The Linocut

I'm creating a broadside for my letterpress class, which will consist of a quoatation set in lead type and a linocut illustration. The quote is from Evelyn Waugh's Paris Review interview, so I figured a portrait of the man himself would not go amiss. For inspiration, I settled on this:

To make the linocut, I created a line art version of the image in Adobe Illustrator, which I then transferred to the linoleum block via tracing paper and graphite paper. Once I'd touched up the lines, I started cutting. Then I inked the block and made some prints:

 

I used some sheets of Pineider 1774 paper (though I should have paid more attention to where the watermarks were positioned). The resulting image is much rougher than the photograph. It's Evelyn Waugh meets Charles Baudelaire, or possibly Francis Bacon. I quite like the result. It will go well with the sentiment expressed in the quote. When it's all done, I'll post a finished photo. For now, here's one of the prints up close: