There seems to be some confusion regarding lithography. As a professional printer I thought I could do some explaining.
stardazzled wrote...
on a quick note:
this is from an email I sent to the original BioWare Store two years ago. I was asking about the creation process of 'Illium' because the creation determines the local tax rate (art or not, printed mass media product or not).
[...] I believe the paper is fed through a 6 roll press. As the paper passes through each plate, a new layer of ink is pressed on. [...]
This may have changed, but I believe not because 'Illium' doesn't feel any differently than later BWS lithographs.
So it's basically what Wikipedia says about lithographies and it's also what I did in school: the kids painted pressed leaves (leafes?) and then pressed them onto a piece of paper - this was repeated several times in several colours. In the end, various layers in different colours - and sometimes in different places - on the same sheet existed and made up a final image.
The description of the press is a dead giveaway. The "Illium" was made using an offset printing technique. This is the most common method of commercial printing. You see most commercial print outs are made with 4 basic colors: Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black (commonly referred to as CMYK). For every color a plate is made and installed on a machine, underneath an ink container. As the sheet of paper travels through the machine the colors are applied one by one. The big misconception here is that the colors are applied in layers.Thats not exactly right, every color is made of tiny dots ( rasters) with spacing between them, so its more of a mosaic of dots that creates an illusion of wider color spectrum. For the sake of simplicity, think of it this way Print-CMYK- raster points, Computer Monitor -RGB- pixels.
As someone mentioned before litography is a term describing the printing method.
Technically, offset printing involves litographic process (they are both "flat" printing methods), so yes it is the modern lithography so to say, however there is nothing artsy about it.
Its a mass production method. To give you an idea on average 7000 sheets of paper are printed per hour on a single press. So I am afraid there is nothing unique about it either.
Another thing you seem to misunderstand is the concept of digital printing.
With the method I described plate making has been fully digitalized, however it is not the same as digital printing.
Offset uses actual inks, which look and feel very much like the paint you would use to paint your walls.
Digital print however is either laser or inkjet.
Personally I prefer the offset method as it provides an actual binding between the ink and paper fibers, but to be fair to an untrained eye there is no difference in quality.
I suspect that most lithographs are made with the modern offset technique.
They might be using some fancy paper, or some post press finishing methods.
Someone mentioned that the posters look glossy. This has more to do with the paper type used ( there is about 1 billion parameters that determine paper quality so I won't go into that) and varnish application, than the actual printing method.
I have never seen a physical copy of the litographs you discussed, nor am I familiar with the specifics of the artistic applications of lithography, however I am vary interested. It would be really cool if it was some form of screen printing.
Anyone willing to do some testing for me?
How easily does the paper tear? dose it crack? how does it burn?Can you use a market on it?
What about a regular pen?
Anyone? No? Common guys this is for the sake of satisfying my curiosity
![=]](https://lvlt.forum.bioware.com/public/style_emoticons/default/sideways.png)
No?... dam you collectors. OK there is another way, less invasive ( also less fun)
Can someone tell me if they can see the little dots I mentioned before under a magnifying glass (compare it with another peace of print, a colorful leaflet for instance)
Retour en haut
And I thought UPS were bad.
:o:sick:
