Linocut vs Woodcut

リノカット / 木版画

Both are relief prints that ink the surface left standing, and both give hard black and white contrast with thick contours.

How to tell them apart. Woodcut shows the grain and the splits left by the blade. Linocut has no grain and clears a curve with a smooth edge.

Linocut

Linocut — Ethel Spowers, Wet Afternoon, 1930 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainLinocut — エセル・スパウアーズ『Swings』1932 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainLinocut — シリル・パワー『The Tube Train』1934頃 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Cuts the smooth block boldly, giving few colors and repeated figures a driving rhythm.

Woodcut

Woodcut — Albrecht Dürer, The Four Horsemen, 1498 — Wikimedia Commons / CC0Woodcut — デューラー『犀』1515 — Wikimedia Commons / CC0Woodcut — 木版の版木 — Wikimedia Commons / CC0

Prints the surface left after carving, raising an image through line direction and the pressure of black and white.

LinocutWoodcut
Era1890s–8th century–
FamilyRelief PrintingRelief Printing
KindTechniqueTechnique
CuesLarge cut planes / Overlapping color blocks / Simplified figures / Repeating movementDirection of the cut / Hard black-white contrast / Density of line / The block's materiality
Best used forShowing crowds and daily motion as rhythm · A friendly hand-printed feel in few colorsCarving a strong story or symbol in one color · Handwork resistance and reproducibility at once
TypeLetters sturdy enough to hold against the shapes; one color per blockContrast a heavy headline with the print's fine lines
CompositionRepeat forms with aligned motion; change the current in one placePlace the black masses first; open focal points with white cuts
MaterialTwo to five color blocks, broad cut planes, the paper's groundInk black and paper; run the line direction along the form
CautionThe difference from woodcut is not mere roughness. Use linoleum's smooth curves and planes.Not a digital scuff texture. Design where the black stays and which way you carve.

Put these two together

Relief Printing

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