Chicago Artist Creates Retro Tourism Posters for City Neighborhoods Inspired by 1930s WPA Designs
By
NaOH
Slow-proofed and worth the wait. Worth its weight in flour.
Summary
Chicago illustrator Steve Shanabruch creates retro-style tourism posters inspired by 1930s WPA national park posters, featuring Chicago neighborhoods and landmarks. His posters showcase locations like Englewood's Yale Building and Norwood Park's Superdawg drive-in with bold lines and vivid colors. What began as a side project now constitutes half of his income, demonstrating the commercial success of his artistic approach to celebrating local Chicago culture through vintage-inspired design.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledIf you've ever seen a poster from the 1930s promoting one of America's national parks, created at the behest of the Works Progress Administration, then you have a good idea of the kind of tourism-style posters the illustrator and graphic designer Steve Shanabruch has created for a number of Chicago neighborhoods and landmarks.
They are visually striking, with bold lines and vivid colors.
The poster for Englewood features the sunny atrium of the yellow brick residential Yale Building. The poster for Norwood Park features the distinctive, colorful exterior of the Superdawg drive-in hot dog stand.
Illustrator Steve Shanabruch's retro posters suggest 1930s travel advertisements — what was once a side gig now makes up half his income.
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