Actually doing the woodcutting myself was a learning experience. First, I pulled the biggest derp move and carved out the actual illustration, instead of carving out the space around it. So instead of a colored icon and white around it, I had a white icon with ink around it. While some may prefer this and do it by choice, this is not at all what I meant to do, and it would've been easier to cut the other way anyways. But, I learned from my mistake and if I ever get the chance to do a woodcut I'll do it right and come across as an expert. Not.
An expert on the background of woodcuts I'm definitely not. However, my knowledge of them is much better than my skill in making them. Above is a crazy impressive woodcut. Look at the details in the shading! My illustration was blocks of ink and blocks of white. Nowhere on it did I even attempt to do any kind of shading. And it is in the actual skill that we, as people that have attempted it ourselves, can really appreciate woodblock illustrations.
I think it would be great to try to carve again. I know that I made the mistake of being too careless and cutting my finger, and then cutting out a little more from the picture than I intended to. I really enjoyed that project, though; I can see where people may have liked to make a living out of such a profession. It requires patience and concentration, but it's a very soothing act when you get down to it. Also, it's really gratifying to see the finished product, whether or not you messed up. I think over time that art of woodcutting would become easier and easier, so that one could make really detailed and elaborate designs. Maybe someday I'll buy my own supplies and mimic the project on my own!
ReplyDeleteIt is rather humbling to think about the amount of work that was put into even the simplest of images, let alone something as skilled as the image above. However, I can see someone lovingly carving out the image for hours and hours with some soothing music in the background. It truly is amazing the skill that was required before the dawn of scanners and computers.
ReplyDelete