I have had the pleasure of making the illustrations for the short fiction section of the last two issues of Block Club. The Burning of Washington, the story in Issue 29 - The Fight, is a satire set during the War of 1812. It was a lot of fun concepting ideas for a piece of creative work, and (full disclosure!) I also happen to live with the author, Scott Mancuso.

I researched the clothing soldiers wore in the War of 1812 (WORE of 1812?!), which included a lot of photos of re-enactors because, lacking actual photo documentation from 1812, I figured they probably know best. Brandon was kind of enough to pose for me in the very specific stances I was looking for. After the painstaking process of inking several piles of failed iterations (I am incredibly nitpicky about the steadiness of my lines, I don’t like Photoshop to work too hard) I finally had a set to scan in and color.

Check out The Burning of Washington in Issue 29 of Block Club available now at local restaurants, shops, and online at blockclubonline.com/issues.

- Julie