Screenprinting: The Ultimate Studio Guide from Sketchbook to Squeegee

Book is really really well done. There are other reviews that talk about how they are disappointed with the artwork selections which begs the question of why didn’t they buy a book specifically highlighting screen printing artists? This book is about process both traditional and non traditional uses of screen printing. As some one who was self taught over 10 years ago and now runs a small printing business I find this book fantastic and use this as my go to recommendation for people looking to get into the art form. Tons of visuals, techniques and clear straightforward explanations. Yes, not every technique is described in 100% full detail but it is also impossible to cover every possible technique ever done. They do a great job of highlighting a handful of additional processes that are possible that you can then dive into deeper on your own. I wish this book would have been available when I started years ago. Even though a lot of the book was I do that I had already acquired there was multiple ahah moments and new techniques that have rekindled an excitement tor experimentation. Great book!

Great book!

This book is written very clearly with many photos. The cardboard cover is not substantial and has a 1/4" slice in it. For $40the cover should be better constructed.

Informative and useful regardless of what your level of expertise is. Great book.

This is a great book about setting up a printing shop, although it is geared toward large shops.

I am a big fan of screen printing, on all kinds of surfaces, fine art paper, t-shirts, etc. My biggest issue with this book is not being excited by the artwork used as examples in the step-by-step explanations of the many different kinds of screenprinting possible using various techniques and artwork to begin the process. There seemed to be a lot of white space in many of the examples, too much white space, not enough image and color.I keep going back to the book, trying to get into the techniques shown and ignoring how boring I think the art is.The best artwork is in the back, by successful artists in their fields. Those artworks were not used in the step-by-step process. Wish they had been.How excited I am to start making a new artwork is my gauge of how good a book or work of art is. I was not inspired by this book. Some parts of the book are quite daunting because certain kinds of screenprinting can be very, very technically challenging. That is not my complaint, I love challenges if that's what it takes to get the image I want.The photographs and the written how-to steps are done quite well and the print quality is excellent. No cost was spared. I just wish it was more exciting. I am not trying to dismiss the artists whose work was chosen, it's just not my cuppa tea.

Good ideas & images to show

I love new books on printmaking; I’ve been screenprinting for 50 years and collecting books on the technique for 49 of them. (Stephen Russ – Practical Screenprinting , Studio Vista, 1969 – was the first) The Ultimate Studio Guide looked promising and I was able to buy one from Amazon for half price - slightly damaged!What are the good points: It is lavishly illustrated, with full page pix of a variety of artists work and some good sequences showing how these results were achieved. With over 280 large format pages that’s a lot of pictures, with bold graphics to subdivide the book and it’s a nice book to handle and browse through. The emphasis is heavily on contemporary printmakers.I’m not quite sure who the book is aimed at. The early chapters on colour mixing, printing and printing mistakes are clearly aimed at the beginner but many of the examples shown later in the book require possession of Photoshop CS, some advanced skills and some pretty sophisticated access to artwork printing-out facilities. The printing set up shown in the book are the kind of facilities that you might access through places like Print Club London or the public access print studios in other major cities.I liked the later sections on “How to Put On A Show”. This would be very useful to a young artist getting into making and publishing their own prints after art school. In fact I can see this book finding a home on an art school table – its already got ink splatters and smears as part of the graphic presentationMy criticisms of this book are: the lack of specific guidance on paper, ink and suppliers of printmaking sundries. Some of the technical guidance is over elaborate – on registration for instance. In the sections on artist spotlight it seems perverse to place Susie Wright’s hand-made positive prints at the rear of that section, as they are the most easily understood in terms of technique. The authors state that they only recommend water-based inks but fail to explain the particular qualities that these inks bring to the process, i.e. transparency.Two older books offer more practical help: Water-based Screen-printing by Steve Hoskins, A & C Black, 2001 and ‘Screenprinting: The Complete Water-Based system, Adam and Robertson, Thames and Hudson, 2004. The latter book is not well reviewed on Amazon, it is not a beginner’s book but it has served me well for 15 years.

Was very happy with this book!! Perfect for starting out (although the exposure part is taken if you use or have access to a big UV unit... Not a hobby kit) but you can pick up some great tips and things. This book covers basic photoshop for use with screen printing, a bunch of different techniques to try and some case studies with various artists :) it's a gorgeous book even just to flick through.

Beautiful book, great detail and illustration. IF you have Studio style chemical printing in mind. I think as an absolute beginner (me), a book on stencil screen printing is more appropriate. Aim to be as good as those in the book but for now little more basic work for me using stencils.

You must buy this book if you're learning screen printing or even if you're experienced. Worth it's weight in gold! It clearly explains how to do each step of the process using photos and screen shots. Covers many different ways of working.

I bought this as a present for my brother in law as he’s gotten into painting in this last year and lived it. His style made me think he’d enjoy a go at screen printing, and he said this book is very readable and motivating-highly recommended