College Printmaking Work
Please excuse a third week in-a-row of blasting you guys with a ton of images. It seems that every so often I run out of things I can blog about because I can't share some of the stuff I'm working on until later. So this week I'm sharing a bunch of my printmaking work from 1997-2000. Printmaking was my major (I started at Mott Community College under Sam Morello, and finished at EMU under Richard Fairfield), and I've done a few posts in the past on Relief printing, Intaglio Printing, & a combo of the two. There seems to be several plates & blocks I remember doing at EMU & Mott that I don't seem to have prints of anymore. But there are still more than enough images here I can bore you all with.

Mott Era:

The 2nd etching I ever did

Low on ideas, I mocked up a book cover 

for what was then titled "1149"

(this is the story that will be the 4th 

Mouse Guard arc titled The Weasel War of 1149)

Sgt. Pepper style collage of faces from my life at the time 

including fellow students, friends, family, and professors.

A quick etching I did as a Mother's Day gift after the studio had 

been closed down for the semester & the supplies were packed away. 

Tried to do this with as little cleanup to the studio afterwards as possible.

This was a direct photo rip. I was trying to perfect my technical s

kills and had also gotten into late night session 

of playing Axis and Allies with friends.

EMU Era: 

A group of foxes wearing garments. I didn't think I was 

finished with this print until a group critique where 

everyone told me I shouldn't do a thing more to it.

A lot of my EMU prints were on discarded zinc plates. I'd burn away the old etching

with acid, but hints of light & dark spots and texture would still peek through.

Wish I had been more diligent with the bone anatomy and cathedral anatomy. 

I may revisit this composition again as I like the idea of a cathedral 

full of skeletons bathing in the dusty sun beams

A direct photo rip of a kid with a cape tied around his neck 

and holding a fat bunny. The magazine I found the image 

in was torn and beat up, so I gave the edges of the image some distress.

I was flirting with Julia when I was etching this

a combination of 2 plates. The stones were part of a plate

I started my first semester at EMU, the Turtle in my 

last. I printed them atop of one another for this print.

Lino cut portraits I used as Christmas gift tags that year for some of my family & Julia's.

A color reduction woodblock from my last summer semester at EMU. I wasn't in town for the class, but finished up the projects on my 1st semester back on campus. 

My feet. In the technique of intaglio woodcuts I've shown before with the Hands series.

A summer home from school and a block of wood...

so I did a big Flint summer friends woodcut 

(Real life inspirations for Rand, Kenzie, & Lieam are all in this piece)

A singing mouse I did as a demo to teach a friend how to etch.

 I don't think I was supposed to let non-registered 

students use the facilities...but I did.

I had a Gilligan hat and out of boredom, I did a print of it with 

a background of the hat repeated in different positions

Another 'looking around the room for inspiration' piece. These bundled stacks of old silk screens atop the flammable materials cabinet had a nice rhythm of repetitive shapes. (the edge of the drying rack and the old bricks helped too)

These two were an experiment of scratching (drypoint) an image right into the surface of a plate...but instead of using zinc, I used plexiglass. The prints turned out great, but the downside was the chemicals used to clean the plate of ink dissolved the surface details of the plate, making good multiple reprints impossible.

Another recycled plate. This time I was trying to recreate a moment I'd had the summer before in CA rebuilding my 1974 VW Beetle. This is in a partial state...the image was never really finished

And the last two are companions. I told the story on twitter a while back about the left print 'Chickens in the Closet' being about a funny/embarrasing story from Julia's childhood that was told to me early on in our dating. The print on the right is from a story of my childhood where I drilled a hole in the roof to put up an antenna. 

Watercolor Wednesday:
 In case you missed last week's Watercolor Wednesday pieces, here's the first I offered up: Mr. Toad from one of my favorite books, Wind in the Willows. I'd love to be able to illustrate a full version of the book someday, but until then I'll just do a fun character piece to satisfy myself.

The second Watercolor Wednesday piece was one of my own creation. I was trying to channel the sleeping gnomes I drew on my honeymoon 9+ years ago (here & here) I ended up with something a bit more Dwarven than Gnomish I think...but still in that same arena.

 Tomorrow I'll post three new pieces in my online store.


2012 Appearances:
Thought Bubble: Nov 17-18

2013 Appearances: Emerald City: March 1-3
Fabletown Con: March 22-24
C2E2: April 26-28
Spectrum Live: May 17-19
Heroes Con: June 7-9
San Diego Comic Con: July 17-21

*more 2013 dates coming*