Green Mono Prints...

These are the shapes made from cut paper, before I put the black outlines over the top:

• I made a range of different paper cut outs, I made some templates with the shapes cut out already arranged as a face, and then used the cut outs to make reversed prints. I also cut loads of extra shapes and facial features to randomly arrange on the plate.
• My aim was to make a variety different faces, and let the process influence the designs as much as possible.

• I got really into printing the shapes and made a lot of prints. Because I already had the shapes cut before I went into the print room it made the process much quicker and easier, and allowed me to focus on how they where being arranged.
• I got all sorts of different looking shape, some solid and some grainy/tonal. I like some of the more textured prints. Where I left marks from the previous shapes still visible on the plate.

• Whilst cutting the paper shapes I decided to make a print that was purely from (cut) shape with no mono type outline on top.
• I lightly traced the same face onto two sheets of paper and then cut block shapes out of one (for the green), and then more delicate pointy shapes (for the black), like two stencils. 
• I like the print I think its interesting, I like the awkward overlay. The shapes are subtle and the black isn't as striking and over powering as some of my other work. But i'm looking for more exciting and vibrant effects with my prints for this project.

Finished Mono Prints...

• Over i'm really pleased with the outcomes. Not all have worked as well as others, but looking at them all together a series, its interesting to see how the process gives them a consistent visual quality.
• I used a pencil to draw on the back to produce the mono type, because I draw most fluently with a pencil. 
• A good thing I did when making the mono type was make a paper boarder that surrounded the print (the margins). This stopped any of the mono type printing onto the white edges of the prints too keep them clean. This also meant I could lean on the edges of the paper when drawing, this made it much easier, I will remember this when making mono type in the future. 
• Its tricky to say how these deigns could be developed and improved. The designs have an immediate and quick/rough feel to them, and this makes them what they are.
• Im not sure making more refined and well crafted mono prints would necessarily improve them. The whole point is that they a quick, expressive and fairly random. 
• I think that these designs could work better as a publication rather than individual prints. The concept works better when looking at all the prints together, to see how they relate to each other.

My favourite prints:

• I was drawn to this print because of the texture in the background, the subtle line textures within the green is really effective and I prefer it to a more solid print. This was made by printing the plate after it had been printed once, without re inking it or adding new shapes.
• I think it works especially well because there is no white left amongst the green back ground, the whole background is printed with different green tones. The grainy black line that sits on top of the green gives a very hand generated/textured and unusually vibrant finish to it.
• I also like the big fat/round simple face, its not overcomplicated and allows the qualities in the background to be more noticeable. 
• This just shows how some of the best effects with mono are made unintentionally, and un planned and how the process need to be approached in an experimental way to get the best results.  

• I really like the glitchy and broken up background in this one. I like how it looks less organised than the shapes in the others. It has a more collaged and complex feel too it.
• I like how lots of grainy black texture has come through in the outline, Its needed because the green is much fainter than others. I think this is because the outline is slightly more complicated and denser in some areas.
• I just simply like the face shape in this, how it fills the composition, with the hair that reaches up to the top of the print.
• You can see in this design how a memory of the previous prints is visible in the black. I really like how previous lines influences the texture created in the mono type. This is because of the line texture being created in the bed. I think it suites these designs because they are very process driven.. this texture is part of the process (doing loads of them) and I wanted to let the process influence the designs as much as possible. 

• I like this one because I think the green shapes and the black outline work really well with each other. And form a well structured face. It looks more considered.
• I like how not all the facial features are done in black, and how the lips, ears, cheeks and brain show through in green. And how all the green shape is then contained within black oval.
• I think not overworking the outlines has been key in this design, and also in the rest of the prints. Letting the green shapes/texture speak as much as possible has been effective (not overpowering with black, like I do a lot of the time).

• This print is sort of how I imagined more of the prints where going to look.
• The shapes are much more solid and crisp, and I like how its contained within the solid green rectangle.
• There isn't as much texture or distortion on the print. Its seems cleaner and simpler. 
• I do like this print and I think it shows good variation within the process, but i much prefer the look of the rougher and distorted prints, they show much more character and personality.

2 more prints that stood out to me from the set:

I like how the outlines work with the cut shape too make the construct the faces, I think they fit together well. The best looking prints from the set have been the ones where the outlines relate to the shape. This isn't quite as easy as it seems because you are drawing on the back of the designs, I needed to remember how the shapes sit on the page or sometimes you can see a faint outline of the shapes on the back of the paper.