Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique. Intaglio is a printmaking technique in which the image is incised into a surface. ... Printmaking is a process for producing multiple original pieces of artwork; painting, on the other hand, is a process for producing a single original piece of artwork. ...

Printmaking generally works by establishing on the media (in the case of aquatint, a copper or zinc plate) grooves, lines, or any such indentations that are capable of holding ink. These indentations are impressed through the use of acid. The plate is then pressed together with a sheet of paper, resulting in a transfer of the the ink; and the plates tend to be quite reusable, depending on the particular technique.

Aquatint printing differs from other forms of printmaking in that the tonal variation is controlled by the level of acid exposure over large areas, and thus the image is shaped by large sections at a time. In constrast, etchings are line-based images; mezzotints, as another example, begin with a surface rough enough to carry a fairly dark tone of ink. The mezzotint artist then creates his image by smoothing out areas he wishes to carry less ink, and thus be lighter in prints. Etching is an intaglio method of printmaking in which the image is incised into the surface of a metal plate using an acid. ... Mezzotint is a printing process of the intaglio family, in which the surface of a metal plate is roughened evenly; the image is then brought out by smoothing the surface, creating the image by working from dark to light. ...

The technique of aquatints

An aquatint begins with a copper plate. The artist applies a ground by either dissolving powered resin in spirits or applying the powered directly to the surface of the plate. The word ground has several meanings: The surface of the Earth Soil, a mixture of sand and organic material present on the surface of the Earth Ground (electricity), in electrical engineering, something that is connected to the Earth or at the voltage defined as zero (in the US, called ground...

The plate is then heated; if the plate is covered with powder, the resin melts forming a fine and even coat; if it is in spirits, the spirits evaporate and the result is essentially the same. Now the plate is dipped in acid, producing an even and fine level of corrosion (the "bite") sufficient to hold ink. At this point, the plate is said to carry about a 50% halftone. This means that, were the plate printed with no further biting, the paper would display a gray color more or less directly in between white (no ink) and black (full ink).

At some point the artist will then etch an outline of any aspects of the drawing he wishes to establish with line; this provides the basis and guide for his later tone work. He may also have applied (at the very start, before any biting occurs) an acid-resistant "stop out" (also called an asphaltum or hard ground) if he intends to keep any areas totally white and free of ink, high as highlights. Asphalt is a highly viscous liquid that occurs naturally in most crude petroleums. ...

The artist then begins imersing the plate in the acid bath, progressively stopping out (protecting from acid) any areas that have achieved the designed tonality. These tones, combined with the limited line elements, give aquatints a distinctive, watery look. Also, aquatints, like mezzotints, provide ease in creating large areas of tine without laborious cross-hatching; but aquatint plates, it is noted, are generally more durable than mezzotint plates.

The first etch should be for a short period of time (30 seconds to 1 minute, with a wide variation depending on how light the lightest tones are meant to be). A test piece may be made with etching times noted, as the strength of of the etchant will vary. Thirty minutes plus should produce a very dark area. Etching for many hours (up to 24) will be as dark as etching for one hour, but the deep etch would produce raised ink on the paper.

Famous examples

Goya famously took great advantage of aquatint printmaking, in his Los Caprichos (1799); Los Desastres de la Guerra (1810–19); La Tauromaquia (1816); and Disparates (ca. 1816–23) This article is about Francisco Goya, a Spanish painter. ... Los Caprichos are a set of aquatint prints created by the Spanish master-painter Francisco Goya during the 1790s. ...

See also

• Jean-Baptiste Le Prince
• etching