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Japanese prints are, till this present day, manufactured from engraved wood blocks.

The process used to produce Japanese prints can be called "wood engraving" or "woodcut printing".

A unique four-step method:

The creation of Japanese woodblock prints demands the partnership of several different craftsmen / artists:

#1. That of the designer: during the period of old fashioned engraving, the designer would paint a dark outline on white paper in an attempt to give an illustration of the final picture to the colour printer.

In the twentieth century, the designer usually paints a watercolor image. He then hands this to the engraver and printer. It will always be the identify of the designer that history of art remembers (eg. Utamaro, Hokusai, Hiroshige and so forth, these were all designers of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints).

#2. That of the carver: he carves, sculpts rather, blocks of wood, each and every block for a unique color to be used in the eventual printing process.

#3. That of the printer: he paints the colours on the blocks and then pushes each block successively on to the special Japanese paper. He creates the various colour gradients, which were especially virtuosic in the "Shin-hanga" posters. These gradients are referred to as "Bokashi" in the Japanese language.

#4. The publisher: this is the "boss". He uncovers the talents required to create these artworks; the designers, engravers, and printers. Then he puts them under contract and coordinates them in an effort to generate the engraved artwork. The publisher's identify is known to us only when the works are pieces of famous cartoonists (eg. Tsutaya, publisher of Utamaro).

At the moment, the process of creating a hand-crafted print remains as described above. Yet the twentieth century observed the creation of a brand new technique, in which the artist / designer creates his own prints. This process is now called the "Sosaku-Hanga" (Creative Engraving).

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