Artistic Features of Zhangzhou Woodblock New Year Pictures

Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures are unique in artistic techniques and technological processes, and their woodcut lines vary in thickness, combining rigidity with softness, mainly with thick black lines. In the pursuit of simplicity and contrast in color, manual overprinting is used on the sub-plate, which is called "decorative plate". The pigments used are divided into water quality and powder quality, including red, light red, black and natural paper. Zhangzhou New Year pictures are generous in composition and exaggerated in shape, especially those printed on black paper, which are rare in other areas.

Zhangzhou woodblock New Year pictures have two kinds: positive and negative. The negative version is printed with the background color (red) of the "young god" character. The engraving method and usage of this negative plate are unique to China. The edges of all lines and color blocks on the engraving are inclined outward, which is convenient for adjusting humidity during printing. When printing, use plate overprint, first color plate and then black plate.