Drawing into Woodcut

Bring your existing drawings into the print studio and learn how to translate them into layered, multi-color woodcut prints. Using figure drawings, still lifes, portraits, or other observational studies, students will explore how line, value, shape, and gesture can be separated across multiple blocks and rebuilt through overlapping layers and color. We will cover image simplification, transferring drawings to woodblocks, planning layers, carving, registration, inking, and hand printing. Students will use Cranfield Safe Wash Relief Inks applied with brayers and print by hand onto Japanese washi using a baren. Emphasis will be placed on how layering multiple blocks can create depth, color relationships, and a stronger connection between drawing and printmaking.