It's not the destination, but the journey!

Not quite my final project...

I've kept working on my map of the hand, because time has been a bit limited and I haven't been able to spend the time on finishing my floor plan, or making a map of Brisbane.

In the meantime I thought I'd submit my digital version of my map of the hand, because I'm not sure if its missing something... It may not look great digitally, primarily it is designed for print. The colours may make it a little hard to read, but I'd love some feedback! I'm open to any suggestions for improvement.

PS - I made this in illustrator, the fonts are Mr Moustache (one of my faves, I knew I was going to use it from the beginning and you can see I copied it for my initial hand drawn map) and Blackjack. Mr Moustache is the title font, its a paid font (try myfonts.com), Blackjack is free.

Imaginary Cities

I got stuck on the first option for this exercise, and did 2 versions. They both ended up being very orderly and simple... 

Hand Drawn Map

Here's my first assignment: 

Where my husband & I met. A bit lovey dovey, but hey, go with your inspiration, right? My drawing then inspired me to do a papercut. My scanner doesn't help it look its best, however it has inspired me to do it digitally. So there will one day be 3 versions of this one! 

I hope you like it. :)

I also did a quick map of the hand: its just a pencil sketch, and you can see where I've rubbed things out and started over. I know it isn't a map of a place, so does a map of the body count? I was thinking of making it a paper cut, or a pretty watercolour, on a pastel blue background with white text. Something like that anyways. Just for fun. 

• Why am I making this map? For fun, for me, for a creative kick up the pants. :) 
• Why am I the expert to create this map? I'm no expert, but I'd just like to enjoy being creative with a purpose. 
• Who is my target audience? Primarily me and when I'm brave enough I'll start showing others and start my website...
• Do I want my final project to be printed or digital? Ideally I'd like it to be printed, but still look good online. Perhaps something that could be framed and hung on a wall. 
• What level of detail do I need to include? I think my maps will mostly be illustrative so not much detail and perhaps a little artistic liscence will be needed. :)
• Dear class, I need your help/expertise/guidance on how to..... because I'm just getting back into drawing and painting and being creative, I'm a little unsure, so I'd love feedback on how I can improve my work. Any suggestions are welcome! 

Thanks! I look forward to the next installment... 

Brook 

I love maps, along with design, illustration, papercutting, collage... but back to maps. 

I've been noticing them for some time now, and love the illustrative take of each artist that creates them. 

Since my youngest daughter started school a month ago, I've started creating my days away, and am looking for inspiration from anywhere. When I stumbled across this class it felt serendipitous. I've been wanting to make some maps for a while, but was unsure how to go about it (do I have to be accurate? etc...). I have so many ideas floating around in my mind, this is just the creative push that I need. 

I'm hoping to start my own business this year, now that my children are all at school and I have more time. I'm not quite sure where my journey will take me, but very soon I'll be setting up a website to showcase my work. Just maybe there'll be a couple of pretty maps on there.

My friend suggested making customs maps for people who'd love to remember their journeys, as she remembered where her husband proposed, where they met, where they ate delicious bagels... you get the gist. I'm not sure that's for me, but it's an awesome idea just the same. Maybe someone taking this class will end up being a custom map maker!

I'm not sure what I want my final project to be. I'm hoping to work that out as I go along.

Some ideas that I have are

1. Brisbane, Australia (that's where I live)
2. Australia - my favourite places
3. my house - a pretty floor plan
4. a hand - not quite a palmistry map, but something a little more fun
5. the human body, inspired by Rifle Paper Co 'Anatomy of Love'

I can't wait to have lots of fun creating maps and seeing what others create too. 

See my pinterest page for my 'mapspiration': i like maps