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Alabama illustration inside the outline of the United States, on navy
Illustration · Built for animation

America

Fifty states. Fifty illustrations. One very big map in Las Vegas.

The brief

There’s a giant map of the United States hanging over America at New York-New York in Las Vegas. For the restaurant’s 2026 remodel, So Midwest decided to make it move. They turned the map into a projection surface and brought me in to fill it with fifty illustrated stories, one for every state.

Challenge
Create a distinct scene for every state, but draw each one across the footprint of the entire country so it could be mapped onto the sculpture.
Role
Illustration Animation + projection by So Midwest
Deliverables
50 original state illustrations Layered Illustrator artwork built for animation
Client
So Midwest for America at New York-New York, Las Vegas
Year
2025–2026
The idea

Rhode Island gets as much room as Texas.

The system

Fifty stories. One set of rules.

Each state needed to feel unmistakably its own while still belonging to the same world. A shared drawing style, limited palettes, consistent linework, and a common canvas held everything together. What changed was the story.

Louisiana, Utah, New York, Illinois, Tennessee, each shown as a slice of the same map
  1. Louisiana
  2. Utah
  3. New York
  4. Illinois
  5. Tennessee
Linework

Same hand, any subject.

Four states, cropped at the same scale. One line weight for a taxi, a scorpion, a saxophone and a slice of deep dish.

New York taxi, detail
New York
Arizona scorpion, detail
Arizona
Louisiana saxophone player, detail
Louisiana
Illinois deep dish, detail
Illinois
Process

Keylines first, then color

Each state started as a list of what belongs there, worked out with So Midwest’s team. Then keylines, then color.

Arizona illustration in full color
Arizona illustration, keylines only
KeylinesColor
All fifty

Pick a state

Fifty states, fifty palettes, fifty completely different scenes. Pick one.

Alabama illustration, drawn inside the outline of the United States

Alabama

01 / 50
Up close

Illinois

Home state. Five details worth a closer look.

Illinois illustration: Wrigley Field, a Route 66 sign, deep dish pizza and the Willis Tower

Built to move

The illustration was only half the job.

Every file was constructed in layers so So Midwest could bring the scenes to life through animation and projection.

The illustration was only half the job., shown pulled apart into its layers
  1. Stars and UFO
  2. Cards
  3. Valley of Fire
  4. Dice
  5. Two sets of lights
  6. The sign
  7. Bighorn
  8. Desert floor
  9. Alien
  10. The map
California
Artwork, shown pulled apart into its layers
  1. Reds
  2. Sonoma
  3. Napa
  4. Bear
  5. Golden Gate
  6. Clouds
  7. Palm trees
  8. Hollywood hills
  9. Ground
  10. The map
Louisiana
Artwork, shown pulled apart into its layers
  1. Mardi Gras mask
  2. Pelican
  3. Beignets
  4. Coffee
  5. Right arm
  6. Left hand
  7. Saxophone
  8. Musician
  9. Ground
  10. The map
Massachusetts
Artwork, shown pulled apart into its layers
  1. Paul Revere
  2. Tea
  3. Cod
  4. Baseball
  5. Red Sox cap
  6. Mayflower
  7. Sky
  8. Ground
  9. The map
Nevada, in pieces

Pieces, not pictures.

BighornHead and body on separate layers, so the head can move on its own.
AlienSame idea: the head turns, the body stays put.
The signTwo sets of bulbs on two layers, so the lights can chase.
Cards and diceEvery card and die is its own piece, so each can move on its own beat.
Cheery Cherry, Groovy Grapefruit, and Sublime cans on a blue background
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