The Salad Days

I've been doing some more linocuts lately, and have started using Pokemon as inspiration - they're fun and interesting, and there a hundreds of potential subjects to do if I decide to keep going with these. The one on the left is Magikarp (a notoriously weak and pitiful Pokemon), and the one on the right is Bulbasaur - although this isn't a photo of the actual print, but rather of the cut linoleum block before I've ever tried to pull a print from it. I plan to try and pull the first print from that block later today.

I've still been enjoying the linocut process quite a bit - it's very deliberate and relaxing. Here are a couple of recent ones I've completed. The one on the left is The Maxx (from an old show I used to watch on MTV in high school), and the one on the right is Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender (a show I've watched with my kids that is surprisingly awesome).

I remember trying a little linocut block printing in high school, and have always thought I might try it again someday. So I've been messing around with it lately, and have made three so far. My favorite so far is the round one - it's a scene from the Avatar: The Last Airbender show, and is Zuko during the last Agni Kai with Azula. Will definitely be trying more of these. I need to get some 'real' paper for this, though - I've been using generic "mixed media' paper from Walmart, but I think it's time to try some 'official' block printing rice paper.

I've been trying to think of things to sculpt from clay, and got the idea of making a series of mounted monster heads, from the Monster Hunter series. This one is Glavenus. It went pretty well - the sculpting went better than the painting, but it all went well enough that I think I'm going to try another one.