Printing was an expensive process during the 19th-20th century and the demand was growing. Picture images were extremely rare as they took great skill and a lot of time for a master engraver, generally the copper plates were engraved by hand and only black in was used. To create a tonal range (without using grey or white inks) the screen dots were spaced to create subtle and cheap tonal differences.
With the development of the use of end-grain wood blocks by Thomas Bewick in England at the start of the 19th century, the wood engraving became the preferred method throughout the 19th century. The durability of end-grain engravings outstripped that of metal plates. The downside is mistakes and errors in the engraving were impossible to correct.
The image above is hand carved in 1683, Pietro Santi Bartoli. 50x magnification. the thicker the line the more ink would be held and the darker the print.
The most common materials for printing plates were wood, copper and steel.
Wood was used throughout the 15th and 16th century.
Copper engraving was popular from 1600-1850. Copper plates were easy to work with and didn't rust, although as the metal is soft it wore out quickly and the print definition became blurred.
Steel engraving became very popular from 1850 onwards. Steel plates being harder they lasted longer and the quality of the line engraving was considerably finer.
William Henry Fox Talbot combined the use of multiple screens with "Intaglio" printing. [Intaglio describes any printmaking technique in which the image is produced by incising into the printing plate – the incised line or area holds the ink and creates the image] printing to develop numerous visual impressions. The relief halftone process was also successful, and fully implemented in commercial ventures as early as the 1890s. The accuracy of color printing in comics, comic books, and graphic novels has significantly improved since The Yellow Kid first earned his name in 1896.
William Henry Fox Talbot, above
An Intaglio print from a banknote.
Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous-tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size or in spacing, thus generating a gradient-like effect. "Halftone" can also be used to refer specifically to the image that is produced by this process.
Advancements in color ink technology allowed for brightly colored mass-produced serials that appealed to a wider audience. Serialized publication of original comics began to fill a niche in newfound consumer demographics. For the first time, the market directed its advertisements and appeal to children.
Halftone printing was a major step forward in the reproduction of color images for mass consumption. Using different size dots printed in the same or different colors provided publishers with a way to create the illusion of full color imagery without over-saturating the paper or losing accuracy.
Timeline
The invention of half-tone printing has been attributed to many people over the years.
1852-The idea of halftone is credited to William Henry Fox Talbot. (British 1800-1870).
British Patents were drawn up which suggested using photographic screens in connection with the "Intaglio" photographic process. Over the coming decades this idea would be refined. Several different screens were proposed.
1869-William Augustus Leggo (Canadian 1830-1915)developed the 'Leggotype' whilst working with for the Canadian Illustrated News. The first printed halftone image was of Prince Author published on October 30 .
1879-Benjamin Henry Day jr, was an illustrator and printer who developed the Ben Day Dot process. The dot screen allowed for multiple colours to be printed in a dot matrix screen.
1880-The New York Daily Graphic would publish the first photograph with a full tonal range on March 4th. The image was titled 'A scene in a shantytown'.
1881-Considered by many to be the first truly successful method was patented by Fredric Eugene Ives (American 1856-1937) in Philadelphia. Although he found a way to break up the image into dots of various sizes he did not make use of a screen.
Fredric Eugene Ives, above
1882- Georg Meisenbach patented a halftone process in Germany called the auto type. The invention was based on the previous ideas of Berchtold and Swan. He used single lined screens which were turned during the exposure to produce a cross lined effect. Georg was the first to achieve any commercial success with relief halftones.
Georg Meisenbach, above.
1890- Shortly after Ives collaborated with Loiuse and Max Levy and improved the process with the invention of the cross-lined screens. The relief halftone process became an immediate success.
Early in the twentieth century, pulp fiction magazines and comic books depended on brilliantly illustrated covers to attract readers. The handpainted images were also used to help spark the imagination and enable readers to interact more deeply with the associated narratives. At the end of the pulp fiction era, most of these handpainted works of art were thrown away. Of the 50,000 or so original paintings made for pulp fiction magazines, fewer than 900 remain (Pulp Fiction 2010).
Halftone Photographic Screening
Prior to digitised images, special photographic techniques were developed to break grayscale images down into discrete points. The earliest of these was "screening" where a coarse-woven fabric screen was suspended before the camera plate to be exposed, breaking the incoming light into a pattern of dots via a combination of interruption and diffraction effects. The photographic plate could then be developed using photo-etching techniques to create a printing plate.
Other techniques used a "screen" consisting of parallel bars (Ronchi Ruling), which was then combined with a second exposure with the same screen orientated at another angle. Another method was to expose through a screen-plate with crossing lines etched into the surface. Later, either photographic contact screens were used, or sometimes no screen at all, exposing directly on a lithographic (extremely high contrast) film with a pre-exposed halftone pattern.
Traditional Half-toning
The resolution of a halftone screen is measured in lines per inch (lpi). This is the number of lines of dots in one inch, measured parallel with the screen's angle. Known as the screen ruling, the resolution of a screen is written either with the suffix lpi or a hash mark; for example, "150 lpi" or "150#".
The higher the pixel resolution of a source file, the greater the detail that can be reproduced. However, such increase also requires a corresponding increase in screen ruling or the output will suffer from posterization. Therefore, file resolution is matched to the output resolution.
Ben Day Dot Pattern
Dot Shapes
Though round dots are the most commonly used, many dot types are available, each having its own characteristics. They can be used simultaneously to avoid the moiré effect. Generally, the preferred dot shape is also dependent on the printing method or the printing plate.
Round dots: most common, suitable for light images, especially for skin tones. They meet at a tonal value of 70%.
Elliptical dots: appropriate for images with many objects. Elliptical dots meet at the tonal values 40% (pointed ends) and 60% (long side), so there is a risk of a pattern.
Square dots: best for detailed images, not recommended for skin tones. The corners meet at a tonal value of 50%. The transition between the square dots can sometimes be visible to the human eye.
A halftone screen consists of a series of evenly spaced dots of varying size and shape. In the world of comic book restoration, these halftone patterns are the bane of the comic book restorer and the Achilles heel of even the most “invisible” restoration as they are incredibly difficult to reproduce or match. As such, these repaired areas are readily visible to the unaided eye and magnification, even by as little as 1.5X, only helps to make the difference between areas that are restored and areas that are not, even clearer.
Roy Lichenstein the pioneer of Pop Art famously elevated comic books to high art. The highest price paid for his half tone canvas "Nurse" was US$83.4 million in 2023.
Lichtenstein's 1963 diptych pop art painting "Whaam". The fighter aircraft was a magna acrylic and oil on canvas artwork 172.7cmx406.4cm (68inx160in) masterpiece that took the world by storm. it was first exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York and then purchased by the Tate Gallery, London in 1966. It has been on permanent exhibition at the Tate since 2006.
Roy Lichenstein, above
References:
Goldman, Paul. “The History of Illustration and its Technologies.” The Book: A Global History. Michael F. Suarez, S.J. and H.R. Woudhuysen, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. 231-244.
Lesser, Robert. Pulp art : original cover paintings for the great American pulp magazines. New York: Sterling, 2005.
Pulp Fiction: The Golden Age of Science Fiction. Performed by Tim Powers, Kevin J. Anderson, Otto Penzler, Ray Bradbury, Frederik Pohl, and Marc Zicree. Distributed by UFO TV, 2010. Film.
Stulik, Dusan C. and Art Kaplan. Halftone: The Atlas of Analytical Signatures of Photographic Processes. Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2013.
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