In this blog post, I wanted to share the preparation I go through to develop a linocut. I'm in the middle of creating this fox linocut above, working off the draft design I produced on the right hand side of the image above. I wanted to share my process behind the drafting of this drawing.
I start by drawing the subject over and over again, so I really get to know what they look like. Often, I look at videos of the subject on you tube, and pause the video so I can see how the subject moves. In drawing foxes, I watched several hilarious videos of fox cubs coming to the door of a household in Scotland to be fed. This is how I drew the sketch of the little cub below.
With my fox linocut, I had a clear idea that I wanted to depict a fox crawling through the undergrowth. Gradually, by drawing different foxes over and over again, I became familiar with their body composition and anatomy. Slowly, I worked out both the proportions of the face and the S-shape of the body.
Eventually, after a lot of trial and error, I hit upon my final composition. You can see a close up of it below, ready to be traced onto two different pieces of linocut, as it is going to be a two colour piece. I shall share how I get on in a future blog post!
