How to Carve A Sloth

     This week we've been hard at work making stamps. We start out choosing an animal and drawing it, then we transfer that drawing to a different page and add a texture that would be condusive to the overall stamp design. The picture that is attached to this post is that step in progress. It looks much more like a sloth now, I promise. I refined the texture to make it look more like fur, and less like cuts along his back and stomach. Unfortunately, we don't have a picture of the current design that I can post, so this will have to satisfy. After we transfer the picture to finalize the stamp design, we then transfer the refined version onto a strip of eraser-like material called linocut. After that's done, we take these strange scoop-scalpels and carve out our design so that when you put the linocut in ink and press it onto paper our design comes out. In this project, the texture is essential, because it makes the animal that much more clear, and adds interest to the overall design. It's also a good way to practice drawing different textures for different animals. I chose three possible animals for this project: a sloth, kangaroo, and water buffalo. I had to draw each with a different background in order to tell which one is best. The sloth here is supposed to be in an arctic background, clinging onto an icicle, however the size of the stamp prohibited high detail of the background. The project is still in progress, but I think it will turn out well, so long as I don't make any mistakes while carving out the linocut.