Sometimes I draw tiny things. This was one of them. Another illustrated element fro my Study in Scarlet project!

The Victoria Hotel was Cork’s oldest functioning hotel until its closure in 2014. Built in 1810, it had been patroned by the likes of Michael Collins, survived the burning of Cork in 1920, and hosted the second ever meeting of the GAA. After the hotel closed its doors, the building was repurposed for retail and if you’re familiar with Cork City nowadays, you might recognise it as a Monsoon/Accessorize on Patrick’s St, just opposite Opera Lane. In the past week or so though, construction has begun on referbishing the building; which apparently involves exposing the old hotel ballrooms and spaces, and it looks like its going to be pretty sympathetic to the original design, with a modern twist. I love these little histories, so I’m happy to see them celebrated again! :)

Anyway, when I found myself needing to draw a fictitious hotel set the early 1900s for my Study in Scarlet project, the Victoria hotel is what came to mind and that’s what I based my fake advert on. I even borrowed the Victoria Hotel’s original phone number! To reflect the story though, it became Halliday’s Private Hotel of Little George Street, London. :)

One of the most interesting - and most time-consuming! - parts of my Study in Scarlet project was the typography in all the adverts. Everything is based very heavily on historical advertising references from the early 1900s (I had a lot of fun with that research!) and I ended up drawing pretty much every letter by hand. There are so many delightful quirks in that vintage lettering, and I really wanted to capture as many of those characterful details as possible! Click through to take a look!

I didn’t know much about the SS Sirius until recently, despite seeing its legacy all over Cork. If you visit Cobh today, you might pass the Sirius Arts Centre; if you wander around Passage West you might see a paddle shaft from the ship on display; it's even the reason Ballycotton has a lighthouse now!

I'll share its story below if you're curious, but the reason I researched and drew it in the first place was as part of an advert in my Scarlet project. I've used artistic license obviously, but it's a self-indulgent project anyway, so I drew my favourite instead of a more accurate ship 🤷 It felt like a good time to share the story too, as Sirius made its most famous journey in April. I’ve also been playing AC Black Flag lately, humming sea shanties while sailing around in my virtual ship. So, here's the (shortened!) story of a historic Cork ship!

Another storefront, this time inspired by my other brother! He tends to lean towards modern design, he's pretty fond of coffee, and he's not a half bad baker. I really love designing and drawing these little façades. Particularly happy with the lettering, lighting, and textures in this one. More to come!

One of the main reasons I’ve been so fascinated with the Illustrated Police News lately is because of the old-school illustrations in them. I like the idea that entire front covers of newspapers around the turn of the 20th century may have been filled, essentially, with comics telling the latest news and gossip stories. Some of them are fascinating little slices of life: in my research, I’ve seen illustrations of stilt-walkers racing the trams in Dublin, and hot air balloons going rogue, and police tracking convicts who’ve escaped by hiding in coffins. I’d be unlikely to have noticed any of those stories if they hadn’t had curious little illustrations alongside them!

With that in mind, for the front cover of my Study in Scarlet project I decided to fill the page with a sort of comic summary of Part I of story itself. From the initial discovery of a dead body at Lauriston Gardens, to Sherlock Holmes’ clever capture; it’s all based very heavily on illustrations and layouts and typography I found in actual issues of the Illustrated Police News, and also some very early artwork of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Lots and lots of crosshatching later, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!

I've been using the same profile picture - for everything - for years, and it felt like time for a change. Also, I'm starting to worry my friends will forget what I look like by the time I can actually see them again, so... here's my face. Several times, in fact, because I couldn't decide which photo I liked.

One of the first elements I drew for my Study in Scarlet Project was 221B Baker Street. From what I can tell, Baker Street would have been a high-class residential area when the stories were written, and the apartment that Holmes and Watson share would probably have been part of a Georgian Terrace house. Although the street itself did exist when A Study in Scarlet was written, the numbers didn’t go up as high as 221 until the street was extended in the 1930s. The residents of the new building almost immediately began recieving both fan mail and genuine letters of inquiry from people hoping to avail of the consulting detective’s services, at a volume that apparently warrented hiring a full time staff member to deal with. XD

In 1990, the Sherlock Holmes Museum opened its doors at numbers 237 - 241 Baker Street, yet claimed the address of 221B. When the leader of the Westminster City Council officially bestowed the famous address upon the museum, a dispute quickly broke out between the museum and the residents of the actual No. 221. It seems the feud wasn’t settled until 2005, when the residents of the real No. 221 left their premises, and the museum was given sole rights to the famous address. To this day, Baker Steet is the only street in London that has a house number out-of-sequence with the rest of the street.; a fun little literary quirk popping up in urban architecture. :)

All this is to say: I based my illustration largely, but not entirely, on 221B as it stands today. It didn’t exist when the story was written, so I felt free to use artist license. Nevertheless, I had fun learning about the history of the address. :)

I've been listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks lately, and I'd forgotten how much of a drama queen Malfoy is. I recently finished book 3, in which he reacted to what turned out to be quite a minor injury by yelling ‘I’m dying! I’m dying, look at me! It’s killed me!’ He's an interesting character. Very much a product of his environment... As for Harry; I can't help but admire how Harry handles everything life throws at him. Doesn't give in and doesn't give up, even when there are dragons involved...

Click through for extras! Custom Gryffindor red damask wallpaper with lions and lilies for Harry, Slytherin green with snakes and narcissus for Draco, the original sketches for both, and a silly doodle of shennigans from PoA.