What is the importance of printmaking?

Printmaking is an indirect means of creating art by transferring an image or design by contact with a matrix such as a block, plate, stone, or screen.

There are many different types of printmaking, just as there are many types of paints

An artist chooses the medium based on the effect he/she is looking to achieve. Printmaking is considered an original art form because it is done completely by hand.

The basic idea behind the printmaking processes is the ability to make more than one of a specific image in a limited edition.

The artist will use some sort of stencil or plate to layer blocks of color on top of one another.

The nature of printmaking requires that the entire edition be printed simultaneously because the artist must print one color at a time on each piece of paper.

In some types of printmaking, the plates themselves have a limited lifetime and all plates must be destroyed after the entire edition is completed.