Linocut Printmaking Process | How I Did it (right or wrong) from Thumbnails to Printing Press

Artist and printmaker: Michael Halbert
Print Title: St. Louis Imagined
Print Physical Dimensions: w x h Paper: 22 x 30 in. Plate: 18 x 24 in.
Print Support: Legion Stonehenge printmaking paper (white) 22 x 30 in.
Medium and Technique: Linocut one-color black relief ink - printed on etching press at Meramec Community College. I had instruction and help in printing from instructor Brian Lathan.
http/inkart.com
@michael_halbert
This video gives a glimpse of the process I used to make this linocut. I'm still learning these printmaking process and I still make my share of mistake, so please don't take everything I do as Gospel. However, if you do see something I'm doing wrong (or well), please leave a comment. Please leave comments that are polite and helpful.
What I learned from this lino. If I cover the Battleship Gray Linoleum with black (airbrushed with black India ink), I can cut the lino much like drawing on scratchboard. I have been drawing on scratchboard for over thirty years, and now I find that that drawing experience transfers to the linocut process. When I cut the lino, I'm not just making a printing plate, I'm making a drawing.
I learned that I can use my drafting tools to cut a lino. My only college experience as a young guy was trying to be a draftsman. You know, one of those guys in the 1970s that sat at a drawing board and drew plans. I never became a draftsman, but I've always found useful ways to use those tools.
I learned that you don't always have to follow the scientific rules of perspective. You can bend those rules. For instance, you can use different eye levels in the same picture. I used different eye levels in this print. The main horizon in this image is where the St. Louis Arch sits. That means you would be looking down on the top of the trees that are at the bottom, but instead we see them as straight on. The eye level for those trees is at the very bottom of the image. I think it works and is more fun and interesting than if scientific perspective had been accurately followed.
I learned that very fine detail in a linocut can be more trouble than it's worth. There is a breaking point for how fine you should get with the marks in a lino. Too fine and the printing is unpredictable. Even a master printer, which I'm not, will have to spend a lot more time with each print and even then not all prints will be acceptable. I want to focus more on good design than on how fine my marks are.
I learned that sometimes it's fun to be ambiguous. Someone said to me that they liked the river that runs through the middle of this image. I said that's not a river, it's a field. I could have taken that as a mistake on my part. Afterall, I made a representational image and a representational image should clearly represent. It seems in at least one way it didn't clearly represent. I didn't, however, think it was a mistake. I thought it was fun that it could be seen differently by different people.
I learned that an 18 x 24 inch linocut takes a long time do especially if it is finely detailed. I've known for a long time, though, that something in me wants to see those fine details. So, I'm going to try and back off oo those details just enough that I can get consistent clean and sharp prints but still have enough detail to be of interest to me.
Any Comments or questions? Please leave them below. Please be polite and respectful and I'll do the same when answering.

[@bridiemacdonald9436]

Your work is gorgeous!

[@INKART-Studio]

Thank you!

[@davedraws76]

I’m a huge fan of Eyvind Earle. I’m absolutely floored by this piece. Are you selling prints?