Medieval etchings/engravings

1) An Etching by an unknown artist 2) A woodcut

 (Sources for this page: Wikipedia & instagram)
Etchings/engravings is the way in which people used to create art onto or for buildings or into stone for multiple purposes. They typically use flat surface by cutting grooves into a material which creates a perusable or engraved image.

They usually engraved into; stone, silver, wood, glass, or steel or create a printing plate out of copper or another material (typically metal.) Today, we can create a similar way or working with lino and a press. Engraving was historically, an important way to create imagery through artistic printmaking:- mapmaking, illustrations for books or magazines. 

We can see a lot of the same finish today in several ways and it's obvious that the unique finish of printmaking in previous years/centuries, has highly impact the way we see art. You can today, see tattoo's with a similar line making method that would be left on a print making image - This is @Mxmttt's work:

As you can see by these images, you can see that the lifework resembles that of an a medieval etching. The interesting way that it forms the shading is very popular in today's tattooing industry yet each person who adapts the style uses it in their own way and technique.

Sin eater's illustrations:

 I have made an entirely separate post on sin eater's illustrations; but due to relevance - here it is again. The way that sin eater uses linework and subtle cross hatching to create the style of an etching is ever so interesting. 

Diggingest Girl:

As you can see, printmaking is still a physical thing. This is a piece by an illustrator named "Diggingest Girl". She creates lino cuts and presses them onto paper and that leaves her with a pleasant result. These are typically used in books, or clothing or on accessories and are quite popular for designs at the moment.