Old Sacramento signs, part 2

Fresh delivery, straight from the Sacramento River.

How it'll look on display in Old Sacramento.

Here's another in a batch of new signs for which I illustrated scenes of life in 19th century Sacramento. Pioneer Park is a tranquil hole in the ground, accessible by a wide staircase or a slope of earth in a sloping alley. The bottom of the hole is the original level of the city. On a hot summer day, it's the place I'd spend my time in Old Sacramento, sheltered as it is by graceful, sweet smelling sycamores. Some people call the place Atlantis, because it's strewn with free-standing cast-iron pillars which once faced a nearby building, and huge granite door sills half-buried in the earth; the scene looks like  remnants of a lost civilization. The hole used to accommodate a succession of buildings which housed a bakery and a meat market, and these signs remind the leisure-seeking visitor (like me) that leisure was not the order of the day in those days.

Here's the evolution:

The angle's right, but too much action. This is supposed to look like a woodcut portrait.

Still too much action, and the wagon should look like it's coming from the right,
a block away from the Sacramento River.

What's the driver moving for? Don't I learn? A real-life carriage driver was helpful with
terms and details, if less than thrilled with my knowledge of horse flesh.

Now, to fit it to the actual arch shape …

Because the arch shapes differ between the big and little signs, I had to expand the delivery driver's world, creating generic period buildings, to allow designer Lisa Park to fit the art into each shape. It's just as well, because doing so forced me to be more faithful with the perspective.

Stay tuned for the next batch!