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Graphic Design

Masters of the Cutaway Part 6: Christopher & Matt Cushman

By David Seliger - January 3, 2012

We've already covered Star Wars cross-sections back in Part 1, so it's only fair we cover the Star Trek cross-sections of Christopher and Matt Cushman. Christopher Cushman's story begins with the opening of the first Star Trek movie and the release of a cross-section poster of the Enterprise-A drawn by another master of the cutaway, David Kimble. Fast-forward a few years and Cushman is working as an automotive illustrator at GM in Detroit, when in walks Kimble.

The two quickly struck up a friendship, but when Cushman asked about doing a Star Trek poster with Paramount, the parent company, Kimble complained that he had been screwed out of profits. Undaunted, Cushman found a company to become a Star Trek licensee and began work on an epic 77-inch-wide poster of the new Enterprise-D. Mike Okuda, who pretty much invented all of the graphic design in Star Trek, contributed technical details that helped to fill the Enterprise with a startling amount of detail. Click here to see the largest version of the poster I could find on the web.

The poster was a huge success and a copy was even included in the Smithsonian's permanent Star Trek collection. Unfortunately, as per David Kimble's legacy of being screwed, Christopher Cushman was screwed out of his royalties on the poster. He took the case to court and was even awarded damages by a jury that was apparently big fans of Star Trek! Even more unfortunately, the company ended up filing for bankruptcy and Cushman never received any payment.

Christopher's brother, Matt, followed in his footsteps and was soon working on a poster of the original Enterprise. Christopher again contacted Paramount and worked hard to make sure his brother would not end up in a similar legal situation. The poster ended up being an even bigger success that Christopher's and helped to create some Star Trek canon along the way.

Christoper ended up working on a cutaway poster of the massive DS9 space station. Since the television series was still filming, he was allowed to walk around the famous sets and pick up details he wouldn't have had access to otherwise. In 1995, with Star Trek: First Contact in production and a new Enterprise being developed, the Cushman brothers were given the honor to influence the final design. They received top secret models and interior set designs from the art department which helped them generate details to include in the poster. The final product (biggest version here) is far and away my favorite cross-section ever. Copies of the Cushman posters are available here.

A few more close-ups from Matt Cushman's Enterprise-A:

Masters of the Cutaway:
» Part 1: Hans Jenssen
» Part 2: Frank Soltesz and L. Ashell Wood
» Part 3: Yoshihiro Inomoto
» Part 4: Stephen Biesty
» Part 5: Graham Bleathman
» Part 6: Christopher & Matt Cushman
» Part 7: Richard Chasemore
» Part 8: The Das Brothers & Roger Stewart
» Part 9: Kevin Hulsey's and Steven Howard's Process

Graphic Design

David Seliger

Dave Seliger is a Postgrad Fellow in Logistics and Ext Affairs at the NYC Office of Emergency Management. He has extensive experience helping firefighters, police officers, and disaster responders improve their services through design.

5 Comments

Kenneth Sivills

2 years ago

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I have the #1617 out of 2500 of the cushman/Richardson cutaway of the Next Generation Enterprise. It is framed and in immaculate condition. What might that be worth on Ebay or auction. 08-02-2016

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Ann

6 years ago

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Where can I buy the posters?
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Steve

6 years ago

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FYI - There is a copy of David Kimble's Cutaway - The Automotive Art of David Kimble up for auction on ebay.
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Dave Seliger

7 years ago

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@ Chris - I feel your pain! I included links this time to the highest-res images I could find.
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Chris Furniss

7 years ago

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I love this series, but I wish the pictures were bigger! I want to soak in those cutaways. I guess a simple solution would be to just buy the posters...
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