.
If you like that post or the newsletter, please share it with your friends. This is the base of my communication now so if you think someone you know could like it, please share! Thank you!
Enjoy the end of the week, leave your phone at home and go out for a walk and enjoy your environment. And if you are into photography, why not take your camera with you? :)
Take care and see you next week,
Francis