Woodcuts. 

The practice of woodblock printing spans not only the ages but regions of the world.  From the incredibly complex multi-layered Japanese prints to the mid-evil European master printers.  Woodcuts started it all, before more modern techniques in printing it was all wood.

Woodcut printing is a relief printing method, meaning the negative of the image is cut away leaving the positive, or printed area for inking.

The tools involved range depending on the size of the piece, and the style.  Their are two basic types of chisel styles:  European and Japanese.  The European style have rounded handles which fit snugly in your palm, this style allows for more leverage while carving which is helpful when using hardwoods, however, they fall short on control.  The Japanese style chisels are equipped with straight handles, which provides for more accuracy, they also have removable blades so upgrades can be made due to wear.

In theory any wood can be used to make a print.  From heavily grained woods, to completely smooth panels, it all depends on your final vision.

One of the masters of Japanese printmaking, and creator of one of the most well known Japanese image is Katsushika Hokusai, and his piece The Great Wave off Kanagawa. 

There are many modern artists working with this medium today.  I'm going to highlight one of those individuals.  In someways she takes shortcuts to get her final product (uses a Dremel instead of chisels), but to her credit she is incredibly prolific, and has an enormous amount of work.

Her name:  Swoon
Occupation:  Street Artist.