What is woodcut?

Traditionally, woodcut is a form of printmaking. It is a kind of painting that is first carved on a board with a knife and then printed on paper. The wood blocks used are pear wood, boxwood and white peach wood. A woodcut with a longitudinal section is called a woodcut, and a woodcut with a transverse section is called a woodcut. If the convex pattern is mainly used to form a picture with more white and less black, it is called positive engraving; if the concave pattern is mainly used to form a picture with more black and less white, it is called negative engraving. Others confuse negative engraving with positive engraving. Because of the different properties of pigments used in rubbing, they can be divided into mimeograph woodcut and watermark woodcut. In the past, woodcut was mostly used to copy painting, painting, engraving and printing, which was called copying woodcut. Modern woodcut is made by the author's self-painting, self-engraving and self-printing, which gives full play to the artistic effect of knife and wood.