Lithography is, to me, the most magical method of creating an image. There is in equal measure technical skill, Alchemy (some would say black magic), and creativity. For those unfamiliar "Lithos" is the greek root meaning "stone", and "graphein" to write, together they refer to the printing of an original text or drawing from a cut piece of limestone (though it can also be done on a number of other mediums, including aluminum). lithography was originally invented by Alois Senefelder in 1796 as a easy form of reproducing his play scripts.
here are some process shots of making a lithograph. i made this while still in school a few years ago. it is titled Huginn and Munnin after Odin's two ravens, from Norse mythology. the symbolism being one of rebirth, eggs as birth, the tree standing in for Yggdrasil, which Odin hung himself in. i hope you enjoy! and as always, i apologize about the quality of the photos...
after you have a grained smooth flat stone you draw your image on the surface with a fatty pencil (usually made of paraffin wax). there are litho pencils for finer lines, litho crayons for larger marks, and tusche which functions more like a paint. above you see my original drawing, and then the beginnings of the image on the stone... as well as what appears to be a cut out of a tardigrade....
a closer detail shot of the drawing on the stone.
adding more to the stone.
beginning to edition the print.
adding layers of color. normally you would do color layers before the black and white "key" plate. but i was feeling lazy and just decided to do sharpy washes for the color layers...
i regret this greatly, but i did a egg shaped abstract wash around the whole image.
one layer of the wash.
and more regrettably a full layer on top of that...
i hope you enjoyed this little insight into making a lithograph.
all the best,
S