Risograph Printing

 Risograph Printing 

Risograph machines were once commonly found in schools and offices and have more recently been adopted by artists and cartoonists as a unique printing medium. The printer resembles a copy machine, but the process is akin to screen printing as each color layer must be printed separately and in a particular order. Because of this, artists working on the risograph (or “riso”) might limit their prints to one or two colors. 

To start, the artist places an original drawing on the riso scanner and inserts a drum of color ink into the machine. The riso generates a master (essentially a stencil) of the image. As each page is printed, ink is pushed through the master onto the print. To add another color, the artist inserts a different color drum and creates a new master, which is then printed over the first color layer. 

The comics in this exhibition use two or three colors, meaning each page passed through the risograph printer multiple times. The resulting prints are distinct with bold colors and textured layers of ink.