Sugarloaf

This is a version of my piece, "Sugarloaf" printed directly on 1/4" clear acrylic with my LogoJet UV printer! This piece measures approximately 6" x 9"

I originally created this piece back in 2007 with nothing more than pens and paper. There was a raw simplicity to these older pieces that I still love. But, being a bit of a tech junkie, I am constantly drawn to new opportunities with my laser and UV printer! This new version, 14 years later, is utilizing some of the incredible potential of these machines. This might get a bit technical, so forgive me as I geek out for a minute 

I started by reverse-printing the background behind the clouds with a white under-base and color. Next I flipped the acrylic over and printed some texture on the surface for the clouds. There is a way to develop depth to the ink by printing a version of the artwork that’s black and white… where the white elements build up more ink than the black, it’s called “inverted grey gradation”. So I ran 8 layers of white under-base… twice. This gave the clouds a 3D bubbly shape. I then printed the color over the top of the clouds. Next up was a brand new trick to make them extra glossy. I ran a single pass of 100% clear gloss over the clouds… but, I only used 1% of the UV lamp. This allows the gloss to remain un-cured and looks “wet”. I then ran another pass of clear gloss at 1%, but with 100% of the UV lamp. This locked in the “wet” look, and cures the gloss. Finally, I printed the mountains with white and color… but no gloss. I was hoping to create contrast between the glossy clouds, shiny acrylic, and the matte finish of the mountains.