Original print editions are created in a variety of traditional methods.
Relief printing: Woodcuts are the oldest known method of printmaking. Relief printing plates are made by cutting away from a printing plate everything except the areas intended to be part of the image. The remaining raised (relief) areas are then rolled up with printer's ink with a hand roller and impressed onto paper with pressure (using a spoon, a baren, or hand press).

Intaglio Printing: Etched or engraved printmaking is the opposite of relief printing: the image area is that part which is removed from the surface of the plate (by engraving tools or acid). Printer's ink is forced into the etched away areas and wiped off of the smooth relief parts of the plate. The ink is then transferred to damp paper with a press.

Lithography: Lithography was invented in the last century and works on the principle that water and grease repel each other. An image is created on a receptive plate (stone or metal) with any greasy substance. The image is then chemically stabilized. During printing, the plate is kept wet while it is rolled up with greasy printers ink. The greasy image accepts the ink; the water on the rest of the plate repels it. The ink is then transferred to paper by a press.

Screen Printing: Silkscreen prints, or serigraphs, involve the use of a stencil applied to a fabric mesh stretched over a rigid rectangular frame. Ink poured into the frame is forced through the open areas of the stencil producing the image on the paper underneath it. There are many methods of creating stencils.

Monoprinting: Monoprints or monotypes are made by applying printer's inks onto plates and then transferring this ink to paper with a press. Typically, there is only one image from any one plate, hence the name. These prints share with the other printmaking methods the essential characteristic that the image is created on one surface and transferred to another.