I supported X-Tools in their latest Kickstarter campaign, which introduced a kit enabling users to "burn" screens digitally directly from your laptop. Here's the first design (above) I've created with the intention of using with this innovative technology.

I have yet to focus on creating designs specifically for the celestial bodies within our Solar System. While I've incorporated plenty of illustrations of planets and moons into mission designs, they've never been the sole focus. To initiate a mini-series for this new project, I plan to craft some prints centered around my favorite celestial bodies, beginning with Io, the first major moon of Jupiter.

 The video showcases the XTools D1 Pro in operation, which is noticeably SLOW, capturing a process that spanned approximately 1.25 hours. This could potentially be attributed to my learning curve with the device. It's possible that with more experience, I might discover that the settings for the screen-cutting process can be 4x quicker.

The image above displays only the red ink, which looks satisfactory on its own. However, I know I will have an issue with aligning the black ink with the left side of the halftone on the moon’s limb. Accurate registration will be nearly impossible. To address this, I plan to re-burn the screen so that the orange ink covers areas where the black can overprint.

I'll provide another update once each step proves successful. At that point, I intend to share details of the complete process, including these modifications made to the red plate.