Drawings look drawn.  Even the most careful attempts at photographic representation will betray themselves upon full scrutiny.  This reality—that a product is a product of, that the end becomes by means—displays itself in visual qualities.  A drawing has drawn physical characteristics.  If drawn qualities are desirable, the printmaker must elect to do one or more of the following:

  • Compose at least in part by drawing
  • Draw directly into a print (which cannot be strictly editioned)
  • Collage drawn elements
  • Digitally manipulate drawn sources
  • Photograph drawn sources

When an artist renders from observation, the drawing that results is a unique record of the artist’s motions. If she is drawing from observation, her motions are an effort to depict her perception. Or perhaps she is drawing from her imagination (which is informed by her perceptions).  Or perhaps she is drawing as a form of dance, responding to some degree to her perception of her partner (the surface that receives her drawing). Because we have unique bodies and sets of motor memories, and because we have idiomatic perceptions, no two people will produce the same drawing.  In fact, a person cannot even redraw a drawing of his own, which is one reason the world needs printmaking, right!