For A Cup Of Tea

Copyright © Peter MacDougall, all rights reserved

For A Cup Of Tea is a wonderful fantasy written by Lorina Stephens of Ontario and was published in the Winter 1995 issue of On Spec. It is based on the true story of a race between two clipper ships, the Thermopylae and the famous Cutty Sark in the mid 19th Century.

After doing my research (which in this case included details of the rigging of the Cutty Sark, chinese dress, dragons, jars and hairstyles, and a effereti, a type of demon), I do a minimum of three sketches for each story. From these the art director for On Spec selects one which I develop into the final black and white illustration. Each illustration is rendered using brush and pen with india ink at 150% of the final size.

Below is one of the alternate sketches.