←Back to Wiki
print_(medium)
📅 Updated:2026-07-18
🕒 Created:2026-07-17
🆔 ID:107942
Description
A traditional artistic medium based on the practice of transferring ink from a matrix to paper or another surface. There are four main families of printmaking techniques based on fundamental forms of matrix preparation:
- Relief (e.g. woodcut, woodblock, linocut, etc.): applying ink to surface of the matrix only where desired, whereas carved/displaced grooves are absent of it.
- Intaglio (e.g. etching, engraving, aquatint & drypoint): forcing ink into grooves or cavities on the matrix surface.
- Planographic (e.g. lithography, monotype, offset & digital* printing): using an untransformed but specially prepared matrix to apply ink to the surface.
- Stencil (e.g. screen printing, risography): pressing ink or paint through a prepared screen or cutouts.
(*) Digital printing, while technically a planographic technique, is not considered as much of an artistic printmaking technique as it is a form of mechanical reproduction, unless the artist specifically intends for the digital file to be the original source, and carefully controls the printing, editioning, and curation process of the work.
