Fritz Eichenberg

Fritz Eichenberg was a German-American illustrator whose main medium was wood engraving. Throughout his prolific career as a book illustrator he worked with many different kinds of literature but specialised in material with elements of fantasy, spiritual and emotional conflict and social satire. He illustrated authors such as Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Poe and Grimmelshausen.

Heathcliff and Catherine. Wood engraving for 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte. Photo credit to theartofchildrenspicturebooks.blogspot.co.uk

Fritz Eichenberg is one of my favourite illustrators because his style is so dark with huge dramatic shadows, and I love the crazyily detailed mark making throughout his pieces. This gives a subtly shaded effect which I think looks great. I've experimented with lino printing in the past which kind of reminds me of this style of work, just not as delicate, so I think it would be fun to try and do something similar to this. I could even use white pencil on black paper to try and imitate the way his images look.