MontanaFair 2021 Poster Commission

I'm a Perfessional Sometimes

A commission inquiry came out of left field recently, for a project that I couldn’t resist taking on. How often do you get paid to draw dinosaurs enjoying a traveling carnival?? Thomas Carnival has been in business since 1928, so it’s pretty amazing to have been given an opportunity to add some posters to their lineup. Thanks, Andrew!

I burned a few weeks stressing over wanting to ink it with real pens on paper, but my test attempts were all turning out awful (because have I mentioned I’m rusty from taking a year off??) so I switched back to what has apparently become “old faithful” after working on Delegates for 18 months…. digital ink brushes in Paint Tool SAI. The familiarity was a comforting relief. I also got to channel two massive childhood inspirations: James Gurney and his iconic Dinotopia books, as well as Bill Watterson’s comical but expertly-rendered dinosaurs from the Calvin and Hobbes strips. Oh and I guess Jurassic Park too. And a little Land Before Time. My childhood was apparently 100% dinosaurs haha.