( CNN ) Who says you need a printer to churn out digital-quality images ? The Human Printer , a project from graphic design duo Stinsensqueeze , is recreating this modern effect with decidedly old-school techniques . Louise Naunton Morgan and Stina Gromark use fine tip markers and endless patience to mimic the layered tonality of CMYK color printing , which uses cyan , magenta , yellow and black to create the full spectrum . ( You may recognize these colors from your old printer cartridges . ) However , the handmade component gives each print its own look and feel . `` With something handmade , you create unique experiences or unique art works , whereas digitally , you can produce it over and over again , and it 's exactly the same , '' says Gromark . How it 's made . Recreating an image seems both incredibly simple and frustratingly specific . Using a half-tone version of a digital image as their guide ( imagine a picture broken down into tiny grayscale circles ) , the designers create four layers of tiny pen dots that correspond with the CMYK process colors . If done correctly , the dots should create the illusion of seamlessly blended colors and defined shapes . `` It 's like what you see on a billboard : if you were to look really closely , you would see all of the individual dots , '' Naunton Morgan explains . `` The process is really very simple , just take care not to make lots of errors ... Anyone could do it . '' The amount of time needed to complete an image largely depends on the subject 's complexity and the size of the dots ( smaller dots create a more convincing optical illusion and take more time ) , but on average , it takes one person eight to 10 hours to fill a letter size sheet . Fusing the human and the digital . Naunton Morgan and Gromark first started the Human Printer in 2009 while studying at Central Saint Martins in London . As graphic design students , they often discussed human interaction with technology , and how the handmade relates to the digitally produced . `` You print an image for a digital print and it always has the same finish to it . Something that 's handmade is much more unique , it 's much more individual , '' Naunton Morgan says . `` These ideas married themselves together and we were like 'Hey ! What would happen if you were to do ( digital printing ) by hand ? ' '' Their peers ' enthusiasm compelled them to extend the project beyond graduation , and Naunton Morgan and Gromark eventually absorbed it into their current design practice . ( They currently operate out of London and Paris . ) The future of prints . While they do accept commissions like a traditional printing service and have recently started selling prints online , Naunton Morgan and Gromark try to reposition their work in more creative ways . In September , they were invited to create their largest and most ambitious work yet at Unseen photo fair in Amsterdam . For four days , visitors watched Naunton Morgan , Gromark and a rotating team of five volunteers work in a glass cabin , dotting out a landscape on one of its 140 square foot walls . They 've also released two books exploring human intervention in digital processes . Though they have n't confirmed what they 'll try next , Gromark is happy to muse on the possibilities . `` Could we print in on another material ? Could we explore the same process in a 3-D printer ? '' she says . `` We 're just trying to expand the way we see it . '' Replacing traditional printing , however , will never be the goal . The hours required to make a print by hand are wildly impractical in the face of today 's instant printers , and no matter how much effort is made , it 's impossible to get a true duplicate with markers . In fact , the Human Printer put this to the test last year by hand-printing the same image 20 times in a row . The prints were not identical , but they were inimitable . `` That 's the nature of why it 's called the Human Printer , '' says Naunton Morgan . `` It 's about celebrating things that are handmade and do have errors , compared to those that are digitally produced . '' Is this the end of ambitious Chinese architecture ? Explicit nude drawings that shook the world . Fondation Louis Vuitton unveils Paris ' latest landmark . The lost art of the American pin-up .
The Human Printer recreates digital prints by hand using fine tip markers . Stinsensqueeze , the design duo behind the project , mimics CMYK color processes . In a video posted to their YouTube channel, they explain how it works : " Making a letter size image this way could take up to 10 hours .