Restoring the original illustration of one of Texas literature’s most recognizable characters.
When I began designing the Texas literary heritage issue of Authentic Texas, our editorial team knew that Hank the Cowdog belonged on the cover. John R. Erickson’s self proclaimed Head of Ranch Security had become one of the most recognizable characters in Texas literature and fit perfectly with an issue celebrating the writers, books, and stories that have shaped the state.
As work on the cover began, I learned that the original illustration of Hank, drawn by Gerald L. Holmes, had been destroyed in a house fire years earlier. The only artwork that remained was a low resolution JPEG that had been reproduced over the years. It was enough to identify the character, but not detailed enough to reproduce as a magazine cover.
After speaking with John Erickson and Nikki Early, I received permission to recreate the illustration. I imported the JPEG into Adobe Fresco on my iPad and began rebuilding the drawing one section at a time. Before drawing a single line, I enlarged the original and studied Holmes’ pen work, paying close attention to the shape of the muzzle, the eyes, the direction of the fur, and the weight of each line. Every section was compared back to the original reference throughout the process.
The restoration took shape slowly. Areas that had become soft or broken because of the low resolution image were redrawn by hand. Individual strokes were rebuilt where detail had disappeared, and the finished illustration gradually returned to a quality suitable for print reproduction. Once the line work was complete, I developed a color version for the cover while preserving the look and feel of Holmes’ original drawing.
When the project was complete, the restored artwork was sent to John Erickson and Nikki Early for review. They carefully compared it to the surviving reference before accepting it as the new production artwork. A copy of the restoration was then donated to the Hank the Cowdog team for future use, allowing the illustration to continue on for any medium.
The restored illustration became the cover of the Authentic Texas literary heritage issue and the opening feature inside the magazine. The issue explored the writers, characters, archives, and historic places that have contributed to Texas literature, making Hank a fitting feature for this themed issue.
