Any programs or techniques to turn a painting into a woodcut etching?

[Henry Stahle]

I am thinking Gustave Dore or Durer in style. Any thoughts?

The only way I get a good looking digital woodcut or linocut is to make it by hand. I have been using both Painter and ArtRage for that. In Painter I use the Scratchboard tool, in ArtRage the pen tool wit the square head setting. On a Multiply layer filled with black colour I make the "cuts" in white to reveal the canvas. The canvas can be painted on in a colourfu way just like Chet Philips does: http://chetart.com/ Chet also got two videos in his Portfolio that explosions how he works Making digital woodcuts.

Here are two versions of a "cut" I have made using ArtRage. The whole image has an overlay paper texture to make it look less artificial. Chet Philips uses that too. It looks nice to me. Still it does not look like Dürer or Doré. They made much finer lines, more like gravure or xylographie, wich came close to the metal cutting tech. The expressionist movement in early 1900, especially in Germany, developed the modern looks of the wood- or lino cutting. That is what I like the most.

[Monport]

Laser engravering machine can turn a painting into a woodcut etching.You can try the Monport laser engraver.