More years ago than I care to remember, I did a degree in Fine Art Printmaking at Newcastle University. Due to lack of access to facilities and life in general I thought I’d left it behind for good. But we’ve recently added a very crude print studio to the corner of our digital workspace. And I’m loving every minute – despite the mess!
Part of the inspiration for this rather un-techie addition to our Wacom Tablet, iMac, iPad and other digital interfaces is the rise and rise (or fall and fall?) of Generative AI. But we’re also finding it very rewarding reconnecting with our past creative practice. We feel, more than ever, that these heritage skills are in danger of being lost. I’d forgotten a lot… but it’s coming flooding back to me.
Our aim is to use printmaking as a way of creating bold and energetic illustrative elements for clients where that’s appropriate – and don’t get me wrong, the woodcut look isn’t for every brand. But we want to feed this hand-crafted work back into our digital workflow.
What we love about it is the texture and those ‘happy accidents’ where mark-making is intuitive and a bit messy. Effects like these can be simulated and I dare say that AI can have a stab at it. But there is something special in the real thing. The physicality is hard to ignore.
Plus, at the end of the day you have a beautiful print to frame. We’re going to be selling the best of our prints on our sister company’s website furiousgoose.co.uk so have a look!