A Visual Representation of Atilogwu Dancers Using Screen Printing in Full Colours in Halftone
Chapter One
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main reason of this project therefore is an attempt to give a visual representation of the Atilogwu dancers using the process of full colour screen printing in half tone technique which could be a form of textile painting, which serves as aesthetic purpose in primary colours which can be used to get other colours with high aesthetic values Printing the activities of the Atilogwu dancers on thick fabric is to apply the principle of “memory colour”.
CHAPTER TWO
RELATED LITERATURE REVIEW
HISTORY OF HALFTONE
William fox Talbot is credited with the idea of half tone printing. In the early 1830‟s, he suggested using “photographic screens or veils” in connection with a photographic intaglio process. Several different kinds of screen were proposed during the following decades. One of the well known attempts was by Stephen H. Horgan while working for the New York Daily graphic. The first printed photograph was an image of Steinway hall Manhattan published on December 2, 1873. The graphic then publish “the first reproduction of a photograph with a full tonal range in a newspaper” on March 4, 1880 (entitled “a scene in shantytown”) with a crude halftone
The first truly successful commercial was patented by Fredrick Ives of Philadelphia in 1881. Although he found a way of breaking up the images into dots of varying sizes, he did not make use of a screen. In 1882, the German Georg Meisenbach patented a halftone process in England. His invention was based on the previous ideas of Berchtold and Swan. He used single lined screens which were turned during exposure to produce cross – lined effects. He was the first to achieve any commercial success with relief halftone.
Shortly afterwards, Ives, this time in collaboration with Louis and max levy, improved the process further with the invention and commercial production of quality cross– lined screen. The relief halftone blocks in popular journals became regular during the early 1890‟s. The development of halftone printing methods for lithography appears to have followed a larger independent path. In the 1860‟s, a Hoen and co. focused on methods allowing artists to manipulate the tones of hand – worked printing stones. By the 1880‟s Hoen was working on half tone methods that could be used in conjunction with either hand worked or photolithographic stones.
THE HISTORY OF CMYK
CMYK is a colour system that uses cyan, magenta, yellow and black (key) inks. It is primarily used in prints (business cards, posters, banners, and brochures). In 1906, the eagle printing ink company incorporated the four colour wet process inks for the first time. They discovered that these four colours can be combined to produce an almost unlimited number of richer, darker tones.
CMYK is a substrate colour model. To explain this we need a little science lesson. The sunlight bouncing around is basically white light – all the wavelengths, or colour in the spectrum at the same time. Those light wavelengths interact with the world, and our eyes interpret those interactions as colour. When sunlight hits a bright green surface, the surface„absorbs‟ some of the red, orange and violet colours and reflects the blue, green and yellow that we see.
Sequel to the above explanations, In four colour printing process (CMYK) different inks are laid in sequence in order to build the final image. The sequence that the inks are laid down can significantly alter the final printed result. Ink sequence can also impact whether the job runs successfully or fails on print.
Printing always involves a level of compromise and the choice of ink sequence is no exception. The four colour process printing was developed to reproduce full – colour artwork accurately when printing on white paper. Essentially, a decent sized gamut of visible colour can be represented by printing various densities of the primary colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
The CMYK colour model was developed to work against a white background which is rarely a problem with paper. Fabrics are prone to varying in thickness due to their flexibility and the fact that they are made in various factories across the world and by humans with varying standards and methods. Slight variance in thickness cause some garment surfaces to be closer to the screen than others. These variances can translate into more –saturated prints on thicker fabric and sometimes colour shifts where the entire image takes on a slight tint of magenta, yellow, cyan or black.
CMYK is preferred to use on white or varying light garment when the artwork consist of an image that does not contain colours that need to be exact, and on images where there are not many „memory colour‟
Memory colours are colours that intuitively know when it is wrong. For example, skin tones, the colour of the sky and foliage are all such that we notice if they are even slightly off.
Based on the limitations CMYK is most appropriate for printing images that are
- Cartoony or fantastic
- Washed out or distressed full colour
- Full colour on a budget where accurate reproduction isn‟t as
- Heavily processed or saturated images where memory colours have already been tweaked.
HISTORY OF ATILOGWU DANCE
As recorded by Okoro, C. (2014) Atilogwu is a very popular dance among the Igbo speaking people of Anambra, Enugu, and Imo states of eastern Nigeria. It is a dance that combines grace and agility in execution. Atilogwu or Etilogwu which is actually interpreted as Etinyelu ogwu or Atinyelu Ogwu depending on the version of the Igbo dialect is actually a question asked when the dancers are performing. The question of „is there magic? Or is magic involved? „Such questions arises as a consequence of the mystical, utmost impossible feats performed by the dancers. The dance differs from one locality to another. However, Atilogwu dancers share a lot of similarities despite the different locality practicing it. These similarities are in the areas of instruments, beats, rhythms, dance styles and at times costumes.’
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This research is a practical research that has to do with the production of interior decoration, to this end, this written aspect is a descriptive report of the production process. This enables a good understanding of interior decoration.
The practical aspect of this research is the production of wall hanging and this was methodologically done with the use of printing materials.
MATERIAL S FOR PRINTING
- Fabric
- Printing ink
- Emulsion
- Synthesizer
- Mesh
- Frame
- Kerosene
- Photoshop software
- Nails
- Masking tape
- Squeegee
- Adobe Photoshop software
PROCEDURES IN SEPARATING AN IMAGE INTO THE CMYK COLOUR MODE AND CONVERTING INTO HALFTONE
Using adobe Photoshop the following can be achieved:-
- Convert the mode of the image to CMYK colour scheme which could be access in Adobe Photoshop under the image menu (image > mode >CMYK).
- Create a new layer and rename it to white. This will help in printing on fabric which is not white.
CHAPTER FOUR
DESCRIPTION OF WORK
The printing process of CMYK is sequential. In other to get a perfect representation of the pictorial image, the printing process is to start from the lightest colour to the darkest that is print yellow before magenta then cyan and key (YMCK) not cyan > magenta > yellow > key (CMYK).
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
SUMMARY
This project is based on using the four colour printing technique known as CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and key also known as black) to manually make a full colour print on a thick fabric using the colorful Atilogwu dancers as a case study printing in halftone.
It shows the beauty and uniqueness of printing in primary colours which can be used to get other colours with high aesthetic values using also a printed form through continuous dot and tone imagery varying in size to generate a gradient – like effect.
CONCLUSION
The method of full colour print is very important as its creativity in representation on pictorial image on fabric is of great importance. Textile designers are to embrace this new invention in screen printing. This also promotes the Atilogwu dance of the Anambra people of Nigeria.
REFRENCES
- Alexanders.com/a-very-brief-history-of-cmyk-20150324 Chief Chibueze Nzekwe (2014) Forward printing.com
- http://en.wikipedia.org>wiki>halftone JOHNSON: 1994: 72 – 73
- Okolo, Kenechukwu Bridget, June 2014 Okoro, Chiamaka Clara, June 2014
- Petermack 007’s weblog
- The print-guide.blogspot.com>2009/07 Williamson (2011)
- Wordweb dictionary
