RAVENSWOOD — For graphic artist Phil Thompson, creating an alphabet poster based on Chicago's landmarks wasn't exactly as easy as ABC.
"Some of them just came in an instant. If you were to say that letter to anyone, that's what they would come up with," said Thompson, who runs Cape Horn Illustration out of his Ravenswood home.
But once he got past "C" for Cubbies, "F" for ferris wheel and "L" for lake, things got trickier.
Not surprisingly, "Q" and "X" were puzzlers and Thompson admitted that "aQuarium" and "soX" are "a little bit of a cheat. I hope people will forgive me."
But it was "Y" that proved the biggest baffler.
"That stumped me for weeks — that was blank for a long time," said Thompson.
"I thought maybe the 'Y' that the Chicago River makes but that's not as obvious," he said.
After tossing around some "Y" phrases, he settled on Barack Obama's campaign rallying cry of "Yes we can," illustrated by the president-elect's 2008 victory speech in Grant Park.
"That was a great moment in Chicago history," Thompson said.
For Thompson — whose work includes maps of various cities' marathon routes as well as Chicago's breweries — the new poster represents a departure from his usual highly intricate pen-and-ink style.
"You have to get close for the detail and with this one, I wanted to do something that looks better from further away," he said.
With children the natural audience for an ABC poster, Thompson focused more on color and "making it a lot more whimsical and fun."
Though his approach may have been different for the alphabet poster, Thompson said his newest work is very much of a piece with the rest of his portfolio, which taps into people's love of their neighborhood and city.
"It's still tied into place," he said.
"N" is for Navy Pier. Thompson said he focused on integrating letters with the scene they represented. [All images Cape Horn Illustration/Phil Thompson]
For letters like "S" and "T," which had multiple options, Thompson said he opted for the more visually interesting choice.
"W" is for World's Fair (or White City). For the decoded alphabet, click here.
The ABC poster in its pencil sketch stage.
A glimpse into the creative process and some of Thompson's rejected letter ideas.
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