Lithography

石版画/リトグラフ / 1796– / Technique / Planographic Printing

Uses the repulsion of oil and water to reproduce crayon and tusche drawing from stone or plate, keeping all the softness of the hand.

Lithography — Daumier, Rue Transnonain 1834 — Wikimedia Commons / CC0
Daumier, Rue Transnonain 1834 — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 · CC0
Lithography — Chéret, Bal du Moulin Rouge 1889 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
Chéret, Bal du Moulin Rouge 1889 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
Lithography — ゴヤ『ボルドーの闘牛』より〈牛に突かれたピカドール〉1825 — Wikimedia Commons / CC0
ゴヤ『ボルドーの闘牛』より〈牛に突かれたピカドール〉1825 — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 · CC0

At a glance

Visual cues

  • Greasy crayon
  • Stone or metal plate
  • Painterly tone
  • Multicolor overprinting

Best used for

  • Limited editions and art books that must keep the touch of crayon and charcoal
  • Large posters that need rich tone from a small number of colors

Use this style

Take the compact brief into a project or hand the structured version to an AI tool.

Detailed guidance and sourcesProduction rules, reference works, comparisons, research and citation formats

Dictionary entry

Type
Draw the lettering onto the stone by hand instead of setting type
Composition
Split areas and lines between plates, planning for colors to overprint
Material
Greasy crayon or tusche on stone, tone held by oil against water
Caution
Pencil texture is not it, and neglecting density control crushes the tone into a merely blurred image. Learn how oil against water, the stone, damping, the roller and overprinted plates shape line and color.
Further study
Alois Senefelder / tusche / Toulouse-Lautrec / offset lithography

Related entries

Often confused with

More from Planographic Printing

Continue through styles in the same Planographic Printing family, prioritised by shared effects.

Browse all Planographic Printing entries

Cite this entry

The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.

Link
https://indexstyle.org/styles/lithography
Markdown
[Lithography — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/lithography)
HTML
<a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/lithography">Lithography — IndexStyle</a>

Back to index position