The Development of Guidelines in Printmaking Ishak Ramli Department of Fine Art, Faculty of Art & Design Universiti Teknologi MARA Perak, Malaysia ibr_86@yahoo.com Mohamad Noorman Masrek Accounting Research Institute Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia mnoormanm@gmail.com Ponirin Amin Department of Fine Art, Faculty of Art & Design Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia poniebamin@live.com Rahman Amin Department of Fine Art, Faculty of Art & Design Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia rahmanhonest@gmail.com Mohd Suhaimi Tohid Department of Fine Art, Faculty of Art & Design Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia mieetohid@hotmail.co.uk Ahmad Rashdi Yan Ibrahim Department of Fine Art, Faculty of Art & Design Universiti Teknologi MARA Perak, Malaysia Abstract— This paper reports a study which aimed to produce useful guidelines for producing artwork for printmaking artist. Employing the content analysis approach as the main research method, the study develops printmaking guidelines for artwork which consists of two critical components, namely definition and characters. The definition components is further broken down into “matrix”, “transferring” and “by product” while the character components are divided into “multiple”, “duplication” and “mass product”. The developed guidelines should be useful to not only contemporary printmaking artist but also higher learning institution and the general public. Keywords-Printmaking, guidelines, Malaysia I. INTRODUCTION Today, despite of the advancement and sophistication of the printmaking technologies, the printmaking artists are still struggling with the unavailability of solid guidelines for producing artwork. As a result of that, some printmaking artists have been dependent upon their own instinct and creativity in producing artworks. Others would be heavily relying or referring to the ‘winner’ or ‘champion’ in the printmaking industries. It is because of this reason, the printmaking artist have become very anxious in finding new ways and possibilities, termed as alternative printmaking. Unlike the traditional printmaking, the alternative printmaking is seen to shed new lights and insight, bringing all brand new spectrum and manifesto in the world of artwork production. As noted in the literature, the definition of printmaking is always open to redefinition and reexamination so as to search for another meaning in interpretation [1]. Such effort is also seen critical in ensuring that printmaking will and always be relevant with the contemporary art. In the context of Malaysia, several attempts have been made to address this gap by researchers, however, they are dwarfed for not having theoretical grounding [2]. To this effect, this paper reports a study which aimed to produce useful guidelines for producing contemporary artwork for printmaking artist. II. LITERATURE REVIEW A. Overview of Printmaking Printmaking has a very wide definition. Understanding its definition is important for understanding the language and the guideline of printmaking. In essence, the term ‘print’ conveys the idea of impressing a design or image, of transferring it from one surface to another. [3]. Figure I below presents the language used for defining the term “printmaking”. The main criteria for show differentiate between art of printmaking and others are the design on top of the block, by product, and “the language of printmaking” which is the process of transferring. ...[transferring] [it] [from one surface] [to another]... Figure 1: Printmaking Definition There are few elements that should or must exist in printmaking based on the traditional movement as depicted in By product Block or matrix Image or design Language of printmaking 2012 IEEE Colloquium on Humanities, Science & Engineering Research (CHUSER 2012), December 3-4, 2012, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia 978-1-4673-4616-0/12/$31.00 ©2012 Crown 797