Drawing Into Printmaking Course

Explore the relationship between drawing and printmaking in this practical 10-week course for beginners and intermediate students.Drawing Into Printmaking introduces a range of accessible printmaking techniques, using drawing as the starting point for developing original printed images. Rather than treating drawing simply as preparation for a print, you’ll explore how line, mark, tone, texture, and composition can change as an image moves from paper to plate, block, and print.Through practical studio sessions, you’ll work with monoprint, drypoint, relief printing, and linocut, alongside experimental approaches to mark-making and image development. You’ll explore repetition, reversal, layering, positive and negative space, and colour while discovering the different possibilities offered by each printmaking process.The course uses water-based and other non-toxic materials wherever possible, with guidance on safe printmaking techniques and studio practices throughout.From Drawing to PrintYou’ll begin by exploring different approaches to drawing, experimenting with continuous and broken lines, pressure, texture, hatching, and tonal marks. These drawings become the foundation for your printmaking work throughout the course.Starting with monoprint, you’ll discover how drawing, ink, pressure, and wiping can create one-off printed images before developing more complex compositions through layering, colour, and repeated printing.You’ll then explore drypoint, drawing directly into a plate to create expressive lines, textures, and tonal effects. Test prints will help you evaluate your image and make considered changes as your work develops.Moving into relief printing and linocut, you’ll learn how drawings can be translated into positive and negative shapes and how carving can retain, simplify, or transform the qualities of the original drawing.Developing Your PrintmakingAs your skills progress, you’ll experiment with registration, limited colour palettes, reduction printing, and layered images.Later sessions bring different processes together, allowing you to combine techniques such as monoprint with drypoint, drypoint with relief printing, or linocut with monoprint. You’ll use these methods to develop your own imagery and begin establishing an individual visual approach.The final session brings your learning together as you complete a resolved print or small series, select and review your work, and consider presentation and editioning where appropriate.The emphasis throughout is on experimentation, observation, and developing your own visual language, rather than producing technically perfect prints. Test prints, unexpected results, and variations are all treated as part of the creative process.What You’ll Learn

• Develop drawings specifically for printmaking
• Explore line, mark, tone, texture, scale, and composition
• Create monoprints using drawing, wiping, and layered ink
• Use drypoint to create expressive line and tonal effects
• Translate drawings into relief prints and linocuts
• Understand positive and negative space
• Explore reversal, repetition, layering, and variation
• Work with registration and limited colour palettes
• Experiment with reduction and multi-layer printing
• Combine different drawing and printmaking processes
• Use test prints to evaluate and refine your work
• Prepare simple editions and explore unique and variable prints
• Use non-toxic printmaking materials and safe studio practices
• Develop a personal approach to translating drawing into print

Who Is This Course For?This course is suitable for beginners and intermediate students interested in exploring printmaking through drawing and experimentation.No advanced printmaking experience is required. The course is particularly suited to anyone interested in discovering several printmaking processes rather than focusing on a single technique, and to students who want to explore how their drawings can be developed into original printed work.By the end of the 10 weeks, you’ll have created a body of prints using a range of techniques and developed a stronger understanding of how drawing and printmaking can work together as part of your own creative practice.

Please note: Public dates for this class require at least 5 guests to run. In the unlikely event that we don't reach this number, we may cancel the session; if that happens, we'll inform you and let you choose between a refund or reschedule, so please watch your email/SMS one day prior to the class. All materials provided. Read more details