(gentle music) - I've always felt encouraged to make and create.

(gentle music) Most of my work is based in drawing and printmaking.

I'm Steven Crotts.

I'm an illustrator in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

I had the opportunity to work with him to recreate some of his family members in drawings.

I work with authors and musicians.

Taking ideas from other people, collaborating with them to interpret their text, their story, whatever it is they have into a visual format.

A lot of the aesthetic that I'm kind of after is based in relief print making.

I like the old look of that.

There's kind of a vintage quality that comes from, you see it in a lot of antique books.

(upbeat music) A lot of my client work is based in that sort of printmaking look.

The process for printmaking always begins with a lot of sketching for me.

I like to get the image pretty well figured out before I go to the block.

I carve into various types of wood and also linoleum.

If there's any text, it's gotta be backwards because once the ink is applied to the block, and then paper is pressed on it, it will make the mirror image.

There are tools made especially for this, but I also like to use carving tools that are made for wood as well.

You're removing what will be the highlight.

You have to be really careful, first of all, not to cut yourself, but also there's no undo button.

So you've gotta be precise as you're carving.

(soft music) I apply a lot of the same process into my digital drawing now.

I'll start with a black background and take a digital brush and I'm carving out, in a sense, light out of the dark.

As a kid, I always loved to draw and had a family that supported that.

I had excellent teachers in schools, including my mentor Barbara in high school was a particular influence who really pushed me to begin imagining that I could do art in a career.

And from there, I majored in art at Winthrop University.

When I came to take a printmaking class, it felt like learning a lost art.

It seemed to be this old way of doing things that was really fun to learn.

It was a challenge.

Once the image looks like it's all been carved, I take a brayer and spread out ink.

I get it to the right consistency.

I've got a friend that says make it sound like bacon frying.

And then that is applied to the block, and then the paper is applied to the block.

The pressure can come either through like a wooden spoon is a really effective tool or a printing press.

The print comes off of the press.

I hang it up to dry, it usually takes a handful of weeks.

And then they go out into the world.

There's definitely a growing popularity with printmaking.

There's an allure back toward something that is tactile, that takes time, that is not instant.

And I'm really grateful for the chance to do what I do and collaborate with so many interesting folks.