Wood Engraving: The Art of Wood Engraving and Relief Engraving By Barry Moser

Read & Download Ë E-book, or Kindle E-pub ß Barry Moser

This primer on the art of wood engraving is filled with valuable knowledge including how to prepare a printing block, how to think in the medium's properties of line, shape, and ink, and how to transfer a drawing onto a block. It also has practical advice on which tools to use and which ink works best. Wood Engraving: The Art of Wood Engraving and Relief Engraving

Barry Moser has the technical virtuosity to pull more out of a piece of wood than any other contemporary wood engraver.
-American Book Collector. Paperback This is essential. Paperback Moser's skill and experience really shine through in this book. It is effective, and quite enjoyable to read. There are good practical instructions mixed with those intangibles of producing creative work that anyone who has tried will have struggled with.

Moser does a good job of providing useful advice (geared towards the beginner) while showing examples, and leaving room for each person to find their own preferences. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wish I could find a reasonably priced copy to add to my personal library (none cheaper than $75 at the time of this review). But until then, a public library copy will have to suffice.

While I am too lazy to fully enumerate the reasons why I think this book is a useful resource for beginning wood engraving, I should also add it is not my #1 recommendation. That honor goes to Simon Brett's Wood Engraving: How to Do It which shares some structure, concepts, and most of the basic skills that this one does. One thing Moser discusses more thoroughly is the use of Resingrave blocks for engraving, which he credits to a personal renaissance of his own practice. But Brett adds so much more perspective, illustration, and other valuable references while remaining in print and affordable ($25 at the time of this review). Moser has done a fine job here, but Brett's book is the finer tool for learning. Paperback An unabashedly idiosyncratic introduction to wood engraving technique. This is not a very substantial book, scarcely more than a generously illustrated pamphlet (but beautifully assembled). Those with any experience in relief printmaking will find scant new information, but for fans of Moser, this could be a scintillating view into his process (including the shocking revelation that he has long since given up hardwood blocks for a synthetic alternative). Paperback