How do I create my linocut illustrations?

All my designs start as a pencil drawing, I draw my animal and then work out how many layers of colour I need to do to turn my drawing into a lino print.

I take a piece of linocut, I use a soft cut material, and I trace my drawing onto it, making sure to reverse the image, as I will need to carve the mirror image of the drawing.

First I hand carve with my linocut tools everything I want to remain white. Carving away the linocut removes the surface, meaning that no ink will attach to it and therefore won't be printed.

Once I have finished carving, I roll Printmaking ink onto my linocut, and hand press the linocut into paper. That is my first layer complete. This needs to be fully dry before printing the next layer, so I hang up the paper, and leave it for a few days.

While my print is drying my next step is to go back to the linocut and carve away everything I want to remain the colour I have just printed.

Once my print is fully dry, I ink up my linocut, and print the second colour on top of the first colour I have printed.

I continue with this system until my design is complete and I have created my linocut print. Each of my linocut illustrations have a different amount of layers, for example, my giraffe has three layers whereas my Emperor Penguin and Chick has six

Before I start carving, I have a rough idea how many layers I will need to turn my pencil drawing into a linocut print. But this tends to change during the creation process, adjusting to how it's looking as I go. However, once I've carved away the linocut it can not be put back, once it's gone, it's gone! This method is called reduction linocut.

Once my print is complete and dry, I scan it into the computer, and using Photoshop I turn my linocut print illustration into greeting cards and wrapping paper.

Love, Corrina x