Backdrawing

I first encountered back drawing as a technique when I visited the Paul Klee exhibition at Tate modern in 2014. I was very taken with his 'oil transfer' technique. I found the quite simple line drawings enchanting and I particularly liked the accidental marks made when the oil picked up the texture of the paper - see the next research point for more information about Paul Klee. 

At the time that I saw the exhibition I was just starting out on in my studies and I had no idea that 'oil transfer' was a monoprinting technique and had a different name (back drawing or trace printing). I tried to work out how he had done it. I had not done any printmaking at that point and was not aware of printmaking inks or how to use them so I came up with my own way of doing it. I would draw the image I wanted to reproduce on a sheet of acetate and then put oil pastel or Windsor and Newton oil-bar on the back of the acetate before placing the acetate pastel-side down on a sheet of paper and tracing over the image with a pen or a pencil. I really liked the quality of line that this produced - it was quite velvety and voluptuous. I also liked the fact that I could transfer quick sketches and continuous line drawings in this way without them stiffening up and losing their apparent spontaneity. An example is shown below of a very rapidly executed line drawing of a bewildered elderly Japanese tourist with smartphone who I captured on a trip to Sorrento. I reproduced this in backdrawing and watercolour in an homage to Klee when I got home.

Rapidly executed line drawing made in situ of
a tourist with smartphone

Reproduction of the same image as above
using back drawing and watercolour

This time I have used the more classic backdrawing technique. I like this technique especially for rapidly executed drawings because it is important not to touch the paper other than her you want to transfer ink so the drawing has to be quite free. I first decided to use the technique for some life drawing / gesture drawing practice. I did have access to a model so I used the website https://www.quickposes.com/en which has a vast library of photographs. I set the timing of the poses variably at either 30 seconds or 1 minute. 

I started with cartridge paper and a plate inked lightly with a vibrant green oil based ink. The poses were at 30 seconds each. I made a few sketches on each A3 sheet. I did not re-ink the plate between the two sheets so the ink transfer is less vivid on the second sheet. Despite trying to touch the paper as little as possible with my hand There was quite a lot of oil transfer around the figures. Perhaps my inking of the plate was a bit too thick. I like this as a feature of backdrawing but also wanted to try ways of avoiding it. However, firs

30 second backdrawings. Oil based ink on
cartridge paper

30 second back drawings. Oil based ink on
cartridge paper

Despite trying to touch the paper as little as possible with my hand There was quite a lot of oil transfer around the figures. Perhaps my inking of the plate was a bit too thick. I like this as a feature of backdrawing but also wanted to try ways of avoiding it. However, first I tried a few drawings exploiting the pressure of my hand as a way of shading. 

60 second pose. Backdrawn in oil based ink on
cartridge paper

I didn't re-ink the plate between drawings so some echoes of previous drawings can be seen. On the second one I overdid the shading a bit so the figure is indistinct and emerging from a green fog.

60 second pose. Backdrawn in oil based ink on 
cartridge paper

I tried the same technique using white ink on black paper in a sort of negative of the previous green drawings:

60 second pose. Backdrawn in white oil based ink
on black paper

Again I overdid the hand shading on the second one so the figure is almost lost - this is heading more towards abstraction but I like it. 

60 second pose. Backdrawn in white oil based ink
on black paper

I was conscious that the re-scheduled course "beautiful birds in drypoint' was coming up so I decided to practice drawing some birds for ideas. First I tried a technique that had been suggested t me by Mick Welbourn at Leeds Print workshop when he saw me struggling with some back drawing - he said that to avoid too much unwanted oil transfer around the image it was possible to dust the plate with talc. This would have the affect of drying the surface of the ink but would still allow ink to transfer on the lines when hard pressure was applied. The results were not as good as I had hoped (the two owl drawings on the sketchbook page below) because the talc meant I had to press very hard to get any line at all and the lines produced were grey rather than black. I reverted back to plates without the talc at this stage (although I plan to try again with less talc and more ink). 

Sketchbook page showing backdating onto cartridge
paper from a plate coated with ink and dusted with talc
(owls). The drawings below (squab and sparrow) are
back drawn onto Japanese paper

Next I tried backdrawing onto thin Japanese paper. This was a more sensitive technique and I found I could achieve lovely very deep black marks but a trade-off for this sensitivity was that even the lightest of touch with a fingertip would show on the paper

Backdrawings from sketches of seagulls and a
hoopoe on Japanese paper with lots of
unintentional fingermarks

Backdrawing on Japanese paper - bird of
paradise - lots of unintentional
finger marks

I think that it would be a good idea to find a way of fixing the paper over the plate without having to steady the paper with my fingers - then I could draw with a long handled implement (such as a pencil on a stick or the stick itself. This would help the drawing to be more gestural and better avoid the temptation to touch the paper. 
I have only just scratched the surface of the potential of this technique . All my drawings so far are from photographic sources or previously made sketches. I need to try drawing in this way from life... more to follow ...

What I learnt

• Backdrawing is good for quick gestural drawing
• Some degree of unintentional transfer is the norm
• Thinner paper is more sensitive for ink transfer - so gives lovely dark marks but great care must be taken to avoid unintentional ink transfer
• The side of hand or fingers can be used for subtle shading - but don't overdo it
• Talc dries the ink for precision but greys out the transferred lines

Things to try

• Drawing from life
• Drawing on a larger sale
• Fixing the paper in some way to reduce the temptation to touch the paper with fingers
• Multilayers and multicolours 
• Using different drawing tools (so far I have only used a hard pencil, a biro and my hand)