Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Shin-Hanga: Low horizon, a single light source, the foreground sunk into dark
- Type
- Set in Shin-Hanga's manner (Keep lettering out of the image, at the margin or the seal position), and let Sōsaku-hanga's lettering (Cut hand carved letters into the block as part of the image.) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Shin-Hanga's material (Graded bokashi on washi, rain lines carved thin on a separate block); bring in exactly one thing from Sōsaku-hanga (Keep the grain of the wood and the cut marks, and do not erase uneven printing.).
- Colour
- Build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
- Shin-Hanga and Sōsaku-hanga share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over.
- Both belong to Japanese Woodblock Prints, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Shin-Hanga Chasing only the mood of night and rain misses the tonal precision the carver and printer supply, and leaves nostalgia for a motif.
- Sōsaku-hanga Roughness itself is not the goal. The substance is the choice of what you take on with your own hands.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Shin-Hanga (Style, 1915–1960s) and its accent from Sōsaku-hanga (Style, 1904–1960s). Structural cues: The lyricism of night and rain; Western treatment of light; Precision of the carver-printer system; Landscapes of travel. Accent cues, used sparingly: Coarse lines that keep the marks of the knife; Self drawn, self carved, self printed; Tolerance for distortion and uneven inking; Subjects personal to the artist. Composition: Low horizon, a single light source, the foreground sunk into dark. Type and lettering: Keep lettering out of the image, at the margin or the seal position. Let one material quality come from the second style: Keep the grain of the wood and the cut marks, and do not erase uneven printing.. Mood: Calm, Nostalgia, Luxury, Rebellion, Intimacy, Technology. Color: build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 with a single accent drawn from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Shin-Hanga 1915–1960s / Style / Japanese Woodblock Prints
The woodblock revival led by publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō: ukiyo-e's carver-printer division joined to Western light and atmosphere. Hasui's nights and rains became the beloved image of a lyric Japan abroad.
- Sōsaku-hanga 1904–1960s / Style / Japanese Woodblock Prints
A movement that rejected the division of labor among designer, carver and printer and declared that one person draws, carves and prints. It chose to leave the trace of the maker's hand rather than technical perfection, taking the opposite road from the shin-hanga of the same years.
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