I had literally been trying for well over a year to create a map of Paris. No I don't live here but it's one of my favourite places to visit and I knew a map of this well known city would be a good addition in my portfolio.  

I had taken Tom's Inky illustrations class and posted a project using the techniques set out in that class. As I already have a established style I knew it would be a fine balance to create an illustration that combined elements of what I learned in this class and what already exists in my portfolio. I'm more comfortable with washy watercolour feel so I was happy to retain that hand rendered quality as the background to the map and the Paris area. 

I created the building icons in Photoshop rather than trying to add the scanned textures, although the tress where created using the alpha channel method, which I felt was a good compromise. Ah yes a note about alpha channels: I ALMOST gave up with these before I realised I was missing one vital click ( slap forehead) 

Overall I'm immensely pleased and grateful for this wonderful class as I I finally stopped procrastinating and got round to creating a map that I proud of. I actually had a deadline to submit this to a website so done is better than perfect. I'm jolly glad I pushed through, it's been well worth it.