New colouring idea 3: Lino Cut...

I haven't practised any lino or woodcut work for a couple of years but after finding a new interesting illustrator, I began to reconsider it as a possible direction in which to move my style and work towards.

CASE STUDY: SIMON VAETH
Simon is a Danish illustrator, mainly dealing with small, personal narrative pieces. Though he does work in paint, pencil and sometimes charcoal, Simon creates some very interesting woodcut pieces.

However, it was this piece that really caught my attention!

In a way, it reminded me loosely of the native Canadian art as the image and narrative is fit into a particular frame to draw the audience's attention inwards. What really struck me though was the flecks of detail in the fox's fur and the impression of water around the goat's feet. I also really like the effect that the slightly raised sections of the cut are visible too.

With this fresh inspiration to bear in mind, I practised making a few lino cuts of my own.

The one thing I surprised myself with was how quick I could produce a cut and how I could still maintain my desire to work in a smaller scale.

This took 10 minutes to draw and cut

This took 5 minutes to draw and cut

This took 35 minutes to draw and cut

It was from these experiments that I decided that linocut was the best choice for me to follow. It was quick and easy for me to create, printing the cut did not take long either and it fitted the "folklore inspired" essence that I wanted to incorporate.

It also works well when layered underneath my main line work and fits nicely next to my ink drawings too.