When It came to researching me street, There was one place that stood out immediately as being very interesting. The Railway Inn. An old dingy pub at the bottom of the hill, located in the middle of a 10 mile long cycle and walking track. After some digging I found out that this track was once a train line for hauling bricks and an alternate line which carried passengers. This line was the first fee paying passenger railway in the world.
I Knew that I had to visit The Railway Inn and see if I could visualise its history. Thankfully, the pub is like a local railway museum. Filled with old archive images and information about its past. From the outside, there is no reference or indication of the pubs nature. I knew that for my final outcome, I wanted to create an Illustration of what It would have looked like alongside a functional passenger railway.
I decided to highlight the fact that this railway was a passenger line by adding a tram into the composition. Trams were used all throughout Swansea in the early 1900s and the city was famous for it. The bright red double decker trams would carry passengers around the bay. I’m lucky enough to have my Grandmother around who could tell me her memories of using the tram as a child. She said “they were marvellous and futuristic, albeit slow and cumbersome”.
My Composition
I knew that I wanted to bring various elements together to create an Illustrated piece to showcase a time gone by. There isn’t an image of a train/tram going by The Railway Inn. Below are the biggest references I used. I also took inspiration from some of the images captured inside the pub. There is a painting from 1999 that shows a bottom layer of stonework that is no longer part of the building. It also gave me some great clues as to the colour of the accents on the building. I took a little creative liberties when It came to the placement of the Tram, it was never that close to the building.
The illustration style that I’m going for akin to the work of George Townley. I love the way his illustrations pinpoint the time with idyllic flair.
https://www.georgetownley.com/
I have never done an Illustration of this nature before and it took a lot of effort. There are always multiple ways to answer a brief but I feel like I always need to challenge myself. Using different mediums is a great way for me to do this.
Process
I started off roughly compositing an image of a Swansea tram next to the pub so that I can get a sense of scale. I then used a graphics tablet and traced a rough sketch.
The next step was the hours and hours of piecing together on Illustrator. I went through many many iterations until I was happy with the layout.
The Final Result
The Development
So after a feedback session I decided to revisit this and create a second illustration that ‘conveys the passage of time’. It is evident that without any context of what the pub looks like now the Illustration doesn’t mean anything. So below is the revised piece.
While the building is more or less the same, the train and tracks are gone and been converted into a cycle path. I’ve used contrasting colours for the background emulating different stages of a sunset. 1931 being the bright age of industrialism for the pub and 2020 being gloomy and forgotten. If I had a load more time I would love to make the modern illustration look even more run down and overgrown. Alas, these illustrations take far too long to produce so I’ll leave it here. For the future perhaps?
Reflection
The outcome is great and I’ve put a lot of effort into it but I can’t help but think that I would do it differently if I had to re approach it. Looking at the work of George Townley again, it’s clear that his reference images are way better. I would definitely go back and take clear pictures at the exact angles I need. I made it harder for myself by using a reference that wasn’t dead on so I had a lot of perspective issues to get over. I also struggled with colour and shadows, sometimes just copying what George had done in his work. I’ve never done an illustration like this before but I cant use an excuse like that for the next one. I can’t help but get fired up and excited for when I produce something like this in the future. Watch out George.
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