Woodblock Print

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I’ve always been drawn to the graphic simplicity of traditional Japanese Woodblock prints. The technique creates images that are very flat and clean which in my mind are bright and screen-like., precursors to digital images. Through contextual research, I found out that theses images were mass produced and as such sold at an accessible price to the general public. Partly due to this factor they had a great influence on Western art, which is a link not often made. One such example is how the colour and compositions utilised commonly in the medium inspired Van Gogh. (https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/stories/inspiration-from-japan#10) I began formulating a multifaceted understanding which included media theory, graphic design, illustrations, craft and the post digital. One which started from looking through an old book of prints and watching the documentary “Art of the game ukiyo-e heroes” which started to make me aware of how techniques within the craft developed and evolved pushing further the possibilities of the medium.

I began thinking of visualising how different prints could shift and morph into one another, perhaps representing how styles and trends within the medium changed over time.

I made this simple fading animation but what interested me was the stages in between teh shifts when there are remnants of the old prints fading into sharper lines of new ones.

I found this abstraction interesting and wanted to take it further. What struck me visually was the flatness of the original images, I wondered how I could subvert that, at the same time introducing the analogue into the digital. Rifting of this I wanted to play around with artificially introducing 3D effects, it became a miscommunication to explore.

I found a generator online which enabled me to create some visualistions from this thinking;

https://3dthis.com/3dfx.htm

The jutting depth turned the previously flat, static image into a topographic map, captivating to me how it mirrored the Japanese mountains and landscapes also commonly depicted in woodblock prints. I often get bogged down in research it’s nice to attach more spontaneous visual contextual links. This particular print shows Samurai’s fighting underwater, the 3D makes the surface look like a splashing body of water.

When portraying depth I thought about the effect of angles. This could be used in a moving image to create a sense of revelation as the head on wood block prints turns into a multilayered 3D piece.

I got in touch with my friend Guy who has some knowledge of working with the 3D software blender. I will have to learn much more about this software to create some of the visualisations I have in my head, but he showed me the effect of adding artificial lighting and even thought about the possibility of 3D printing.

My idea is to create a animation in which 3D versions of multiple different woodblock prints morph and merge into one another, creating a fluid generating abstraction of the woodblock print imagery. Once we’ve created this, I want to take some static screen shots and then try and make them into like a traditional woodblock print pushing the 3D back into the flat 2D, realising something, the creation of which is only possible in the digital in an analogue format. This would also subvert what the illustrative prints originally depicted.