Editing Ben Day process

{{Short description|Printing and photoengraving technique}}
[[File:Benday Dots.svg|thumb|Ben Day dots]]

The '''Ben Day process''' is a [[printing]] and [[photoengraving]] technique for producing areas of gray or (with [[CMYK color model|four-color printing]]) various colors by using fine patterns of ink on the paper. It was developed in 1879<ref name="Churchwell">{{cite news |last=Churchwell |first=Sarah |date=February 23, 2013 |title=Roy Lichtenstein: from heresy to visionary |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/feb/23/roy-lichtenstein-heresy-to-visionary |access-date=2012-06-27}}</ref> by illustrator and printer [[Benjamin Henry Day Jr.]] (son of 19th-century publisher [[Benjamin Henry Day]]).<ref>G.H.E. Hawkins (1914) [https://books.google.com/books?id=qtvmAAAAMAAJ "Ben Day Effects"], ''Newspaper Advertising'', pp. 17–21, Advertisers Publishing Company, Chicago</ref> The process is commonly described in terms of '''Ben Day dots''', but other shapes can be used, such as [[Hatching|parallel lines]] or [[texture (visual arts)|texture]]s.<ref name=westadv>Edmund F. Russ (Oct 1919) [https://books.google.com/books?id=QzpCAQAAMAAJ "The Ben Day Process"], ''Western Advertising'', Vol. 1 No. 9, pp. 5-&c, Ramsey Oppenheim Co., San Francisco</ref>

Depending on the effect, color, or [[optical illusion]] needed, small colored dots are closely spaced, widely spaced, or overlapping.<ref>W. Livingston Larnard (1921) [https://books.google.com/books?id=9jFRAAAAYAAJ "How and When to Use Ben Day"], ''The Printing Art'' Vol. 37, No.4, pp. 305–312 (See also: pp. 30, 216, 218, 347, 463)</ref> [[Magenta]] dots, for example, are widely spaced to create pink, or an interleaved pattern of cyan and yellow dots might be used to produce a medium green. The technique has been widely used in color [[comic book]]s, especially in the mid 20th century, to inexpensively create [[shading]] and [[secondary color]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://4cp.posthaven.com/in-defense-of-dots-the-lost-art-of-comic-book|title = In Defense of Dots: The lost art of comic books}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=M5MwAQAAMAAJ "The Use and Abuse of Ben Day"] (Jan 6, 1920) ''Business Digest and Investment Weekly'', Vol. 25, No. 1. pp. 10–11, Arrow Publishing Corporation, NY</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=zJRAAQAAMAAJ ''Success in Commercial Art''] (1920) Meyer Both College of Commercial Art</ref>

The process differs from the [[halftone]] dots, which can vary continuously in size to produce gradations of shading or color, and are commonly produced from photographs. Ben Day dots are of equal size and distribution across a specific area, and are commonly applied to line art or graphic designs. To apply the dots, the artist would cut the appropriate shapes from transparent overlay sheets, which were available in a wide variety of dot size and distribution, to provide a range of tones to use. When [[photograph]]ically reproduced as a line cut for [[letterpress printing]], the areas of Ben Day overlay provided the effect of tonal shading to the printing plate.<ref>Gilbert P. Farrar (Sep 18, 1913) [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZcIpAAAAYAAJ "Strong Displays by Use of 'Ben Day' Process"], ''Printers' Ink'', Vol. 84, No. 12, pp. 33–36, New York</ref><ref>Willard C. Brinton (1919). [https://books.google.com/books?id=8-woAAAAYAAJ "Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts"], ''Industrial Engineering and Engineering Digest'', Vol. 14, No. 12, p. 466, New York</ref>

Ben Day dots have been used deliberately, usually to evoke their use in color comics. They were a hallmark of American artist [[Roy Lichtenstein]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roy Lichtenstein Artist Profile {{!}} Andipa Gallery |url=https://andipaeditions.com/roy-lichtenstein-artworks/ |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=Andipa Editions |language=en}}</ref> who enlarged and exaggerated them in many of his paintings and sculptures to evoke the printing technique used in the comic book illustrations he commonly copied. The animated trilogy ''[[Spider-Verse (franchise)|Spider-Verse]]'' (2018–2024) uses a variety of visual styles, including illustrations with visible Ben Day dots. 

==See also==
* [[Dither]]
* [[Hatching (heraldry)]], the representation of color by monochrome lines.
* [[Letratone]]
* [[Pointillism]]
* [[Polka dot]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:Dot patterns]]
[[Category:Engraving]]
[[Category:Printing processes]]