I’m a big fan of constraints and I have a feeling most printmakers are (secretly or otherwise).
Printmaking has a built in set of constraints (some techniques more than others), that you immediately need to work around and with, maybe even learn to love, sometimes finding something new by pushing against them as far as you can.
Why do I love constraints? Because they take decision fatigue out of the equation and make you a better artist.
When you could do literally anything, all too often we do nothing- it’s just too overwhelming. I think constraints make the making more enjoyable and very often the outcome better. They concentrate the mind on getting the basics (composition, tone, colour) spot on, and discipline the mind over time.
Depending on the techniques that you use, printmaking will give you constraints in size, colours (and number of colours) detail, layers, tone and texture. There are only a certain number of things you can cover with each technique, and in addition, printmaking in general will usually only allow you to work with a certain number of layers or colours.
For me, this really hones my composition and colour decisions. I love looking at other people’s prints to figure out their decisions and layers- particularly good for this is mid 20th century book illustration. Usually lithographically printed and restricted to 1, 2, 3 or, if they were really lucky, 4 colours, you can almost see the editing process, and the images are often compositionally and tonally perfect- often using two colours layered over each other to make further colours.
And that’s another reason constraints are good- they often force you into innovation, or at least things you’ve never tried before. In the book ‘Messy’ by Tim Harford, the author recounts a story about Keith Jarrett, the jazz pianist. Faced with a substandard piano at a concert in Cologne, with some notes not working at all, he was forced to improvise (under duress!), but the concert turned out to be one of his best, and is now a beloved, classic, live jazz album.
Forced to work with less choices than normal, his concentration and focus levels went through the roof. No longer on auto-pilot, he came up with some truly innovative music. The contemporary pianist Nils Frahm had a similar experience, when he broke one of his fingers, forcing him to play a certain way, and producing his bestseller album, ‘Screws’.
He says: ‘They have helped me feel less annoyed about my accident and reminded me that any good is something I can only achieve, when I am making the most out of what I’ve got.’
Quite often a way to kickstart your practice comes from limiting what you have rather than adding to it- whether that’s colour, tone, time, or space. Try it. You never know what will come of it.