Line Forms and Impacts on Gravure Print Images

In ancient times, human beings drew lines on stone, soil and mud with bones and horns to transfer their ideas and experiences to the next generations. The first line was applied in history was created by making a groove to leave a mark on a hard surface. Gravure printing (intaglio printing) is the art of carving a hard surface and making patterns with lines and transferring these patterns to paper. Since this printing is done by hand, it is a very different method from press and digital printing. Gravure printings were created by artists so it has high artist value compared to other printing techniques. The techniques and materials used throughout history were developed and changed a lot, thus various engraving techniques emerged.

There is no comprehensive study in the literature which examines chronological development of the materials used in gravure printing by considering examples of leading artist and line formations in their prints. For this reason, this article aims to explain the techniques and materials used during the development of engraving art and the forms of the lines.

This study is based on qualitative research method. The data was obtained from books, theses and articles in the literature. The information obtained from the literature reviews was examined using the content analysis method and interpreted logically. First of all, the chronological development of engraving techniques and the materials used in these techniques were investigated. In the light of the information obtained, it has been hypothesized that the materials used in engraving techniques affect the formation of engraving images with different linear features.

Within the scope of the study, the wood engraving technique, metal engraving technique and acid etching techniques were explained according to the chronological order in the development of the art of engraving, and the effects of the lines were examined by considering the works of the artists. For wood engraving technique examples of “Thomas Bewick”, for metal graving examples of “Albercht Durer” and for acid etching examples of “Rembrandt van Rijn” were used and lines were analyzed based on their printings.

It was observed that, steel pen was often preferred for graving of copper plates because it was easy to apply. Objects on the plates were described full in details with lines. It has been determined that when the pencil was applied vertically, the lines were deep and strong, and when the pencil was applied horizontally, the lines were thinner and superficial. Three-dimensional perception was created with thin and thick lines. Object which was behind the others drown with thin lines and the objects in the front were drown with thicker lines. The ends of the lines that were close to each other were closed from start and end so white line effect was given between the black lines. Light, shadow and volume were created with parallel and diagonal lines. Lines were also created using the acid etching method, but these were more superficial, the boundaries of the objects were removed, and light and shadow gained importance. As a result, in this article, it was shown with examples that lines were formed with different effects due to usage of different engraving techniques.