Colleen Barry NYC Artist

More on Oil Transfer

Added 2025-09-12 12:57:41 +0000 UTC

I don’t use a projector when I make my transfers. My go-to method is the oil transfer, where I print out cartoons, sometimes small, sometimes very large, and coat the back with oil paint before transferring them. For large works, the paper often has to be cut into sections since a single sheet won’t fit through a standard printer, so I puzzle the fragments together. For years I would print at Kinko’s from a USB drive, but recently my husband, Will, invested in a large-format printer. Now I can run a continuous scroll of paper and print cartoons directly, sometimes the cartoons I’ve drawn in Procreate, other times straight from a photo, other times transferred directly from an actual drawing or study.

The oil transfer method suits me because it keeps drawing present in the process. As a draftswoman, I like to retrace my lines; it gives the image a stamped look, a traditional aesthetic I value. Projectors, by contrast, feel more minimal and clean. They can yield smooth, curvilinear lines, but you also have to contend with perspective distortion unless the canvas is perfectly perpendicular to the lens. For me, oil transfer is not only more reliable—it also keeps the hand and the history in the work.

If for some reason, I began working really, really large, in a monumental Saville way, I would adopt the projector for sure.