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Chris Durango Illustrations • Leander

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Written by Kara Vaught Saturday, 07 July 2007

Artist connects dots to form Texas historical artwork

Chris Smith's idea for a Texas-themed board game morphed into a piece of historical art through hundreds of hours and thousands of tiny dots.

“I’d always been interested in Texas History, and I had this idea for a game that would be the Texas version of Risk,” Smith said. “When I realized that it would be expensive to reproduce, I thought ‘why don’t I do a map?’”

Chris works on his next project featuring the six flags of Texas and 10 battle flags.

Smiths creation, Battlefield Texas, is a hand-drawn map of the 1838 Republic of Texas featuring portraits, weaponry and information about every battle fought in the Republic from 1775 to 1880, in addition to the locations of 47 frontier forts, paintings of the six flags flown over Texas and information about the 1st and 2nd Texas Navies.

Smith, a graphic designer, said his many hours in front of a computer screen made him long to do something handmade. Thus, very few pieces of the map, such as the copyright, were computer-generated.

Individual illustrations and factual tidbits on the map are surrounded by thousands of tiny dots, which form shading and give the map a three-dimensional quality. Perfecting that technique, as well as developing his style of illustration, took four years, Smith said. Prior to that, he spent three years researching the history he wanted to document.

“It took two years to draw the board game, and then I started on the map in 2005,” he said. “I would work nights and weekends an hour or two at a time until I went cross-eyed. My wife thought I was nuts.”

“I did,” Wendy Smith said. “But his whole heart and soul is in it, and you can see that when he talks about it.”

Though Chris’ research included the interesting quirks of lesser-known battles, he said the Alamo is still his favorite.

“So many important heroes of the time were there, and so there’s so much controversy even today about things like how Davy Crockett actually died,” he said. “We lost, but yet it’s what turned the tide for the Texians, as they were called, and led to San Jacinto.”

Chris’ current project is smaller in size, but equally laden with history. It features the six flags that have flown over Texas and the stories surrounding each. Also included are ten flags used in specific Texas battles, such as the “Come and Take It” flag from the battle of Gonzales.

Last December, the Smiths began selling archival-quality reproductions of Chris’ original map online, in area art stores, special events and festivals. Wendy said it is especially gratifying to see the public’s reaction and appreciation of Chris’ work.

“These aren’t just posters,” she said. “Every time you look at it you see something new and learn something.”

The following events will showcase Durangos map: