I’m designing a poster inspired by the lyrics to Tom Wait’s The Circus. If you’re not familiar with Waits music or style, go here and here . I can’t guarantee you’ll like what you hear – not many do- it’s an acquired taste (or a bloody racket if you ask Mrs. Lestaret!) but give it a go, because even if you don’t like the voice, you might like the lyrics. It’s one of those tracks of his that is spoken rather than sung, and lays out a tale within a tale, introducing quirky and dishevelled characters against a backdrop of wasted and used-up Americana. Have a listen to the track here, with an unofficial video inspired by the song…
I have been toying with the idea of a series of prints based on Waits characters for a while now, but I have struggled to find a start and a style to work with. At the moment all I have are rough sketches in various notebooks, but I’m fairly sure I’ll revisit these at some point. It was whilst I was listening to Wait’s latest live CD Glitter & Doom for the millionth time (ok, almost every evening whilst doing the washing up) that I decided upon a circus poster – one of the old traditional ones – that promoted the circus from the song, with visual references to the characters.
I have been trawling the internet for research and there are some excellent websites full of great quality images – I’m not going to list them all here, but google up ‘circus posters’ and follow your nose!
I intend to produce it as a three colour linocut, about 500 x 260mm, and am currently planning it using using my ‘right-hand’ software Adobe Illustrator. The image used for the header of this post gives an idea of the direction I’m heading. It’s about three quarters complete now, and I hope to begin cutting the blocks soon. Expect a few more posts as I get going, but I don’t think I’ll be printing this one before the summer; it’s about the most ambitious linocut I’ve ever done! I did a large scale single colour linocut back in 1991 for The Sylvanus Trust – 1480x240mm in six sections:
This is quite big for a linocut, but it is only one colour. A click on the image will enlarge it a bit, but nothing like to scale. The circus poster will be pretty tight register too. I don’t imagine for one minute that it will be without it’s fair share of difficulties. Indeed, I expect to be registering somewhere in the mid 290′s:
We’ll see…
Can’t wait to see subsequent posts regarding this. I’m also a Tom Waits fan (and a relief print fan). Are you going to do it as a reduction print or use three blocks? Also, are you planning on selling the prints?
You’ve got me on the edge of my chair.
Hi Bruce, this will be three blocks – I have just had a real nightmare with a reduction print and need to do something much less ambitious to improve my technique!
I have about 90% of the design work done now – I’m just tweaking a few details now, but have been working on it so intensely over the last couple of weeks I am a bit sick of seeing it! I have put it to one side for a week or two so I can come back and finish it off with fresh eyes. I expect to start cutting the blocks next month and will post some shots of work in progress.
As far as the prints are concerned, I don’t intend to do a huge amount, but they will be some for sale. That is if they are any good!
[...] am also aiming to revive the circus poster during the summer and begin some detailed lino or wood cutting – not sure which yet – [...]
[...] been often been inspired by the characters in Tom Waits lyrics – I am still fine-tuning the circus poster I began last year – and I have been thinking about a small-scale printmaking project to make a [...]
[...] mood or opportunity presents itself. This is one of them. Way back in February 2010 I posted a teaser about a poster I was planning as a linocut project. I continued with it for some time, and got the design about 90% resolved [...]