IQBR 1.0 (ItsQuickerByRail)

For the local aspect of picture selling my plan was this, in the past I’ve used Illustrator to create my posters. The posters are created like the old railway posters, such as LNER etc would produce pre-war. These posters would be created in large format and then displayed on train stations and notice boards adverting places to go and visit to encourage tourism and hence ticket sales. These posters have an often twenties or nostalgic theme about them and are highly collectible in their original format and reproductions abound. These posters often used classic fonts like Gill Sans so I used the same font in my posters, twinned with a reduced colour palette to make them more authentic. I created the first poster after having been shown how to Live Trace in Illustrator, for anyone not blessed with artistic skill or deep knowledge of the App it’s a shortcut to good results. As my local town has some history and is very attractive in parts I’d always liked the idea of having such a poster but although there used to be an LNER station in the town many years ago it wasn’t a tourist destination so no poster was ever created. I decided to make one myself purely for my own pleasure. I used a shot of the local Minster, an iconic building in the centre of town that dominates the skyline. I finished off my poster in about 2 hours and had it printed out at a local print works for £20 in a large 40” x 25” format known in archaic poster terminology as ‘double royal’. A size that was common for the LNER to use for smaller notice boards. As I gained quite a few complimentary remarks from friends and relatives I thought there may be a market for this type of art. It certainly gained a lot of interest and a few requests and filled a niche that currently no one else did

There were a few people selling photos of the local area but little in the form of art especially this nostalgic type. After discussing this with a friend at work who happened to do oil and acrylic art which they sold in a local shop I was encouraged to approach them and se if they would sell mine also. The local shop was the type that sold cards, gifts and had a small gallery area that sold commercial and local art, a few local artists showed their work in their on a no sale no fee basis. I approached to shop owner and she loved them and was keen to give them a go, I printed some out in A3 size, mounted them and framed them in 16” x 20” Wilco frames. They sold within the week and I was thrilled and so was the shop owner so she wanted more. I then created on of a local cricket scene on what is known as The Ashes, the local park area. This was a lot more involved than a simple Live Trace and didn’t take 2 hours but more like 3 weeks, although that wasn’t solid work but a few nights and the odd hour at weekends. In the end I had a very nostalgic cricket scene of blue skies and halcyon days, leather on willow and all that. Once again they sold quite well and come the Christmas season they shot out of the door. I was especially pleased when the local vicar bought one of The Minster, the very place he worshipped in, which he then hung it in the vicarage

After that the shop changed hands and moved premises there was no longer the space for a gallery so I removed my pictures and parted company with the shop. It was a sad time as all the local artists lost a place to show and sell their work. We didn’t make much and for me it was just a hobby and side income that self funded my hobby and paid a few bills. For others it was a much needed income and commercial outlet for them. Especially as the owner to whom I owe a debt as she really encouraged my efforts in the early days and would process card payments, gift wrap and even sometimes deliver the art for us if it was on her way home or local. Without this initial encouragement I don’t think I’d have progressed much beyond simply creating posters for myself