Recently, I was digging around in my mom's basement and I found an old art project that I had done while I was a student in college. It was a book of three linocut prints done for a printmaking class in about 1996. I decided to do a book on classic movie monsters.
I started with the cover, which was completely covered front and back in black fur (I was in a black fur phase, because I also used it to cover a CD packaging cover project as well as a lowrider bicycle seat around the same time - I only got a C on the cd project, but I still have that sweet bike in my basement)...
The first spread was dedicated to my all-time favorite, Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster!
The second spread was Count Dracula, although I'm not sure why I went with Hammer's version, played by Christopher Lee. I guess I had something against Bela Lugosi back then? But I love Bela Lugosi, so Christopher Lee must have been the only reference material I had handy for a project that I was surely running late on...
And the final spread goes back to Boris Karloff, this time as The Mummy. And yes, I did glue real sand to the edges of the pages...
For each spread, I ended up doing a linoleum cut of each monster, printing each color sequentially. I then did the background spread for each, adding the printed pages for each, cutting out the print, and then assembling all the pieces together to form each page spread. I don't recall what grade I received on this project, but it must have been okay because I ended up getting a minor in printmaking.
I spent many hours in the printmaking studio, including many hours of making screenprints of band shirts that we sold on the side to make money. Maybe I should have also gotten a minor in business!!
