A Startling Story

A popular print, available from my online store:

This is something I designed while working on a book project with Green Candy Press. The title alone suggested I pursue something pulpy and sci-fi. Research into the genre led to my discovery of the work of Alex Schomberg. It seems I already knew him: I have a very small collection of titles with his illustrations gracing the covers.

This is one I found:

You can see where my inspiration came from

It seemed right that I pay homage to Mr. Schomberg:  co-incidentally, my partner is named Alexx and my dog is from a little town called Schomberg, near Barrie Ontario.

Adventure seemed appropriate for the title font. Designed by Neale Davidson, it is based on the logo for the Indiana Jones series of films.

If you like the subject matter and want to learn more, I suggest a visit to Sci Fi Ruminations.

To finish off this post, an assignment from a few years ago. This time not science fiction, but real science. This spot was for an article about Pluto’s loss of planet status:

Something to unlearn: a primary school flashcard torn in half

Persianland! – Part 2

Another sneak peek at my Persianland project.

The Chippewa Park Rocket Slide in Persianland colours

 

This piece was particularly fun to do… It’s at a park in Thunder Bay where I used to play when I was a kid. It conjures up a lot of memories. The Rocket Slide is long gone, so I wasn’t sure how I was going to go about drawing this. I first searched through Chippewa Park websites and Facebook groups to see if anyone had posted photos of the slide. I found this:

Chippewa Park, September 1969

I already remembered that the support poles were red and white candy-cane striped, and that the rest of the rocket was blue, and despite having once known the person on the slide, this photo wasn’t much help. I couldn’t quite remember what the top of the rocket looked like.

A quick search on Flickr turned up a lot of good reference material. It was a peculiar feeling to discover that this rocket wasn’t unique to my hometown!

The background references  the photo below. In the distance you can see the Sleeping Giant on the horizon of Lake Superior, the topic of one of the images in my original Persianland post.

Here I am getting Candy Floss in my father’s hair

Unless I can find a volunteer in Thunder Bay to do a bit of research for me, the piece I am working on will likely require a visit…  I haven’t been there in nearly 10 years!