The Kid Should See This

Linocut carving and printing by Maarit Hänninen

Watch more with these video collections:

Amsterdam-based linocut artist Maarit Hänninen filmed how she carves and prints her illustration, titled Tomorrow, Tomorrow, with a printmaking technique called linocut. First, she transfers her original artwork to a tinted lino block, a linoleum surface, using a pencil. Then she carves around the to-be-printed areas with chisels, clarifying the illustration with black sharpie.

Maarit Hänninen linocut
To test the piece, she rolls the ink into a thin layer with a brayer, transfers the ink to the carving and presses a paper to the ink. With some final tweaks, she prints the final linocut carving on prepared rag paper. Details between each step of the process reveal how much additional care a print requires.

Maarit Hänninen linocut
Maarit Hänninen linocut

Visit Hänninen’s shop and follow her on Instagram.

To create your own prints with a similar art form, block printing, check out BlockPrint, Making an Impression, Print, Pattern, Sew or Printing by Hand. Level up your printmaking techniques with Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Art of Mokuhanga.

Looking for supplies? Here’s a great kit to start with.

Next: How to screen print, a video series by Eva Stalinski, Nick Wroblewski, Woodcut Printmaker, printing with a 2000lb cast-iron Kluge Letterpress machine, and more ink.

🌈 Watch these videos next...

Watercolor, gouache, acrylics, a paint comparison

Rion Nakaya

Upside Down, Left To Right: A Letterpress Film

Rion Nakaya

The art of making a book: Setting type, printing, and binding by hand

Rion Nakaya

The art & technology behind 1960s Wallpaper Manufacturing

Rion Nakaya

Sway: Portrait of Nick Wroblewski, Woodcut Printmaker

Rion Nakaya

Stone Lithography, a demonstration at Edinburgh Printmakers

Rion Nakaya

Printing with a 2,000 lb cast-iron Kluge letterpress machine

Rion Nakaya

Paper Folding with Matt Shlian and Sesame Street

Rion Nakaya

Pacific Light: Water, ink, oil, and soap form a tiny universe of color

Rion Nakaya

Get smart curated videos delivered to your inbox.