Behind the Screen Print : Grow Up
Grow Up is a father and son collaboration - they base their work on graphic art, typography, stencils, mixed media, screen print, fluorescent ink and potty mouthed high jinx. We have been fans of their work for a while now so when the opportunity arose to work with them via our imprint series we jumped at the chance.
(A four colour screen print hand pulled onto Mohawk Superfine 352gsm at B2 (50 x 70cm) using Screentec neon and silver inks)
Grow Up describe the work here:
“Since childhood I have played with Lego and Airfix construction models. Having 2 children was an opportunity to carry on with this childish fun and pass on the obsession, [they even enjoy doing IKEA flat pack builds or big lego as we call it]. Jack the other half of Grow Up turned 18 last month, however it is in our manifesto to never grow up. We will always play with lego, collect toys and do stupid stuff. This is a love letter to construction toys and sticking our 2 fingers up to romantic art.”
When working on this print, the crucial parts to getting it looking its absolute best was how the neon inks sat over each other and finding the best balance between keeping the detail in the silver layer whist still getting a metallic finish. You can see on areas where the type overlaps, a new colour is made. To achieve this we had to thin the inks just enough that they became translucent, but not too much as to reduce the neon glow. This is a tricky balance that can require a bit of tweaking.
As for the silver layer that makes up the background texture. This had a lot of very thin lines and halftone textures. To print artwork like this we tend to use a higher mesh count screen. Higher mesh counts mean smaller holes therefore finer detail. The problem arises when using glittery inks like this silver, the large particle size of the shiny stuff doesn’t always get through. Larger holes mean more glitter gets through. To get the perfect balance we tested printing this layer through a various different meshes.
We are so grateful to be given the opportunity to print this work, we couldn’t be happier with how it turned out!
Pick up the print here:
www.wellniceprints.com/print-shop/p/you-complete-me-by-grow-up
Check out Grow Up here: www.growupart.com
