My first few illustrated map commissions
A couple of years ago, while I was on a tight budget and struggling with a gift idea for a friend, I decided to try my hand at an illustrated map of Dalston, where she was moving away from. It was a birthday gift, but I also wanted it to act as a thoughtful keepsake of the place she had loved living in. It was also a nice way to share memories we had together of traipsing around North East London on self-guided food tours.
I’d created a few illustrated maps before - one commissioned by another friend of the places she and her partner had been to around Tower Hamlets, and the other commissioned by a small business who were raising money for a new play park in their town. I created both illustrated maps using a combination of watercolour, ink and gouache paint, and then edited them together to create the final piece.
Not long after, I was approached by a marketing agency who were working on a project in Chislehurst. They needed an illustrated map detailing the locations of a collection of carved wooden bears dotted around the area - called the Chislehurst Bear Trail. What a fun (and super niche) project! I wanted to see these sculptures for myself, so took a little trip there to experience the Bear Trail and snap some photos of the sculptures to use for the map.
My style for this type of work was starting to come together a lot more now; I moved over to digital drawing to give me more flexibility for changes requested by the client, and in doing so I was able to experiment more with colours and composition.
Cardiff
Cardiff is the city with my heart. My university city, and the place I met my partner Tom. More than ten years later, I still take any excuse to travel back there! I love how so much history and culture is crammed into what is actually quite a small city - I used to walk from one side to the other multiple times a day sometimes! Little Victorian shopping arcades wind between the city centre streets, and before long you’ll step out of one to be faced with the medieval Cardiff Castle. I know I’m not the only one totally enamoured with this city, as it is by far the most popular of my prints to date!
You can see more details about this Cardiff print and purchase a copy here.
Bristol
A summer between university years doing a work placement inspired this Bristol map print. This was the summer I really locked in on the dream of becoming an artist - until then I had been working through a civil engineering degree, but this was the summer I found I couldn’t think of anything other than creating art and developing my skills. I did finish up my Masters after that summer, but after graduation set out on a totally new path learning how to build this business.
Aside from what was a bit of a stressful time realising my future was going to be different to what I had planned, we made some beautiful memories here based out of a tiny little studio flat on the outskirts of the city. We hunted for Banksy graffiti, trialled as much as we could from the local food markets, and watched the sunrise over the Clifton Suspension Bridge while the hot air balloon festival filled the sky.
You can see more details about this Bristol print and purchase a copy here.
London
I’ve lived close to London for most of my life, and also worked there for a few years, so creating an illustrated map of London was definitely near the top of my priority list for a while. However, this illustration took me some time to pluck up the courage to create, because there were so many landmarks I felt I had to include, but nowhere near enough space to put them all! I have since been working on creating some more detailed illustrated maps of the boroughs of London so that I can delve into London’s history a little more.
You can see more details about this London print and purchase a copy here.
Brighton
Tom and I did some travelling after university around Europe, and have been on a few more trips since then, but actually for both of us I think our favourite was a weekend away to Brighton for one of our anniversaries. We stayed in a beautiful AirBnB barn conversion in a village outside the city, and got the train in to Brighton to hunt for the best vegan food they had to offer. We didn’t know much about Brighton before we went, so stumbling on the magnificent Royal Pavilion was a welcome surprise! The sun was setting and it was all lit up, which made it even more beautiful.
It was November, so we had a little shopping excursion down the lanes and I bought a cute ceramic polar bear Christmas ornament, which snowballed (pardon the pun) into collecting polar bear ornaments to decorate our Christmas tree every year now. Not sure Tom is too thrilled by that outcome, but I think they’re cute!
You can see more details about this Brighton print and purchase a copy here.
Coggeshall
My all time favourite hidden gem of Essex. Such a quaint town (or village, depending on who you talk to), full of lovely old houses and shops. I was told by two old ladies dropping by a craft fair stall I was holding one year that Coggeshall used to be home to something like 36 pubs, despite having a population of less than 4000. Even writing that now seems like it can’t be correct, but it was definitely around that figure!
Coggeshall has been described as one of the most haunted places in Essex too, with reports of poltergeists and monk ghosts who dance nearby the 1000 year old monastery there called Coggeshall Abbey. Of course the abbey had to be on the map, but sadly the ghosts reported to be dancing in the garden did not make the cut - wouldn’t want to scare anybody off!
You can see more details about this Coggeshall print and purchase a copy here.
Edinburgh
A girls trip to Edinburgh was the inspiration for this one. It started as an attempt to relive our youth at a Sean Paul concert (I know, I know), which then got cancelled before we went! Instead, we made the most of being in such a beautiful city, soaking up all the history, trying out some fabulous bars and restaurants and also squeezing in a hike up Arthurs Seat while we were there. I even tried a tattie scone (and it was very nice). This was the first illustrated map I created that was close to my final style, having established a colour palette and the brushes I would use to create the rest of my illustrated map prints.
You can see more details about this Edinburgh print and purchase a copy here.
Conclusion
Thanks for joining me on this trip down memory lane! It’s crazy now to look back and see the progression of my style for these illustrated maps, and how many I’ve created so far. You can view the rest in my shop here.
I’m so looking forward to continuing my journey illustrating the UK, and also hope to start illustrating locations further afield too - watch this space!