Cutting phrases

I keep returning to gaze at Rob Ryan’s epic cutouts since Lena reminded me of his work in her post on Tuesday. I also enjoyed finding his blog and reading about all the great projects he works on. He has an Etsy shop too!

Anyway yesterday, while doing a cutout for a magazine illustration (an article about not wanting to see the writing on the wall) , I saw an opportunity to do a little Rob Ryan-ing of my own. Of course I could have just drawn these letters and scanned them, and my wristwatch was telling me that would be the sensible choice, but to heck with it! I cut ’em!

Before cutting, I had to choose between having the letters as negative or positive shapes, deciding on the positive because I wanted the loops to have centres.

In the magazine illustration, it won’t be apparent that these letters were cut because this is a background part of the whole pic. It’s a pity because I think their shapes work best close up.

I wonder what kind of paper Rob uses that it doesn’t tear? My solution is to cut sticky vinyl, because then I can cut the flimsiest of lines and not worry about having to secure it for display/framing/scanning. Vinyl just can be very difficult to apply correctly. Often I cut two versions of the same illustration at once so that I have a backup in case I stick the first one down badly.Have a great weekend. I hope to be doing lots of cutting in my studio.