The world's most famous fictional sailor has just broken free of copyright restrictions – and to mark his newfound freedom I have screenprinted this series of panels in which Popeye appears.

By European law, copyright restrictions of a creation lapse 70 years after the artist's death and American Elzie Segar - who invented Popeye - died in 1938. As far as I can tell, these are the only screenprints of Popeye available, although Andy Warhol did use the character in the early 1960s.

Popeye is another comic character who proves ideal material for bold, fresh screenprints. The character was originally printed in America either in black and white or in newspaper half-tones, but the screenprinting medium's strength is in bright, flat colours and Segar's creation proves an ideal subject for this treatment. I have enjoyed hunting through the Popeye archives to find the material for simple, bold images with intriguing speech bubbles to print in striking colours. I hope you enjoy the results.

Click picture for close up view