Drypoint is most often used with other printmaking techniques. It can be used to give dark accents to a nearly completed etching, for example, or it can be used first to sketch in lightly on a copperplate the proposed design for a line engraving.

What is drypoint art?

Drypoint is a printmaking process in which a design is drawn on a plate with a sharp, pointed needle-like instrument.

How was drypoint created?

The lines produced by printing a drypoint are formed by the burr thrown up at the edge of the incised lines, in addition to the depressions formed in the surface of the plate. ... A perpendicular angle will leave little to no burr, while the smaller the angle gets to either side, the larger the burr pileup.