I made this relief-style illustration a while back and used my dog as an example. I used Adobe Illustrator for this one.

I remember discovering linoleum in college; I saw it as a hobby. For some reason, linoleum blocks were surprisingly cheap at the book/supplies store on campus. I only made a few designs and never saw any potential to it other than entertainment. I never actually printed anything using this technique. I only attached the linoleum to a piece of wood and used it as a stamp a few times. It was a neat way to burn time while waiting between classes.

It’s been some years since my college days, and now I can’t even find linoleum where I live. I want to play again with relief printing at some point in my life. Maybe when I move out of Key West, I could find a place with a nice relief press. For now, Illustrator is the way to go.

The Process

It’s pretty straightforward, and it takes some time and decision-making. I took this picture of my dog, Frida, some time ago. I placed the image in an Adobe Illustrator document, lowered the opacity to 60%, and created a new layer for the vectors.

I started with the most noticeable characteristic of her face being that she’s a Boston Terrier. I then went for the details instead of the head, ears, and such. I followed her fur pattern to add some volume to the art piece. You want to start with the details and then go for the larger sections.

I made this relief-style illustration a while back and used my dog as an example. I used Adobe Illustrator for this one.

I remember discovering linoleum in college; I saw it as a hobby. For some reason, linoleum blocks were surprisingly cheap at the book/supplies store on campus. I only made a few designs and never saw any potential to it other than entertainment. I never actually printed anything using this technique. I only attached the linoleum to a piece of wood and used it as a stamp a few times. It was a neat way to burn time while waiting between classes.

It’s been some years since my college days, and now I can’t even find linoleum where I live. I want to play again with relief printing at some point in my life. Maybe when I move out of Key West, I could find a place with a nice relief press. For now, Illustrator is the way to go.

This was kind of a show and tell. In the future, I might post an actual tutorial. I’m just very proud of this one.