In art a monotype or monoprint is a print taken from oil paint, or ink on glass or metal
Making felt tip pens monotypes is an easy and fast way to make a drawing from a picture, and you can do it by using materials you most likely already have at home.
To make a monoprint, you will need:
A sheet of glass, or Plexiglas
Washable felt tip pens
printing paper
Water spray bottle
Tissue paper
fineliners, pastels, etc… to add details to your drawing
A reference picture that you printed preferably to at least a 8-10 inches size.
Monoprint technique: Here is how to make a simple monoprint
Place a sheet of Plexiglas or glass over your photo and start by delimiting the edges of your print. To participate in the Big Picture, you will need a square drawing. You could also make a rectangular drawing and crop it to a square format later.
If the ink from your felt has trouble staying on the glass or Plexiglas, you can try to rinse your Plexiglas or glass with soapy water.
For this monoprint technique, we are going to use a felt point tip washable pen, draw over your picture directly on the Plexiglas, choosing what you will want to keep in your print and what you will want to leave. This technique is not as precise as a drawing so you might have to simplify a bit the design.
You will have the opportunity to add more details after the print has been done, directly on your paper.
Depending on your reference picture, you can use cross hatching or stripes to represent light grey, for example in a background.
Once you are done, wet a piece of printing paper or watercolor paper with a spray bottle.
You want the paper to be damp but not too wet, take off the extra moisture with a paper towel.
Then apply that damp paper on top of the Plexiglas.
Press lightly with your fingers, being careful not to move the paper.
Then gently pull off the paper from the Plexiglas. Let the paper dry.
Sometimes, you have enough ink left on the Plexiglas to make a second print.
Finishing your monoprint
Once the paper has time to dry, you can use fine liners to add details to your print.
You can also use pastels or Art Stix, colored pencils….
The finished drawing by Sophie Babeanu, using a felt tip point monoprint technique.
Here are a few drawings done with this technique
Drawing by Sandrine PelissierDrawing by Sandrine PelissierDrawing by Sandrine Pelissier
Originally from France, I have been living in North Vancouver, Canada for the past 20 years.
My work has been collected and exhibited extensively in Canada and internationally. I am also part of the Art Rentals and sales program of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Many of my paintings have been published in Art books and magazines (Artist Magazine, Watercolor Artist Magazine, Acrylic Magazine, International Artist Magazine). I wrote 2 art instruction books with North Light/F+W Books.
I have been writing for the last 5 years for my blog: paintingdemos.com, that has a mailing list of about 10 000 subscribers and about 20 000 visitors per month.
I am an active member in the community, as a co-founder of the North Shore Art crawl, a co-founder of a weekly life drawing group, a board member of the North Vancouver Arts Council, and have been invited as a juror for public art, art grants and juried exhibitions. You can read more about my collaborations here.
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