Creating a Scenic Landscape Linocut Print

1. Intro: Linocut print making is the first raw art form that lends itself to an almost endless range of subject matter. My favorite type of prints make is the scenic landscape. It all started when my wife suggested I carve this lighthouse scene as a wedding gift for a couple. The room in this Rhode Island spot was a meaningful location. After that, I was hooked on using linocut to capture places that are meaningful to me, like Vermont or Ireland or that I think are just playing cool like some of these vintage roadside attractions. I love working in this style, and now I want to share my process with you. We'll go over finding the right shot to use for reference, setting up the block, carving your image, and making your final print. You'll need basic linocut print making knowledge before taking this class. If you need to learn or brush up on the fundamentals, checkout my first class, Carving Your First Linocut Print. Remember, what I'm going to show you is my own process. There are lots of great block for an artist who have found other ways to work in this style. Keep that until you develop your own unique landscapes style. Time to go over the class project. 2. Class Project: Your class project. You're going to make a print of the favorite location. If you need to get a reference image online, that's cool, but I would love for you to use an original photograph. Either use something you've already taken or take this opportunity to explore your hometown and capture some new photos. Once you have your reference image, you'll put it on a block, carve it, and print it. Don't forget to share pictures of your art in the class project section. This is going to be fun. Let's get started. 3. Taking Reference Photos: [MUSIC] The first thing we need to do is figure out what place we're going to use as our subject. Now, you may want to work from memory or just use your imagination. The landscape doesn't necessarily have to be from a real place, but I like to make prints of actual locations, usually places I've been, or places I'd like to go, and if you do too, let's talk about reference images. Of course, you can easily Google a location and find images, this comes in handy when you're not able to be in the physical location and take photos. But if you're doing that, always check the usage rights. You don't want to get yourself in trouble for violating copyright law, especially if you're making art that you plan to sell. I think it's more fun to base your print off your own unique image, that's why I take my own pictures whenever I can, like I did recently while hiking through Raven Run Nature Sanctuary in Lexington, Kentucky. Although we're learning how to make prints, many of the same basic principles for good photography apply here too. That's because composition is a key component in art. There are lots of good photography classes on Skillshare, and I suggest watching at least one of them. Just learning some basic composition is going to go a long way in helping you get better reference images. I'm not going to go into too much detail on those, but I will cover a few fundamentals while we're walking these trails. First, look for objects of interest in the foreground. Maybe there's a large rock, or stump, or flower that isn't the focal point of your image, which shows up in front of your main scene. Those items are great ways to add depth to the overall image. Look for them and set up your shot accordingly. Another thing to look for is perspective. Imagine you're standing to the side of a river. Instead of taking a straight on shot across the water, turn yourself so that the rivers width recedes into the distance. The diagonal perspective lines are going to create a stronger feeling of action than a straight on photo. It could also create leading lines. Look for ways that lines like branches, cracks in the ground, things like that can lead the viewer's eye toward other focal points. While you're taking photos, think about the rule of thirds. Your camera will usually show you a three by three grid. Try placing the main subject matter in the upper right or upper left third, preferably on the intersection of the grid lines. This will create a more compelling shot than having the focal point in the exact center. If your photos don't perfectly obey the rule of thirds, don't worry. Later, I'll show you how to dial it in when you're setting up your block. Finally, look for areas of contrast. An image of a dense forest packed with the same type of tree might not make an interesting print. But a few trees in one third of the image with an open body of water and the rest provides contrast. If your main subject is placed correctly in that open area, it's going to be more noticeable and compelling. Well, I think I have a lot of good photos from this hike to work with. In the next video, I'll narrow them down and choose one to use for the print. 4. Choosing Your Photo: Now that we have a whole bunch of photos from our photoshoot, we're going to go through them and pick out what's going be the best for our print. This first one, I like it. It has some nice perspective, some nice things happening in the foreground. There's a lot to work with on this one. This is promising. Let's see what else we have. I really like this one because the weird shape of the tree is going be interesting for our print. It's really going to stand out, plus you got the rocks in the foreground, the mountain is looking good. You can't see a ton of the river, maybe we have another shot. This one has more of the river going off in the distance creating more of that perspective plus some nice foreground elements in just the right places. This is another promising one. I really like this one too. The way the rocks and the tree is shaped. This one, the river looks really good, there's not as much interesting stuff happening in the foreground, there's some nice leaves, flowers, that's pretty cool, but I think we'll pass on that. When we get to the trail, this is interesting because of the way the trail is shaped, so think about making an S line from the different points on your nine square grid. Now, we're down in this area, there's some good photos here, this is cool, but there's just a lot going on. I don't know how well it's going to translate to a print, so I might pass on that. This one is a little better because of the foreground elements. With these not quite, there's not enough that's shows clearly, but over here, now we're getting somewhere. You've got the rocks going in different angles. You've got a little bit of that water falling down over the rock that gives a nice little bit of action that we can put into the print. You also have the water going in a bit of that zigzag S line, that's going to lead the viewer's eye across the page, that's something to think about as well. This one just too much going on, not enough that's clear. I think if we're going into this area, it's going to be one of these shots with the rocks and the water going in different directions. Back over here, something with the rocks in front with this interesting tree here, and something where you can see a decent bit of the mountain and the river in the distance. Once I make my final decision, I'll go ahead and get the block ready so we can get to carving that image. 5. Preparing the Block: Once you've chosen an image, you need to get a pencil drawing of it onto your linoleum block. First though, you should prepare your block with guidelines so that you know where to place your image. The first thing you'll want to do is create margins. Having a white border around your image is good idea if you're planning to frame it or sell it to people who might frame it. You certainly don't have to have a border but if you don't, a frame will cut off some of the image. Plus if you're selling your art, that border helps potential buyers envision the piece framed or mattered in their own home. If you're printing on paper that's larger than your block, you don't need to worry about this. But if the block and paper are the same size, just take a ruler and make even lines on every side. Most of my prints are 8.5 by 11 and I take them in by half an inch all around. You can use whatever margin size works best for you. Just don't cut the margins away until the end of the carving stage. Having that thickness around the block provides a little extra stability as you're carving. Next, this is an optional but helpful. Let's go back to the rule of thirds and create some grid lines to make sure our image has the best possible composition. Take the width and the height of either your block or the space inside the margins, divide by three and draw lines to create that nine square grid. That way, even if your photos composition was a little off, you have another chance to improve it. The block is ready, let's get your image on it. 6. Preparing the Image for Carving: Now that your block is ready, it's time to get the image onto it. One way to do this is to just draw it directly onto the block, but remember, you have to carve it in reverse of how your final image will look. What I usually do is save a flipped version on my computer or tablet, and look at that while I draw. If you're not comfortable with free hand drawing, you can also print it out and trace. Remember the method of transferring the traced image. After tracing in pen, scribble over the whole thing with pencil, then flip it over, place it onto the block using your grid lines, and redraw onto the back of the tracing paper. This will put a backwards image onto the block. If you're making a really detailed print, don't worry about drawing every detail onto the block especially if you're using tracing paper, since that means drawing in an extra time. It's up to you how much detail you want on the block. When you're starting, you may want more detail drawn onto guide you, but as you get more comfortable with the process, you may just need to get a general outline down, and then make detailed decisions as you're carving. It's totally up to you. Let's get carving. 7. Carving the Block: [MUSIC] Once you have your pencil drawing done, you can start carving the block. I'm using a Blake battleship gray block. Remember these blocks are stiff and depending on the type of carving tool you're using, the tension of carving can cause shoulder and neck pain. Avoid this by heating up the block first. The easiest thing to do is run a hairdryer over it until you feel you can cut smoothly. I'll be using file tools though. These provide a smooth curve without having to heat the block. Also, I've said this before, but it's worth repeating. Always carve away from your body and keep your free hand behind the blade. Turn the block instead of turning in the direction of your hand. I also recommend getting a block hook to provide stability and ease tension on your body. What do you carve first? Well, that's up to you. I generally try to get an outline of larger areas done first and then work my way toward finer details. I don't carve away the largest area, however. Like I said, with margins, these larger areas provide more stability so, I save the big sections like sky for the end. I mentioned earlier that it's not necessary to draw all the fine details. One reason is because small natural elements like leaves and grass are better off done spontaneously. You also don't have to carve every detail. Sometimes a better approach is to carve somewhat of a pattern into a section to suggest grass or leaves or whatever that area contains and then be a bit more detailed in a few spots, such as in the foreground. [MUSIC] You can add an extra touch of subtle realism with your speed ball number six blade. This is the blade that's curved on one side with a sharp pointy tip. It's great for trees or other wooden objects. You can drag the point to create lines that suggests tree bark. You can also lightly scrape the curved side to create texture in a more weathered look. [MUSIC] Clouds can be tricky. If your print has clouds, you'll probably be refining them after your test prints. If you're going for realism, trying to carve them to precisely might make them look fake. Also be aware of how clouds affect the overall darkness of your print. You might do a test print and find that even though you wanted the scene to be of a cloudy day, it instead looks like a storm is rolling in. I found that the best approach is to carve away your sky loosely with horizontal strokes so that you leave lines behind. Make those lines a little wavy and random and it will give enough of an indication of clouds without looking stormy. After your test print, you can judge whether you left too many lines behind and get rid of however many you need to. [MUSIC]. Once you're done carving your main image, you can cut away the margins with your widest blade. One way to add a little extra interest to your print is to break the print. Here I'm letting a couple of branches and leaves creep into the margin just a bit. This is a fun trip, but be careful not to overdo it. [MUSIC] After the margin is carved away, I'm going to go over it again with my sweep tool. This is a wipe flat blade that helps make sure you're not leaving any lines behind. You want your margins to be as clean as possible. So, a sweep tool is a great investment. [MUSIC] Then after all the margins are done, you can move on to printing. [MUSIC] 9. Wrap Up: I hope you had fun learning how to make a scenic landscape linocut print. Keep in mind that what I've shown you is my own process. That doesn't mean it's the only way or the best way to work in this style. The more prints you make, the more you will figure out little tricks that work better for you. Most importantly, the more experience you have, the more you'll develop your own unique style. I would love to see your art. Please share process pictures and final art in the class project section. If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment, or contact me anytime at mattreno.com or on Instagram, @mattrenoart. Until next time, thanks for watching. Stay creative.