Woodcut, or wood block printing is the oldest form of relief printmaking. It can be dated back to the 9th century China and a bit later in Europe. Early printmakers used tight grained hardwoods like Cherry, Birch and Pear. Modern printmakers generally use furniture grade plywoods like Baltic Birch.
Relief refers to a process defined by where the parts of the image not intended to print are carved away. The remaining surface is inked and pressed to the receiving paper to create the final image, usually a series of images called an edition.
Relief printmaking includes other materials such as Linoleum and plastics. These are all relevant relief materials. Linocuts are a valuable form of relief that makes print making accessible to more artists. While cutting and carving a woodblock has its challenges such as understanding grain and keeping tools sharp, the benefit is a print surface that may also contribute to the final print with its own organic texture. The wood cut plate is referred to as a matrix, a prepared surface intended to be used to reproduce multiples of one image.
In many ways it’s the most direct and simple printmaking method but there are elements that make it challenging. If printing in one color, there can be no tone or gradation, as the print allows for black and white only, white being contributed by the underlying substrate. More colors can be used to add tonality by using additional carved blocks in registration. A vocabulary needs to develop between the artist and the mark making to indicate transitions between black and white, grays, without becoming a caricature.
There are as many relief print styles as there are printmakers. In a very generalized way, relief prints made as wood cuts have bold lines and areas of black and white. If using color, the same boldness and contrast still occurs. The prints often show visible wood grain in printed areas adding a handmade character. Other print methods such as Intaglio and Lithography can show more nuanced detail and tone than woodcuts, as woodcuts tend to be more stylized and graphic in form.
Every printmaker is experimental. The number of printmaking processes available can be overwhelming. Combining methods, materials and processes is the normal approach and has lead over the centuries to many more branches on the printmaking tree. Modern tools are developing all the time and have always been accepted and reconfigured into both art and photography. This is true of printmaking to a great extent. Photomechanical and digital processes have contributed greatly to this experiment for more than185 years.