Editing Monotyping (section)

==Comparing monotypes to monoprints==
Historically, the terms ''monotype'' and ''[[Monoprinting|monoprint]]'' were often used interchangeably.<ref>Singular impressions: the monotype in America. Joann Moser. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997.</ref> More recently, however, they have come to refer to two different, though similar, types of printmaking. Both involve the transfer of ink from a plate to the paper, canvas, or other surface that will ultimately hold the work of art. In the case of monotypes, the plate is a featureless plate. It contains no features that will impart any definition to successive prints. The most common feature would be the etched or engraved line on a metal plate. In the absence of any permanent features on the surface of the plate, all articulation of imagery is dependent on one unique inking, resulting in one unique print. Additionally, the term monotype is often used for an image made by inking a non-absorbent surface with a solid colour, laying over it a piece of paper and drawing onto the back of the paper. When the paper is pulled off the resulting print consists of the line surrounded by ink picked up from the inked plate. The result has a chance element, often random and irregular which gives the print a certain charm, a technique famously used by British artist [[Tracey Emin]], a graduate of the Royal College of Art, where the practice of monoprinting in general was regarded as "fake painting".

Monoprints, on the other hand, now refers to the results of plates that have permanent features on them. Monoprints can be thought of as variations on a theme, with the theme resulting from some permanent features being found on the plate—lines, textures—that persist from print to print. Variations are confined to those resulting from how the plate is inked prior to each print. The variations are endless, but certain permanent features on the plate will tend to persist from one print to the next.
[[File:Edgar Degas - Brothel Scene (Dans le Salon d'une Maison Close) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Brothel Scene'', [[Edgar Degas]]]]