ARTT 225: Woodcut Global Printmaking

      Through woodcut reliefs, we learn printmaking techniques that introduces us to new ways of storytelling. Through this class I hope to learn the history of why and how people create woodcut prints. Here's my findings as I dive into the world of wood relief printing.

X-Ray
     In this project we were made to do a image hidden within a image, or a image with a hidden message. I choose the latter. In this I wanted to shed light on the way we has a nation treat black woman and their natural hair. As a black woman this is something I've witness and even been the victim of. That is in order to be seen as value we have to either straighten or cut our hair. 

MOKU HANGA
   For our final we did a Moku Hanga, a Japanese styled woodcut. With these type of prints you carve on different blocks your layer of colors. after awhile of having a hard time picking what to do mine about, I settled on making a tarot care for the sun. Instead of drawing on a separate piece of paper and transferring onto the wood, I decided to draw directly onto the wood. At first the whole piece was gonna be just warm colors, but after looking at different color schemes in illustrations I liked I realized that in order for this piece to look visually pleasant so I added green. Her cape is meant to resemble a rooster so I studied roosters feathers.

REFLECTION 
     In this course I've learned many things, the beauty of wood prints,
the different materials(inks, water colors, rice paste,etc) that go into it.
However, the most important thing I learned was the patience needed to 
go into it. When working with wood, if you rush and go to hard you can leave
many stray marks in your design. It's important not to get overzealous
and try to hurry on making the piece the idea you see in your head. You'll
get that design if you just calm down and enjoy the process for what it is: the
​art of making art.