Digital Woodcut Prints – Artist James Morton’s Creative Process

In making these digital woodcuts, I first compose a specially prepared collage of my own digital photographs. Once satisfied with the composition of these photos, it is introduced to the woodcut imaging software.

It is within this software that the image may take any form chosen. It is possible to generate coarse or refined woodcut lines or shapes to define image forms. It is, in truth, a digital carving! As with any other media, it depends upon the skill and invention of the artist.

The next step is the choosing of the color palette. This can be as broad or as limited as chosen.

Texture, transparent colors, layering etc. can also be implemented. I can work with the actual colors within the photo or derive any palette of my choosing. Although this new media can be time consuming it is spontaneous as well.

When satisfied with the piece as viewed on screen, the Giclée printing process can begin. All of the prints are made in the studio on my own wide-format printer where I have complete control over the color proofing and final results. In this way, all digital woodcuts are original works of art from start to finish. This new printing process yields extremely high definition prints, which were not previously possible using traditional mediums.

I have used the traditional process of woodcut printing in the past but was never entirely satisfied with its physical limitations and always yearned for the woodcut medium to have that same immediacy that is inherent in the acrylic paintings that I have made over the past thirty-six years. The new digital media has made what was formerly impossible possible.

Digital Woodcuts take the finished physical from of a high resolution Giclée Print and are not a "copy" or "reproduction" of an original painting or drawing etc. Each Digital Woodcut is considered an "original print" similar to Fine Art traditional printmaking.

Currently, I am making Original Digital Woodcut Prints up to 44 inches in height and at almost any length using Fine Art Watercolor Papers and Canvas.