Here's a map, or three maps, I finished recently. This map series was strongly inspired by the fact that I'm going to take part in a group art exhibition this summer with some of my imaginary maps. (It seems maps can be considered as art too!) The summer exhibition takes place at Wiurila manor near Salo in Southwest Finland. I wanted to make a new map specifically for this exhibition, so I got an idea which is now implemented here.
Wiurilan kartano Orbigraphia.png
- Hand drawn to three A4-sized papers
- Linework with Micron pens
- Coloured with Copic markers
So, I drew a detailed map of the manor area, where the exhibition takes place, using aerial images, photographs and base maps and also based on my memories (It's over 100 km from where I live but I've visited the place a couple of times). Then I drew two maps that looks the same, but are completely imaginary. This was a really fun challenge, as the fictional maps couldn't have just anything. The manor is surrounded by fields, forests, golf course, and a grassy coastal meadow near the sea. For all the maps, I tried to balance the right proportions of these, and I also included roughly the same amount of buildings. In fact, the buildings are mostly just the same buildings but in different places. I tried to avoid drawing just a rotated or mirrored map of the place.
This was the first time I drew a fictional map that is aimed to look like a real place, and it was tricky, but in general I'm really happy with how all the maps turned out. I'm also quite happy with the colouring, I haven't made many maps in this scale before. This was probably also the first time I made something that is aimed to be just art, and not a commission, practice or personal worldbuilding.
I'm happy to hear what you think about it!
(Ps. I'm not going to tell you which one of the maps shows the real place, you can find it out yourself if you want!)