In preparation for my next engraving, I've been intensely studying my favorite printmakers - Rembrandt, Meryon, Whistler, and Hopper. You might say, "But these aren't engravers, they are etchers." And you would be right. For those unfamiliar with the process, engraving is cut directly into the metal plate with a sharp burin. The etcher, on the other hand, lightly scratches through an acid resistant film, then puts it in a liquid bath and lets the chemicals do all the work.
I only mention it because the first takes strength and great control. The second can whip along with the freedom of a sketch. Of course, neither of these techniques guarantee great art or even good art. I've worked a lot in etching and engraving and, believe me, they're both extremely demanding - taking years to handle skillfully. Still, relatively speaking, technique is the easy part; the difficult part is seeing everything in terms of black and white lines. This takes artistic vision and an extraordinary memory.
For a number of reasons, I do mostly engravings. A great artist and the greatest engraver of all was Durer. But his technique is over the top and rather scary. As far as etchings are concerned, compare technically superb but artistically limited portrait etchings by an artist like Anders Zorn with some Rembrandts. If you do this, you may get an inkling as to why Rembrandt is such a great painter, draftsman and etcher.
Adrian
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