Traditionally the term planographic relates primarily to lithography but in recent years its usage has grown to encompass screenprint, and the various photomechanical and digital processes. This continually self staged resist yields an etched plate that will print with a varying depth layer of ink. In addition to the traditional relief and intaglio processes, which involve cutting into a block or plate, there are other methods of printmaking which do not, known as planographicВ processes. Many printmakers combine different intaglio techniques when they work on their plates and for this reason it is not unusual to see a contemporary print described simply as intaglio. Intaglio prints (from Italian intagliare - to engrave or incise) are those in which the image is cut into a surface or plate. Engraving, etching, drypoint, carborundum, aquatint and mezzotint are the most common types of intaglio printmaking.

Stenciling involves cutting the design out of a thin material and then printing the design by rubbing or spraying. Planographic is unlike the last two in which the design is printed from a flat surface. The presence of a platemark is a good way of telling an intaglio print from a relief or planographic print. Intaglio printmaking is the reverse of relief printmaking, in that the design is carved in a way to hold the ink, and then printed that way. Finally a dampened paper is pressed against the plate. The surface is wiped clean so that the ink remains only in the incised areas. When an intaglio plate is passed through the printing press it leaves a raised area around the image where it has pressed into the paper, known as the platemark. Intaglio printmaking techniques work by incising into the surface of a plate (steel, copper etc.) with tools or with acid. Intaglio prints (from ItalianВ intagliare -В to engrave or incise) are those in which the image is cut into a surfaceВ or plate.В When the plate is inked, the incised lines hold the ink and the image is transferred to a second surface, usually paper. The most common relief processes are woodcut, linocut and wood engraving. The raised areas are inked and the image transferred onto a second surface, usually paper. Relief prints are those in which the areas around the image to be printed are cut away, leaving the image on the block in relief.

Intaglio printmaking definition