Woodcut

printing · art technique · relief printing · wood carving

Carving the design. An artist takes a block of wood and carefully carves away parts of it using special tools called gouges. The parts that are carved away will NOT get any ink on them, while the parts left at the surface level will.

Applying the ink. Once the carving is done, the artist rolls ink across the flat surface of the wooden block with a special tool called a brayer (it looks like a paint roller). The ink sticks only to the raised parts that weren't carved away.

Making many copies. The beauty of woodcut is that one carved block can be pressed onto paper many times to create multiple identical prints. This made it possible for artists to share their work with lots of people before printing presses existed.

The image is backwards. Because the block is carved in reverse, when you press it onto paper and look at the final print, the image appears the right way around. It's like magic with mirrors!

An ancient art form. Woodcut printing started in East Asia hundreds of years ago and became super popular in Europe during the Renaissance, when famous artists like Albrecht Durer used it to create stunning detailed prints.