Young Artist Draws the Dawn Treader

Bayside Bulletin is reporting on a really cool story of a young 9-year-old boy named Tom Systa who drew a picture of the Dawn Treader.

A framed sketch of the Dawn Treader hangs on the wall of production designer, Barry Robinson, reminding him of the vast ship built at Cleveland Point for the latest Narnia film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

But it’s not an artist’s impression, nor was one of the many creative staff on the film responsible; it was drawn by Thornlands nine-year-old, Tom Systa.

“When I saw how big it was and all the detail on the ship, I wanted to draw it,” Tom said.

“I love to draw lots of things.”

His mother, Bernadette, had taken her five children down to see the set being constructed at Cleveland Point when inspiration struck.

A keen sketcher, Tom pulled out a pen and his notepad and used the partially-constructed set and his own imagination to draw what the ship would look like.

He gave it to a member of the crew who was taking questions at the set gate, who delivered it to Mr Robinson.

Tom was reunited with his now-framed artwork on Friday, when he was invited to tour the set and see the completed ship up close.

“It was exciting and awesome! It was a lot bigger than I was expecting, I thought it would be a little, tiny boat,” Tom said.

Tom also received a copy of the complete Chronicles of Narnia novel and a Narnia picture book, with a signed message from Barry Robinson telling him he had talent and to keep up the good work.

“It has a few big words in it, but it’s fun to read because now I’ve seen the boat the story is about.” Tom said.

You can read the full story and see Tom’s sketch at BaysideBulletin.com here.