A Nova Scotia artist is mixing traditional mediums with digital to create a new series of vintage looking tourism posters.
“Tradigital is a combination of traditional art and digital art. Meaning that traditional art is sketching, drawing, and then when you finish the sketch or drawing, you will scan it in the computer and then you build the image on the computer,” says artist John Ashton.
The artistic process may sound new, but the images that he has created, look more like something from the 1920s or 1930s.
“Well it's because they're based on the vintage tourism poster of old,” says Ashton. “We have so many scenes in Pictou County that are worth posterizing, that I started about a year ago looking at different scenes.”
Those scenes include the Africentric Heritage Park in New Glasgow, or the monument for what's believed to be the first pouring of steel in Canada.
Ashton hopes the posters will help people become ambassadors for the community.
“Whether they buy them in Vancouver, or Fort McMurray, or Montreal, or New York, and if they're from Pictou County, they'll hang them up and show that they are from this area and we have a lot to offer,” says Ashton.
Ken Fraser is a local history enthusiast, and he's impressed with the works.
“I would enjoy having one on my wall, but I can see the practical purpose for having them for tourist promotion,” says Fraser.
There's even a GPS number, at the bottom of each poster.
“So if they do come to the county, they don't have to drive around and they can GPS it, and it'll take them right to the place,” says Ashton.
Ashton says if the prints prove successful, there's no reason they couldn't be created for other parts of Pictou County, or even Nova Scotia.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh
