It all started with rough pencil sketch, and the intention to illustrate somewhat fantasy style tavern called "Fireplace".

After the base composition got outlined with a pencil, I began to fantasize of possible details to fill in the interior - I felt it should be a blend of traditional tavern / mountain lodge / XIX century-esque place, although not devoid of modern conveniences.

During this brief contemplation, while I dreamed of the comfort and warmth coming from the fireplace in the corner, I decided to flip the paper sheet to see how the sketch looks from entirely different perspective.

To my surprise, the image I saw through the paper from the other side, looked better than original - the mirrored composition appeared more pleasant to me, so I quickly outlined main details on the back of a sheet and began to ink the lines.

The photo below is partially inked, mirrored version of initial sketch.

As hours went by in relaxed illustrating without many specific ideas in mind, more and more details were filling the gaps - soon the bar had all the necessities: cups, glasses, pint tankards, all the drinks that could fit in the shelf, several beer dispensers as well as a coffee machine.

After a while, the wall above the bar got covered in trophies and antiques.

Following the tradition, my signature got embedded into composition along with the rest of decorations.

It was particularly fun to illustrate the images at the Wall of Fame - there are couple of celebrity portraits, photos from adventurous expeditions and depictions of traditional characters.

It took roughly a week to create this illustration from scratch in relaxed manner.

To be honest, I got tired of it after the first floor and parts of trophy wall were complete, without any ideas and inspiration to continue, the illustration spent quite some time being shelved until I felt the desire to come back and finalize it.

Fun fact: the size of the illustration is a standard A4 page - 210×297mm / 8.3×11.7in

To grasp the relative size of elements in reality, have a matchstick for scale:

Tools used:
Centropen - Document 0,1 liner

Marvy Uchida - For Drawing 0,05 and 0,03 liners

Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth - soft 2B pencil

P.S. While creating this small illustrated world, I almost haven't used any external references, so obviously, this illustration reflects my personal life experiences, with certain details directly related to my own past.

Nonetheless, I'm sure many will find this imaginary place as comfortable as it feels to me.