Matthew Paul Cushman

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

Matthew "Matt" Paul Cushman (born 10 July 1971; age 53) is a graphic illustrator and the younger brother of Christopher James Cushman, [1]^(X) both of whom are known for Star Trek cutaway posters which they created for SciPubTech. [2]

The beginning: TOS Enterprise art[]

Cushman received his degree in Technical Illustration from Ferris State University in 1992. His first cutaway poster was of the Star Trek: The Original Series USS Enterprise. This was encouraged by his brother, Christopher, and started life as his technical illustration thesis in college. This first draft is considered the Franz Joseph interpretation. After a critique by David A. Kimble and edits from the Star Trek art department, a subsequent third draft was made into a poster in 1995, released globally by SciPubTech. In 2012, Cushman began a highly detailed fourth draft of this cutaway and in 2014, he recruited the help of Gary Kerr. Additionally, input from Rick Sternbach, Andrew Probert, Doug Drexler, and Lora Johnson made it into the work as well. The finished illustration, now coined the “50th Anniversary Cutaway”, was unveiled on 8 September 2016, in the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall, after a special screening of "The Man Trap" with Rod Roddenberry. [3] Cushman continued to celebrate with Roddenberry over dinner that evening. [4] A formal release of the cutaway has yet to come to fruition in any form or format.

Work done with SciPubTech[]

While creating with SciPubTech from 1994-1999, Cushman worked alongside the production of Star Trek: First Contact on two posters – first, the USS Enterprise-E, which was a collaboration with his brother Christopher, and second, the Phoenix. Both went on sale during the film's release in 1996. [5]

Because of the popularity of SciPubTech cutaways, Cushman was hired by Playmates Toys to provide A4-sized technical blueprint art of the Romulan Bird-of-Prey, D'k tahg Klingon knife, and a Star Trek: The Next Generation tricorder. These illustrations were released in 1997. [6]

In 1998, Cushman illustrated the Klingon Bird-of-Prey, based on the HMS Bounty from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Cushman’s work on the Enterprise-E was later traced and used in the Star Trek Fact Files (Section 2, File 26, Card 10; [7]), showcasing the ship's warp nacelle and later used in its entirety for the 2010 release of the Haynes USS Enterprise Owners' Workshop Manual (pp. 142-143). Accreditation for the work was later added in the book’s second printing.

In 2018, Cushman created a cutaway of the original Thomas Kellogg predecessor design of the Class F shuttlecraft at the behest of ILM model maker Bill George for showcasing on the latter's the Sci-Fi Air Show website, but which has otherwise not been released commercially. [8]

Ships of the Line calendar[]

In 2019, Doug Drexler invited Cushman to produce a cutaway for the 2020 Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendar. Cushman created a cutaway-centerfold, coined "technifold", of the USS Daedalus, with additional contributions from Ali Ries, Karl Tate, Doug Drexler, and Mike Okuda. A number of ‘Cushman signed’ copies of that calendar were sold upon its release. He continued to create illustrations for the Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendar series. Contrary to the SciPubTech posters of the 1990s, Matt Cushman was solely responsible for his own "technifolds" in the Ships of the Line calendars, which in consecutive order were:

2021: Romulan Bird-of-Prey [9]
2022: Galileo II Class F shuttlecraft [10]
2023: (Collaborated as airbrush artist on Chris Cushman's) USS Defiant [11]

Recent work and other art[]

In addition to running his own business, Cushman currently works as a consultant for the Roddenberry Archive and for TOMY+, helping the latter launch a new line of Star Trek die-cast collectibles.

Besides his work on Star Trek-related merchandise, Cushman also created an X-Wing and TIE Fighter cutaway poster for the Star Wars franchise (1997), the Tiger Claw from Wing Commander (1999), the Mach 5 from Speed Racer (1999), and NASA/USAF's Project Orion (2020). With the help of Doug Drexler, Cushman was commissioned in 2020 by former Star Trek writer Andre Bormanis to create an intricate cutaway of the Orville for a book Bormanis was writing and an additional poster, both available from Dark Horse Comics in September 2024.