It has some flexibility in order to work better with the grains of the wood. Engraving uses a harder wood than its predecessor and is carved on the cross grain. The newer method allowed artists to use such useful techniques as scraping the surface in order to add texture to the print. Its fundamental difference from wood-carving is that rather than printing the image made by the wood left by the gauges, engraving prints the ink from its valleys. While woodcutting has become secondary to newer and more complex techniques, it has not lost its effectiveness.
Artists continue to create prints from wood blocks.
They demand expertise skill. Where modern artists' use of the wood block becomes unique is their use of its solidity. Modern wood-engravings often accentuate their deep darkness. Felix Vallotton's Le Mauvais Pas is directly conscious of the limitations of woodcarving and uses it to the design's advantage. It is an illustration of pall-bearers carrying an unidentified coffin in an unidentified setting.