Wood-cut and print-making self-portrait

We had an wood-cut/linocut and print-making assignment. I chose wood-cut then because I thought wood was harder to carve and I wanted to give it a try! We had to draw our self-portraits first and then transfer it onto a tracing paper. Then we drew on our wooden boards. We had to carve our portrait in a 'inverse' manner, like for example if we want a part of the portrait to be printed, we don't carve those parts. At first, everyone was complaining about how confusing it was but I guess we soon got used to it!

I think my final print looks like me! I also kept the background simple because I thought the my face and hongzi looked complicated enough and I wanted to have a balance between the blacks and whites in the print. I thought it was an interesting experience because it was our first time doing this and I've always loved trying out different mediums and types of art. It was also really hard to carve the wood. I got a couple of cuts on my fingers because I wasn't careful. It was pretty hard to control because wood is hard so I had to do it slowly. All in all, I thought it was a fun experience and I don't mind doing it again!