The Big Picture Art Project is a collective art project I launched with Sophie Babeanu (Art therapist) a few months ago. Participation is free and open to anyone in the world. Why not try an easy monoprint technique to participate in the project?

We want to share techniques that will allow anyone to participate in the project, even of they are not regular drawers. The monotype print is one of these techniques that can easily be used to participate in the project

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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

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Once your drawing is done, scan it or take a picture and upload it here

Share your monoprints on our collective art project: The Big Picture. Participation is free and open to anyone anywhere in the world.