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Graphic arts is a term applied historically to the art of printmaking
Printmaking

Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a 'print....
 and drawing
Drawing

Drawing is a visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoals, chalk, pastels, marker pens, stylus, or various metals like silverpoint....
. In contemporary usage it refers to the applied trade-skills of a graphic designer
Graphic designer

A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design....
 or print technician. The term can include the trades of lithography
Lithography

Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface. By contrast, in intaglio a plate is engraving, etching or mezzotint to make cavities to contain the printing ink, and in woodblock printing and letterpress ink is applied to the raised surfaces of letters or images....
, serigraphy and bindery
Bindery

Bindery refers to a studio, workshop or factory where sheets of paper are fastened together to make books, but also where gold and other decorative elements are added to the exterior of books, where boxes or slipcases for books are made and where the restoration of books is carried out....
, among others. Graphic arts as a trade can be traced back to the first instances of the stamped image or word.

hic art is the process of creating a design on a medium like Rubber
Rubber

Natural rubber is an elastomer?an Elasticity_ hydrocarbon polymer?that was originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex , found in the sap of some plants....
, Plexiglas, or other materials in order to transfer the images to the materials of choice such as paper, cloth, wood, metals, and plastics etc.

Early history
Tang Dynasty and Bi Shena

The technique of printing with carved wood blocks appeared about the 7th century, early in the Tang dynasty
Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an Dynasties in Chinese history preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire....
.






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Graphic arts is a term applied historically to the art of printmaking
Printmaking

Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a 'print....
 and drawing
Drawing

Drawing is a visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoals, chalk, pastels, marker pens, stylus, or various metals like silverpoint....
. In contemporary usage it refers to the applied trade-skills of a graphic designer
Graphic designer

A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design....
 or print technician. The term can include the trades of lithography
Lithography

Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface. By contrast, in intaglio a plate is engraving, etching or mezzotint to make cavities to contain the printing ink, and in woodblock printing and letterpress ink is applied to the raised surfaces of letters or images....
, serigraphy and bindery
Bindery

Bindery refers to a studio, workshop or factory where sheets of paper are fastened together to make books, but also where gold and other decorative elements are added to the exterior of books, where boxes or slipcases for books are made and where the restoration of books is carried out....
, among others. Graphic arts as a trade can be traced back to the first instances of the stamped image or word.

Traditional meaning

Graphic art is the process of creating a design on a medium like Rubber
Rubber

Natural rubber is an elastomer?an Elasticity_ hydrocarbon polymer?that was originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex , found in the sap of some plants....
, Plexiglas, or other materials in order to transfer the images to the materials of choice such as paper, cloth, wood, metals, and plastics etc.

Early history


Tang Dynasty and Bi Shena

The technique of printing with carved wood blocks appeared about the 7th century, early in the Tang dynasty
Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an Dynasties in Chinese history preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire....
. It was invented as a way to inscribe thousands of sheets of rice paper with a memoir of a beloved Empress. Every sheet of paper was placed in hilltops and shrines all over China so that her name would never be forgotten.

Movable type was first invented by Bi Shena of the Song dynasty between the years 1041 and 1048. This invention was recorded by his contemporary Sen Koo in his Dreamworld Essays. During the 13-14th centuries, the agriculturist Wang Zen made an important contribution to the development of movable type printing.

Movable type was probably first used in Europe in the mid-15th century by Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg was a Germany goldsmith and printer who is credited with being the first European to use movable type printing, in around 1439, and the global inventor of the mechanical printing press....
 in Germany, who also invented the printing press
Printing press

A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium , thereby transferring an image. The mechanical systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg around 1439, based on existing screw-presses used to press cloth, grapes etc., and possibly to print wood...
. This combination then rapidly spread to the rest of Europe, and later the world. Printing became a distinct trade.

Lithography
Lithography

Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface. By contrast, in intaglio a plate is engraving, etching or mezzotint to make cavities to contain the printing ink, and in woodblock printing and letterpress ink is applied to the raised surfaces of letters or images....


Serigraphy

Bindery
Bookbinding

Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It also usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block....


Tools of the trade
  • Computers and software
  • Process camera work, registration, crop marks & masking
  • Cutting edge technologies


From digital proof to plate to press.Alex

See also

  • Communication design
    Communication design

    Communication design is a mixed discipline between design and information-development which is concerned with how media intermission such as printing, crafted, electronic media or presentations communicate with people....
  • Graphic design
    Graphic design

    The term graphic design can refer to a number of artistic and professional disciplines which focus on visual communication and presentation. Various methods are used to create and combine symbols, images and/or words to create a visual representation of ideas and messages....
  • Printmaking
    Printmaking

    Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a 'print....