Holbein Cut

In order to help me to understand better the aesthetic that I want to replicate, I decided to try to recreate a woodcut by Hans Holbein.

I'm hoping that this process of redrawing and cutting will help me to learn about the use of line and mark making better.

I printed it at about A5 - just smaller - and traced it out on a lightbox. Already I could see the intense detail and fine lines could potentially be a struggle when I cut it. The fact that I'd printed it relatively small was so that I didn't spend far too long making a big cut, but I could get used to the aesthetic. However, this could prove to be a bit of a mistake in regards to me trying to get the detail in.

The point though is to understand the lines and marks better, consider the way that they're used to shade and suggest texture...

I'm hoping that the small scale will also help me to practice getting some really tight details too. I'm wanting my final outcomes to be really neat and fine, so although it could be a downside in some respects, printing and cutting it on such a small scale could prove beneficial.

Technical stuff I'm learning about cutting:

- Contour lines can be used fairly sparingly in order to suggest a shape or form

- When cutting the fine lines, to avoid a 'wedge' kind of shape, I have to cut once one way, then carve back into it, either on one side or from the opposite direction. This sharpens it off to more of a tapered point instead of a dull block.

- Always cut the inside of tiny details before the outline

- Take breaks ! Having neck pain and crippled hands is no fun.

- The plates always take longer to cut than I think they will - So I need to factor this in when I'm doing my finals

- Move the block as I cut in order to get smooth lines and curves

- Drawing the stencil in pencil makes it easy to transfer onto the lino, but it also smudges and rubs off really easily - do I need to go over it in marker to stop it from losing the details? Even when I cut from top to bottom or the other way, it's hard not to lean on the rest of the plate - Doing curves or something where I'm moving the plate around means I end up smudging the rest of the drawing.

I've mentioned some of these and other things I've come across in the following issuu doc:

All in all this plate took me about 10 hours to cut. 4 hours on Friday, and around 5 - 6 hours on Saturday.

I love that I spent ages trying to get all the details accurate and the one thing that I messed up was the frame! The straight lines. So clearly this is something I need to work on. I'll guide the cutting tool along a metal ruler on my final prints.

It's made me realise that I definitely have the ability to cut the kind of refined prints that I'm after. It's down to my drawing and image making skills to come up with interesting, developed compositions, and accurate shading etc.

I feel happier now though about my final outcomes and what I could possibly achieve.