The Risograph Workshop: A Tool for Art /S.Duran

The Risograph Workshop: A Tool for Art

On Friday, the 28th of February I attended a lecture on the the use of the Risograph, taught by Scott Roberts. A risograph is a specialized printer used to make a multiple copies based of one print design. What makes the risograph is great is that one can bring a large amount of good quality print outs for a very little cost. Although the risograph did start out as an advertising mechanism, artists now use it to create “comic-like” prints.

           Scott, the presenter, explained how the risograph works when printing out artwork. Each carton of ink is about a foot and a half long, and one carton can make +100 prints. The risograph can only “print” out a design, one color at a time. For now, the art department has three ink colors: red, blue, and black. Each of these colors need to be printed separately on each sheet, then left out to dry before re-printing with a different color to finalize a design.Like in the image above, each color printed should be printed from lightest to darkest.

           When creating a design to be printed using the risograph a person must use the halftone method of print, utilizing what “percent” of each color an artist want to let appear on the paper. In addition, for each printed on a design one must tilt each “halftone” by “71.5” degrees to that colors do not overlap each other. This allows the image to be seen and gives artwork a “comic” like feel especially when one can the background the paper. Artist need to then put export their art into a USB to place onto the printer, scan image to create a print mold, set master to 02, and create a test print.

           When all is well, artist can now create a multiple of prints based of their design by using the risograph. What I like about this workshop was seeing exactly what goes into using the risograph, as an artist. I was surprising to know the history of the radiography and how artist ar now taking a new approach to this device. One of this best things I see the risograph could be used for is making art that looks like a “comic-book” but at the same time has printmaking feel to it. I am very interested in learned how far this “new technique” can go. As student we can use the risograph under adult supervision, hopefully by then we will have more ink choices. According to Roberts, the hot pink ink is the best because it’s so vibrant when printed on a page.