Superman

Superman 6x8" six-color woodblock print

The year is 1978 and Christopher Reeve is the Man of Steel in ... Superman.

The tagline for the film was "The movie that makes a legend come to life" and that was pretty accurate. Superman was already one of the most recognizable icons in American culture, and this movie (and the fact that it was a good movie) served to make Superman even more indelible. I was seven years old when I saw this movie in the theater, and it certainly made an impression on me.


This is the most ambitious woodcut I've done to date with four blocks totaling a six-color print. The layout was tricky, having to make sure each block was going to line up with the next block and so on. The printing was tricky too, registering each block carefully to line up the colors on every print. Above are the first three blocks cut awaiting printing.


A print (with the yellow already printed) being pulled from the 2nd (red) block.


The third (blue) block on the inking table during printing.


The final (black) block in the process of being carved.


And with the printing of the fourth and final block, the print is complete.


The iconic (and patriotic) fruits of my labor

Yoda: "Do or do not. There is no try."

Yoda 3 x 4" woodblock print with watercolor

The Hollywood icons series continues with the coolest puppet since Kermit... Yoda. Yoda first appeared in the 1980 blockbuster film The Empire Strikes Back (the best of all the Star Wars films, if you're keeping score).

just printed from the block

This woodblock print is printed in a couple of two-color combinations and also just in black relief ink and then watercolored.

two-color print in light and dark green


two-color print in green and black

The Bionic Woman

The Bionic Woman 3" x 4" woodblock print with chine collé

The Hollywood icons series returns today with Lindsay Wagner as Jamie Somers, the Bionic Woman. It didn't seem right to do the Six Million Dollar Man (two posts down) without giving the Bionic Woman equal time.
This is a woodblock print which I've printed a couple of different ways. The first print is a chine collé print with the woodblock printed on top of a vintage merchandising image (you can either view it as a statement about commercialism, or just a retro-cool print). The second print is a two color woodblock print. The transparent green color was printed first as a solid block of color, then the image was printed on top of the background in black relief ink.

two color woodblock print



two color woodblock print fresh from the press

Carnac the Magnificent

Carnac the Magnificent - 3" x 3" two-color reduction woodblock print

I thought I'd revisit Johnny Carson since he was recently named the number one television icon. Here for your consideration is Johnny as Carnac the Magnificent.

(Carnac holds the sealed envelope up to his turban)

CARNAC: Sis boom bah.

ED McMAHON: Sis boom bah?

(Carnac rips the envelope open and removes the card)

CARNAC (reading): Describe the sound made when a sheep explodes.

This print is a two-color reduction (or suicide) print. It is so named because in this process multiple colors are printed from a single block (usually there is a separate block for each color). The block is carved, one color is printed, then more of the block is carved away, then another color is printed, and so on. Once you carve away more of the block and begin printing the next color, there is no going back. So you have to be careful in the layout and planning stage.


A few prints with only the first color printed.


Inking the block with the second color after more carving.


The second stage of the block.



A finished print pulled from the block.

True Grit

True Grit 4 x 4 woodblock print

John Wayne played Rooster Cogburn in the 1969 film True Grit, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. John Wayne epitomized rugged masculinity, was larger than life, and my dad loved him. There's a line in the Statler Brothers song Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott? that sums up my father's (and his generation's) feelings about John Wayne and what he represented in society: "True Grit's the only movie I've really understood in years." My father was also fond of saying "real men don't eat quiche".

Like the Clint Eastwood print, this is also a two-color woodblock print. The blue color field is printed first, then the image, inked in black, is printed on top of it.

inking the block

fresh off the press