snakes and ladders

This is an old-time sort of style illustration that Darcy from Top Shelf MF commissioned me to do. The original reference was a snakes and ladders board from England which had a Railroad theme - two children are playing hobo, riding railcarts, falling from tracks and getting misdirected and mugged as they proceed up and down the game board. It's an awefully mature theme for a kid's game, as it seems like an attainable sort of fantasy situation that the children are in; but I guess kids grew up fast during the age of iron and coal.

The theme for this board is 'Always a Raw Deal' - The ladders to all the good things; making out with the girl on the train, relaxing after a long day's work, and cashing in that winning lottery ticket, are broken. Only the bad things; house burning down, getting fired from work, getting mugged, can happen. It's a sad state of affairs for the players in this game.