Haiku 3 - The Print

The final piece in your Haiku trilogy is a print. You will be creating a simple print based on a line drawing that represents your haiku. In class you will be using simple Styrofoam plates to create your prints.

Picture 1 - The Sketch

The first step is to draw your image. Something to keep in mind when drawing: Each line will become "negative" space in your print. What you see as dark in your drawing will become white in your print.

Picture 2 - The Plate

The second step is to transfer your drawing onto your printing plate. Remember this: If you want your image to print in the same orientation (view) as you drew it, you will need to transfer your sketch onto the printing plate in reverse. Compare picture 1 and picture 2 (picture 2 is in reverse).

Picture 3 - The Print

The third step is to print. You will be using a acrylic paints and fine art paper for your actual prints.

Materials needed:

• Pencil
  
• Paper (for sketch)
  
• Styrofoam Plate
• Pens, Nails other like objects (to etch with)
  
• Art Paper (to print on)
  
• Acrylic Paint (print medium)
  
• Acetate (print palette)
• Paint Roller
  

Haiku 2 - The Haiga

Continuing your exploration into how to illustrate your haiku poems that you wrote in English class, we are going to look at the idea of Haiga. You have just completed an "edit" series of your haiku which entailed creating three illustrations, one for each line of the poem, much like a comic strip. Now you are going to be challenged to consolidate your imagery into one evocative picture to represent the entire poem, first in the form of a Haiga and then later in the form of a print.

The characteristics of a haiga are: ink-brush or watercolor painting, a poem and calligraphy, usually all combined in an image that appears to be quite spontaneous and free flowing.

Haiku 1

our bowed heads reflect
on spirals; brittle bodies,
floating question marks

Simon Clarke on Flickr

As a collaboration with Mr. Kattsir's English class the Grade 7 is exploring how to illustrate Haiku poems. Things we talked about this week in class were:

A haiku is a form of poetry that is usually about nature and emotion, it originated in Japan, it can be somewhat open-ended and it does not need to rhyme. I told you the story about Sergei Eisenstein (Russian filmmaker) who was inspired by the haiku to develop montage (editing) in film. Based on this idea I gave you the following poem by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694):

An old pond!
A frog jumps in -
The sound of water

I then asked you to draw 3 frames in your Development Sketchbooks and to create an illustration for each line of the haiku. Almost like a comic strip, you illustrated the poem and told the story without words. Your drawings had to be black-line only, no shading, no colouring, just varieties of line. The second haiku that you drew was also by Basho:

In all the rains of May
There is one thing nor hidden -
The bridge at Seta Bay