Self Portrait 2022 - Wood Engraving

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This is the second self-portrait engraving I have made. The last one was in back in 2009 and I don’t think I ever editioned the print. In this print I am showing off my tools while seated in front of tiny renditions of other prints I have created over the past couple of years. It’s so meta.

In-Progress Images

Video of the Printing Process

I created this video documenting the printing of this engraving. Hopefully it won’t get taken down for the music I used:

Deep Red - Wood Engraving

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The fifth and (probably) final engraving in my series of prints based on Italian giallo films. This one is based on Deep Red a.k.a. Profondo Rosso. Possibly the finest giallo ever created. It’s filled with fantastic visuals, a great score, plenty of gore, and a spectacular (and fair) twist at the end.

The print depicts the moment just before Helga Ulmann is killed as Marcus wanders the nighttime streets of Turin.

The print was engraved in resingrave, a material which, I have recently come to discover, is no longer being produced. I am really upset by this as I was just starting to get a handle on the medium.

Process Photos

These photos show the various stages of the engraving from concept to final print.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet - Wood Engraving

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My series of wood engravings based on Italian giallo thrillers continues with Dario Argento’s “lost” classic, Four Flies on Grey Velvet. A lot of what would gel together and become the giallo masterpiece Deep Red is in its embryonic form in this film. I watched it multiple times while I hashed out ideas for this print and it has grown on me.

As with the other prints in the series, I am trying to compile my strongest memories of the film into a single static image. It’s not necessarily a depiction of a certain scene or attempt to capture the entire narrative. Although, I broke some of my rules here by using photographic source images to create my initial design.

The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail - Wood Engraving

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This is the third print I have created depicting imagery from a classic giallo film. So, with three prints, this is officially a print series. Here we have a collection of elements from Sergio Martino’s The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail. The film’s action is divided between London and Athens. Here I have the masked killer attacking his victim as the moon rises behind The Parthenon.

The Movie Trailer

Because I apparently have a ton of free time, I made the world’s first ever movie trailer for a wood engraving:

Behind the Scenes

Click on the images below to see some behind-the-scenes art-making process details:

Lizard in a Woman’s Skin - Wood Engraving

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The second in my series of wood engravings based on my memory of classic giallo films (see Don’t Torture a Duckling). Lizard in a Woman’s Skin is perhaps my favorite Fulci movie with an incredible soundtrack and lots of trippy visuals. This print isn’t so much a plot synopsis as it shows some of my favorite moments from the film including the dreams of the murder, the zombie-like hippies, the bat attack, and, of course, the dissected dogs.

About eight prints into the edition my printing press snapped and several important screw holes were stripped, rendering the press useless. The remainder of the edition had to be printed the old fashioned way: by hand with a wooden drawer knob.

Don’t Torture a Duckling - Wood Engraving

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I ended 2020 with the largest wood engraving I have ever created. This print is the first in a series I am creating in which I encapsulate the plot of a giallo movie in a detailed print. This one is based on Lucio Fulci’s legendary film Don’t Torture a Duckling. The movie is about a small Italian village which is plagued with a series of child murders. The movie can get pretty sleazy, but it’s not the usual gore-fest one would expect from Fulci (with one hilariously bad exception).

The block took me many weeks to engrave and I think I have arthritis now, but it was worth it. I also managed to come close to perfecting my laser print transfer process which made seeing my design much easier than usual. Here are some images of the process:

The Hermit - Wood Engraving

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At first I was going to do something about covid lockdown and isolation but quickly realized that just about every hack artist on Instagram was doing some image with masks and microscopic viruses. Most of it was awful. I stuck with the hermit theme and kept thinking of all these stories of people trying to survive wilderness and being forced to eat tree bark. Many of the early sketches had the guy taking a big bite of the tree, but I went with the stick full of fish instead.

Hermit Heat Transfer

This was the first time using my heat transfer tool to get a laser printed sketch on the block. It work well without needing acetone as some tutorials suggest.

Hermit Carving

Here is the resingrave block about halfway through the engraving process. Working this small is really hard by the way.

Hermit Drying Rack

Finally, here are the finished prints hanging to dry.

The Witch - Wood Engraving

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This is another wood engraving based on an ink drawing I created for the Nox Archaist manual. This was engraved in Resingrave plastic engraving medium which offers smooth lines and pretty good control. The main problem with it is that it does not hold the ink of a layout sketch. I started this print by trying to do an acetone transfer (which worked very well on my Ettin print). The resingrave was having none of it.

So, I reverted to the old standard, transfer paper and lots and lots of tracing. Then reimbursing the lines in ink (which, as mentioned earlier, will just smudge on the resingrave block).

It took about a month of hacking away with plenty of COVID-19 booze fuel to keep me going:

Here’s what the (almost) final block looked like:

I always relish that first ink roll. The block will never look this velvety good after this first proof:

After this first proof I added more hairs to Black Phillip. With this print I have finally succumbed to the wood engraving cliche of depicting a hairy mammal (the goat is pretty hairy too). Contact me if you want to buy a print (or use Etsy, I get paid more if you buy direct).

The Ettin - Wood Engraving

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This wood engraving is based off of the drawing I created for the Kickstarter game Nox Archaist. It was engraved in to an old block of end-grain maple. The process started by transferring the ink drawing to the block using acetone and a laser printout. This seemed to work remarkably well. It held up despite my ink wash on top of it and my hands rubbing against it during cutting.

This is what the block looked like when I first inked it up:

The prints never look this crisp when they get to the paper. Some day I will figure all this out.

Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid - Wood Engraving

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This print has nothing to do with the movie of the same name. This started as a sketch of a large man with a lobster bib and it morphed into this. I wanted to try engraving in maple again after years of using resingrave. I’m hear to say end-grain maple stinks. The lines are rough and it prints very unevenly. But never mind that. Buy this print!