The Great Wave - Part 1
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters hold it up as a top-tier long-form process video, recommended whenever the Great Wave or Hokusai comes up.
What it is
The first part of a long series documenting Dave Bull's Tokyo woodblock workshop as it produces a reproduction of Hokusai's The Great Wave. It follows the carving, proofing and printing of the reward print for Kickstarter backers.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2020 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec Obsnold · 2020-01 · on “The 'Great Wave' has mystified art lovers for generations (2019)”
If anyone is interested in Japanese wood block prints I really suggest checking out David Bulls channel on YouTube. He did a whole series on his own copy of the Great Wave. [this video]
Strong rec rwmj · 2020-03 · on “Dutch museum says van Gogh painting stolen in overnight raid”
I think there's a genuine reason for them to be worth more since they are closer to the original painting. There's a fantastic (and long) series on Youtube about this: [this video]
Strong rec MengerSponge · 2026-02 · on “The Rediscovery of 103 Hokusai Lost Sketches (2021)”
I bought one of his prints of The Great Wave off Kanagawa. It's stunning. The series is up there with Clickspring's skeleton clock in my pantheon of "greatest long-form process videos" [this video]
Recommends Cerium · 2021-04 · on “The 'Great Wave' has mystified art lovers for generations (2019)”
You may find David Bull's youtube content interesting. He is a Japanese woodblock printer living in Asakusa, Tokyo, where he runs a print shop. In 2015 he did a reproduction of the Great Wave and documented the progress online: [this video]