2D Design Woodcut Project

Today's Class- Tonight we started a new graded project, composing in black and white using the medium of the woodcut print. We started with a slide review of the history and diversity of printmaking, from the Renaissance to contemporary prints. I also showed some examples of student woodcuts from previous semesters. After that I distributed wood and let the students start working on designs. Later in the class I gave a demonstration of effective and safe procedures for cutting wood.

How to make this up- You can't complete the project until you get a piece of wood. I'll have blocks available next week for students who missed tonight. Meanwhile, you can work out your design on paper. The format is 8"x6" (can be vertical or horizontal). The assignment is to create a black and white illustration for a literary work. It may be fiction or non-fiction, novel, short story, poem, etc. It can not be a children's book, comic book, or anything already well illustrated- I want you to come up with your own images. The illustration you create can be a specific scene from your book, a composite scene with various aspects of the book, or some image that sums up the whole book. The image must be representational, but need not be realistic to be effective.

Successful prints will communicate the idea and have an interesting mix of black and white shapes. Above and below are student examples from previous semesters.