Stone Arch Bridge Drawings

I am thrilled to be asked to illustrate the poster for this summer's Stone Arch Bridge Festival. It takes place Father's Day Weekend every year and attracts thousands of people along the Mississippi River near its namesake. Well, the poster is due by the end of February so going out to take reference shots was challenging. There's deep snow up to Gold Medal Park by the Guthrie to get a shot, more snow down the river road, bitter winds on the bridge itself and the steps down to the river were closed for the season. Hmmm. It took three trips.

So I ended up doing sketches incorporating bridge angles I liked, trying to bring in part of St. Anthony Main, considered the train that once traveled on it back in the days of the flour mills, and also the energy of the river itself. I couldn't get down to the river so I created an alternative view. We illustrators can tweak reality.  I wanted something a little dramatic, majestic and with a flow to it. I made a ton of sketches, refined them, narrowed it down and presented two concepts. They picked one and made one change to remove the train and have people walking, biking and running on the bridge.  So this past week I've been building the layers of my drawing on the computer and trying different color palettes. It's almost done!