Finished Lino Cut Illustration

Here is the final assignment completed for my Editorial Painting class. The book was being used for teaching purposes only. I combined two linoleum cuts: the actual image and then the carved text so that I could separate the two in the future if I wanted. Then I digitally combined them in Photoshop CS5 and colored it there. The actual print I got from my lino cut is below. I'm pleased with the result, and it was a lot of fun to learn a new process. Despite being an editorial painting class, my teacher Cathy Gendron has always been very open to utilizing all sorts of techniques to create the perfect editorial illustration. Who knows, I might include lino cuts in some future work I have planned too.

Lino Cut and Printing

For my Editorial Painting class as our last project of the semester we are illustrating the novella "The Big Wave" by Peter S. Buck. The story is set in the by gone days of Japan, and so I decided that using a similar technique to the Japanese woodblock print would be appropriate. With the help of my friends Veronica, and Ray, and a few instructors, I'm attempting a linoleum print for the first time! Here's the "lino cut".


The linoleum comes as the grey cut away color, so to help me see what I cut away as I worked, I colored over the top of it with a blue sharpie.

Here's a sneak peak of the prints and the process of printing. It's true that in two hours you can kick out near 20 pieces, but it sure can be a messy process with all that ink around!

Oops. Don't itch anything is basically the rule of thumb I learned today. Artists are nice people. I ran into several with my face looking like that, and none of them stared or laughed at me. Just a common workplace hazard I guess.

Thanks again, Veronica. I couldn't have done it without all your help and knowledge!

Some more Fables

Sorry for the delayed posting! This time of year gets pretty busy. Here are some more Fables that will be added to the book. I've also been working a lot on copying the book into InDesign and designing the pages and page numbers.

Watercolor Studies

I decided I had some time before bed tonight, so I did an extra little project. I follow James Gurney, of Dinotopia fame, and his fantastic blog daily. Today (er, yesterday, it's 12:18am) he posted a site that compiles random Google map photos of places all over Earth, called Map Crunch. It can give you a more varied feel of the places you want to visit. He then suggested doing little thumbnail watercolors that take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. I did have a blast doing them! Each took no longer than 10 minutes, and as long as that sounds, I wanted to spruce them up more. But the point was to be quick and get to the point (and be looser with the paint and have more fun). From top to bottom, left to right you are looking at Diamond Peak, New Zealand; Morelos, Mexico; Saint-Livres, Switzerland; and South Qu'Appelle, Canada!

Scans of Fables

There are still touch ups to be done, pushing value in a few areas, but here are the scans of the three fables I have so far for the inside illustrations.

Final Paintings from the Ludington Show

Remember that show I had a few months ago? Well I finally have nice reproductions of all the paintings in their final state. Let me also just say that the show at the Ludington Arts Center was a hit, and I had so many people attend I couldn't talk to them all! Thanks again to everyone who came and to the Ludington Arts Center for being so generous with the studio they lent me and the space for the show. In order of completion:

Mayor Henderson

Dr. Bill Anderson

Todd and Brad Reed

Lee and Joan Schoenherr


Bob Neal



Bill and Jane Carpenter

More Fables

Here are some more illustrated fables that will be illustrations in the book. From left to right: Tortoise and the Hare, Crow and the Pitcher, Lion and the Mouse. Unfortunately, I couldn't scan these individually tonight, so the colors appear washed out. I'll update them soon though. Also, here is a scan of the cover.