Art is always avant-garde, challenging our understanding and our perception of the world. Though the history of printing techniques is ancient and varied, it has exercised a continuous influence on modern images. Woodblock prints, etchings, silk screen, lithography and even potato prints are all variations on the common techniques. In recent years, computer and digital pictures have become the newest addition to the modern history of images.

Printed images abound in modern art, and these pictures are well suited to reproduction in posters. The beautiful elegance of Japanese woodblock pictures have influenced western art, and Andy Warhol made silk screen prints famous with his Pop Art experiments. These woodblock and silk images are all available in beautiful posters. Picasso made beautiful linocut prints and computer artists are establishing a new and exciting field of printing techniques that also look stunning in print formats like posters.

The following web pages allow you to explore posters featuring diverse print methods from computer art to lithography. As you explore these pictures you will no doubt discover a print style perfect for you.

Many techniques which are in fact the same have many names. For example, one of the oldest techniques is engraving, or etching. In this process a copy of an image is transferred from an engraved plate to another surface. Another, similar method is lithography which was discovered in Germany in 1798. Lithography involves tracing designs on metal or stone with a substance that holds ink. The rest of the image is made ink-resistant. Offset lithography is the most common of the modern techniques. All lithography techniques reproduce well in modern posters.

Wood engraving printing, woodcut or woodblock printing and xylography all stand for the same method famously associated with Japanese images. In this method, a design is cut out of a piece of wood. The design is inked and placed against a piece of paper. When the back of the paper is rubbed or pressed the image transfers from the wood. While most often associated with great Japanese artists such as Sharaku and Hokusai, this woodblock method of printmaking was extremely influential on western artists like Edgar Degas and James A.M. Whistler who produced beautiful modern woodblock prints.

Silk screen printing is also known as serigraphy. It can be used to decorate almost any surface and its images were made famous in the modern pictures by Andy Warhol. His silk screen prints are known throughout the world! The method is quite simple. It requires a screen and a stencil or design. Paint is sprayed through the screen and is blocked by the stencil where appropriate, thus forming prints.

The linocut method is a very simple etching process. Prints are made from a block of linoleum on which a design has been carved. Picasso was intrigued by the beautiful possibilities of linocut art. His fabulous images make for beautiful posters!

Computer art is produced through graphic design and digital printing. Laser printing technology and ink jet printing processes are central features of computer art and they produce stunning computer images well suited to reproduction in posters.

This webpage will help you explore the beautiful world of printing techniques more deeply. From computer art to lithography, silk screen and woodblock prints, there is an astoundingly rich and diverse artistic world to discover!