Ace print maker John Patrick Reynolds has produced his largest ever, fully licensed Moomins screenprints on a batch of huge paper sheets and printed two of the best selling designs on them.
Moomin artist Tove Jansson was born in Finland 1914 started making Moomintroll creations in 1935. They hit the shores of the UK in 1954, when the London Evening News started carrying the strip. This continued until 1974, and it is images from those panels that these screenprints have been drawn.
“Jansson died in 2001 but her vision is a very modern, inclusive one,” John notes, “and her reputation and that over her characters is still growing.”
Available now from his official site, the screenprints are printed on Somerset all-cotton paper (milled in at the St Cuthbert’s Mill in Wells, Somerset) and measure a massive 120 cms x 80 cms in size.
“Once framed, the print would make a great statement piece in a living room, dining room, study or bedroom,” John suggests, who also produces screen prints featuring characters from BEANO, Commando, The Dandy, and characters from Asterix & Obelix, Popeye and more.
“As with all my prints, they are printed in limited editions, and for these huge ones, I will limit each edition to just ten prints.
“I’ve enjoyed the logistical challenge, he says. “Everything has to be upsized, and a two-colour screenprint is often too big to be pulled in two goes. In such cases the colour and the black will each be printed in two parts, the design adapted to allow such an approach.
“The sky in the ‘Hello Yourself’ print is printed in stipples, and that was printed separately from the blue of the sea.”
The prints are being offered at a premium price of £480, given the limited run and size.
“The price allows for the enormous extra logistical effort needed to print them,” John explains. All his prints are hand-pulled by John himself in his studio (which should be the second bedroom, but he hasn’t had access to a commercial studio since the pandemic).
John also tells us he is open to print fan’s favourites from his range at that scale – just drop him a line via his website – contact details are at the bottom of each page – and let him know which you’d like!
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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