Step 1. Drawing

This pencil study was made directly from a mounted specimen that the Riverwood Conservancy uses for education and outreach events. When I’m drawing, I’ll use my hands like a pair of adjustable callipers to take measurements (size of the eyes, distance between the eyes, size of beak, length of feather tufts) to ensure that all the spacing and proportions remain correct. Some minor artistic license also happens if I feel it’ll help with the final image.

Once the initial features are lightly blocked in, it usually takes a few hours to build up the drawing to the finished state. The paper here is 100% cotton Stonehenge toned printmaking paper.  One side of the paper is slightly smoother than the other; I recommend drawing on the smoother side. Soft pencils like a B grade Tombow Mono 100 or Mitsubishi Hi-Uni are highly receptive to this paper.

Step 2. Transfer

The drawing was scanned and flipped horizontally before being printed out. Soft graphite was rubbed onto the back on the printout before being placed on top of the hard grey lino where I went over the image with a pen/hard pencil to transfer it onto the lino.

Step 3. Carve

Battleship grey lino has a hard surface and is best carved using high quality woodworking tools. When removing large areas of lino, I use U-shaped Power Grip gouges. To carve the fine details of the owl’s face, I used Micro Palm tools made by Flexcut. Their V and U-shaped gouges are made for precision carving. To maintain the sharp edge of the tool, I honed them periodically while carving the owl using a Flexcut Slip Strop Kit.

Step 4. Test Prints

Pulling the first print is always exciting and these 2 prints with crimson ink are pretty close to the end result. The test prints were also used for experiments to determine whether it was better to hand colour the owl using colour pencil or acrylic gouache.

Step 5. Final Printing + Hand Colouring

Akua was used to print the owl and this Soy Bean oil based ink has a matte finish. To match the look, I used oil based Polychromos colour pencils. For the eyes, a base layer of Cadium Yellow was followed by Cadmium Yellow Deep. Polychromos white works as a base layer, but to get the most opaque white possible required going over it with a Prismacolour white and a Derwent Drawing white pencil.

End Result

Over the past several years I’ve made a number of Linocut Prints, primarily as example pieces to promote workshops and inspire students, but I intend for this Great Horned Owl print to have a larger impact through fundraising.