Southern Chronicle | duke illustration

Software:

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Lightroom

Procreate

Skills:

Editorial

Illustration

Photography

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Southern Chronicle

Illustrative Series

Self Directed

Southern Chronicle was my first self-directed project and the starting point for how I work today. I focused on Romsey, Bristol and Salisbury, documenting the architectural and cultural details of each place through photography before translating them into digital illustrations. The final artwork came together as a flash-sheet style composition, presenting each city’s landmarks as symbolic visuals.

The project pushed me to teach myself how to merge observational research with illustration. By simplifying complex scenes into stylized motifs, I explored how identity and history can be communicated visually without overwhelming detail. It became a way of turning place into something graphic, accessible and easy to read.

The outcome was a small poster series that worked as both documentation and interpretation. It also set the foundation for everything that came after, especially London Chronicle: East.

⤷ Behind the Scenes:

Southern Chronicle was the point where I realised I enjoyed place-based illustration. Romsey is my hometown and Salisbury is the neighbouring one, but it wasn’t until this project that I understood how much I had overlooked growing up. Walking around Romsey, Bristol and Salisbury with my camera, I started noticing things I used to ignore: old signage, brick patterns, carved stone, textures, religious motifs and the architectural details that make English towns so distinct.

Seeing these places as an adult made me pay attention in a new way. Romsey Abbey was built in the year 900, a building over a millennium old, yet I had walked past it for years without really thinking about its history. I brought these historical and religious elements into the work, which is why crosses and symbolic shapes appear throughout the illustrations.

During my research, I found out Romsey had around eighty pubs within a one-mile radius in the early 1900s. Hence the expression "He was so drunk he must of been to Romsey." There are far fewer now, but it is still very much a mini nation of alcoholics. All of these observations shaped how I approached documenting each place and translating it into visual form.