Linocut Boy

whale linocut linocut boy.jpg

Nick Morley, more commonly known as Linocut boy is a well-known illustrator specialising in printmaking, especially relief printing with lino. Morley says most of his “personal work explores our relationship with nature, and how we perceive and try to understand it. There is endless inspiration in the natural world”, which is why many of his linocuts are prints of animals which caught my attention as I am looking at a similar subject, but with marine life.

His print style seems to vary between a very graphic style – thick simple lined images that have a lot of contrast. You could say they almost look digital. And then another style where the prints are incredibly detailed with many intricate fine lines – a style I personally prefer. One of my favourite prints of his is the giant whale lino, handprinted with a wooden spoon because it was too big for the press. It is one of his more detailed pieces, the whale is not coloured in pure black and white but is covered in small circular patterned details – it looks like stars in the sky. The extra lines make the print look textured and old. I also really like the delicately carved swirly lines circulating around the whale, representing the water movements – it is a technique I tried to mimic in my own whale print.

Quote link: Draw cut ink press talks to Nick Morley.

Image link: Whale linocut 90 x 180 cm

https://linocutboy.com/about/

Research: Weeks 26 - 29

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