Inside the Huddle: Patrick Ewing

Inside the Huddle brings you behind the curtain to see what went into the supporting illustrations from The Baseline Review. Editor and Creative Director JP Boneyard shares his insight into the process. Next up is Patrick Ewing from Matthew Wilding's story The Hardwood Sisyphus, illustrated by Oliver Barrett.

The Concept
Sisyphus was the first mythological figure that comes to mind when we think of Ewing. The king of MSG has a lot in common with the King of Corinth. That was the jumping off point we shared with both Matt and Oliver. They each did incredible work within this theme. 

Supporting Illustration from our Story The Hardwood Sisyphus

The Inspiration
We asked Oliver to work directly from a 19th Century etching entitled Sisyphus by Friedrich John nach Matthäus Loder. Sometimes we look at the past for inspiration, to take queues. Other times, when the work is public domain, there's an opportunity to make something new while still drawing directly from something that already exists. When we pitched the concept of this story to Matt we left it open ended. He could use the connection to Sisyphus as a single line, one paragraph, or the basis for the whole story. When we went with the latter it made even more sense to go all in on depicting Ewing as Sisyphus straight  from an iconic etching. 

Color Palette
WIP