Planographic printing
This refers to prints created when artist’s image is drawn directly on the surface of a specialized block or plate. The best known planographic process is lithography. Historically this process was applied using a very dense but porous limestone block. Modern lithography is often produced from a specially textured (“grained”) zinc plate. The process depends on the antipathy between grease and water. The image area is “greasy” and is receptive to the ink rolled over it, whilst the non greasy areas are kept wet, therefore repelling the ink. The plate or stone and paper are then passed under the scraper bar of a lithographic press using considerable pressure.
A monotype is a type of planographic process where an impression is taken from a sheet of glass or a plate that has paint or ink brushed or rolled on to it. The image is created by the artist drawing into the ink as well as selectively wiping areas of this plate, and a sheet of paper pressed (usually by hand) onto this surface.
