Proofing with a rubbing

I haven’t seen this method of proofing on any other linocut websites (and there are quite a few!) but it may be because I’m always trying to squeeze more detail out of a fairly “coarse” medium.

This video goes into the process of proofing with a rubbing, in order to see what is actually cut. Since the process is to do a black line drawing on the lino, then cut away everything else, it’s often difficult to “see” the cut areas clearly as work progresses. The rubbing reveals all this easily.

Proofing a linocut with a rubbing

If you’d like to comment on this or any of my posts, you can email me at dickens@mooneyart.com

Author: mooney2021

I worked as a commercial illustrator in the New York market for over 40 years, creating work for such clients as The New Republic, Forbes, Parents, Prevention Magazine, Consumer Reports, Publishers Weekly, Institutional Investor, Black Enterprise, MAD, CBS, American Express, and others. I spent the last fifteen years of my career creating litigation graphics, i.e., anything a lawyer may need to present in court, including video editing, animation, interactive graphics, text screens, and illustration. I worked on many cases that you read about in the papers assuming you were reading papers fifteen years ago! I'm also a longtime Charles Dickens fan and spent five years illustrating his great BLEAK HOUSE with 40 new linoleum cut graphics. I've done linoleum printing demonstrations in bookstores, was an invited speaker at the University of London's "Dickens Day" in 2025, and will be teaching a week-long linoleum printing class at The Dickens Universe at UC Santa Cruz in July 2026.

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