Hattiesburg Train Depot

Below is a painting I did for the Hattiesburg Tourism Bureau.

This is footage of me with the mayor of Hattiesburg unveiling the painting at the train depot. The Hattiesburg TV news station WDAM channel 7 filmed if for their evening news and graciously sent me a copy. How cool is that?

This was by far the most fun I've ever had doing an illustration. The director was wonderful and gave me carte blanche to do the painting however I wanted. The original reason for commissioning the painting had been to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the train depot. It had just been renovated and they wanted to spotlight it to bring in tourism. I was told they were going to make posters, postcards, etc. of the painting. But having seen the beautiful city of Hattiesburg before, I asked if they minded if I painted the whole city instead of just the train depot. That way they could use it for more than just the depot, they could showcase the whole city. The director was delighted. The only restriction was the Train Depot had to fit into the illustration somehow

The director told me there were to be four works of art commissioned of the depot from realistic to whimsical. He had happened upon the Southern Artistry website which features some of my work. From there, he went to my website and stumbled upon some fantasy drawings I had done for a personal project. He said after he and the committee saw this and some of the other building I had done twisting and spiraling into the air, they had to have a painting like that. For more pictures like this, you can go to my website, billwilsonillustration.com and check them out.

So, my wife, and son and I took the hour and a half trip to Hattiesburg, MS from Jackson, where we live, and photographed the city. It was awesome. My son is an incredible photographer in his own right and you can tell he really gets into his shoots. You can check out his work at amilewilson.com.

The only problem I had was deciding what to leave out. Hattiesburg is absolute architectural eye candy.

The first order of business was to make a few doodles in the sketchbook. I did several scribbles just trying to get the action right. With something like this, the most important thing to do is get a real feeling of action and movement.

After I'd decided on the general composition, I did a drawing straight to my watercolor paper. I'm a draftsman at heart and usually don't like covering up my original drawings, but I also really dislike transferring. Not to mention, I was on a deadline.

I was on the most intrigued with doing the sign for the Saenger Theatre, so I started there. Visiting the Saenger alone is worth the trip to Hattiesburg. It's a newly renovated lavish old theatre.

I don't usually do this, but I literally painted in a circle from the upper right hand corner down to the depot and all the way around.