It looks pretty good to me, but it does get a tad muddled where the cactus is coming up out of the skull's jaws. The skull detail is amazing though.

Yeah, I'm debating on removing it entirely, or working on it more to make the two distinct

I have NO idea what kind of printing experience you have, so pardon me if this runs into "things you already know" territory. xD I suggest carving from MDF, since it might be cheaper in the long run and looks a bit stronger? It looks like the wood lino might be just a softer quality? (I actually have not heard of "wood Lino" before, so I wondering what you are referring to. >O<) To help not cut yourself, I'd use a slipstrop (http://www.amazon.com/Flexcut-Tool-...../dp/B0002IXW28) to keep your tools sharp, since dull tools is where most wounds come from + if you can build a quick bed for your print to help it stay in place, something like this: http://deaddragondesigns.com/random/blockbed.png that'd help with your surface, if not for some of the shelf liner you could put down temporarily. :3

As for the piece itself, it looks like it use a little more line variation to help tell what's going on. It's gotten a bit muddied, maybe carve out the teeth a little more? Trying to think of a good solution for that. Also, do you want the grunge around the piece, or are you going to clean up those bits? They look a little out of place, but I think that is a more personal preference.

I hope I helped some!

I actually have no real print making experience. I got the needed supplies from what friends told me who know what they're doing and then whatever youtube and vimeo videos i've found on it, and going off what other artists works. So this is all really helpful. The block is lino glued to a wood block base. It came with the speedball kit I was able to get, I think I need to get different ink though, since this ink feels like it could flake off the paper and is rough to the feel. Also, do you know what sort of paper works best with this? and what inks that are good for it too?

I'll probably do more cleaning up on this, since last night I was super tired when I finished(around 5:30am) and did a few test prints to see what I did wrong.

OH Okay it's one of those! Yeah, totally go out to Lowe's and get some MDF, cheaper, I feel like it's stronger than that stuff, and you can cut it to any size. The ink from speedball won't flake off, but you need to get the ink taunt and it makes kind of a tearing/crunchy sound when you move the brayer. But yeah it is a BUTT that it isn't waterproof, because I have a whole lot of it and I ordered it before finding that out the hard way. D: I need to look for a sealant that works. You can use acrylic paint with retarder to help loosen it a bit, but if you find your paint too watery, I suggest good ol' cornstarch to thicken it up again. Paper I suggest watercolor paper, but honestly you can print on almost anything, though I do not suggest thin papers like rice paper, since it can rip in a block print. (They take better to screen) Staring at your second print, it is looking better! Totally get yourself a baren if you plan to do more, though a wooden spoon is a good alternative! :D I hope I helped a little more!

I have done this sort of carving a few times. Very impressive work. Nice use of white space. I must admit it took multiple looks to find the skull and that was after reading the other comments. I think you need to clean up a bit around the teeth of the skull. If you were going for a big, predatory dinosaur skull look, you definitely got it. I think it would "read" better if you removed the frill on the top of the skull. It muddles the image a bit, at least to me, because it isn't something I associate with a predatory dinosaur skull. It makes the image confusing. If it were me, before I did any carving, I would make a print and then mess around with the image till I liked it and then start carving since once you take stuff away, you can't put it back.

As for cutting yourself, sharp tools are safe tools...but if you are using anything like what we used at my high school to do linoleum carving, sharpening isn't the easiest thing to do. 320 grit wet and dry sand paper over a pile of paper towels (or something else that can conform to a rounded tool) is the most effective means I have found to sharpen non-flat bladed tools. The slipping can probably be controlled by using some of that anti-slip drawer liner stuff. Actually with the wood block underneath, maybe just use some 400 to 600 grit sand paper (both of which could also double for tool sharpening, particularly the 400 grit).

If you want to play with other forms of print making, might I suggest picking up a couple of linoleum floor tiles (those industrial flooring tiles, I think is what they are called, ex. http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay.....;amp;cId=PDIO1 ) and try carving on them. I have had a lot of fun with carving these. The results I got were closer to a dry point style of print, lots of fine detail but with a much more durable printing plate. The tools are also less aggravating to keep sharp (at least the ones I use, which are actually wood carving tools). The only downside of this particular sort of printing is you really do need a press to get good prints...though I imagine you could do something more like the style of printing you are doing now if you stuck to images with lots of carved out area.

thanks for the advice I might try it out with the vinyl flooring, but that mainly depends.

also, the frill is necessary in that it's a Dilophosaurus, and would be something that isn't if the frill was pissing, also, since it's already carved that way, if it was removed there would be a gap. http://images.wikia.com/dinosaurs/i.....urus_skull.gif

also, there is a second attempt at it, cleaning up the lines to make things easier to see and thinning the cactus outline as well http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10656966/