Isaac and the Awkward Situations

I am continuing my series in tribute to Hollywood Legends with three new woodcuts. Here I will discuss the process I go through.

I took this photo of the handsome chap. I found it by Googling his name.

I brought it in photoshop, put the letters on and flipped the image.

I also increased the contrast significantly everywhere except the hands.

I printed the image and transferred it to the woodblock with some Alphonse Mucha-esque borders and details to make it appear as a religious icon of a saint. Here you see it while the shellac is drying. I’m not confident that I am finished with my background details, but I am eager to get carving, and I will improvise a bit while carving.

Here are two more from the series. I got the borders from ancient religious prints.

Recognize Fred MacMurray? from such hits as “The Shaggy Dog” “The Nutty Professor,” “The Apartment,”  The chilling “Double Indemnity,” and my favorite: “Pushover.” I don’t know what I was thinking with those random looping circles.  Also that evil looking claw hand is creepy eh? that just ended up there. Forgive me, this was my first since college, so of course there was a re-learning process.

Resembles the joker more when he is printed in Green.

This is a crayon rubbing. Its done while I am carving to tell me where I need to take away more wood. Funny that the face looks fine in the rubbing but then looks all shaded on her face. Still looks cool though eh? Also I am excited and proud of the lettering, I gave the capital C extra flourishes and I improvised the B in an attempt to get it to match. Woodcuts are fun and my teenage students are enjoying them too. I like when they all work quietly for 20+ hours on a project. And when they don’t turn on slipknot or Dubstep or gangsta rap that glorifies violence and drugs.