linocut city map series where in the world

[dexter121uk]

hello people,

my name is mark andrew webber, i have a website here: HERE

i am currently working on a series of linocuts of different cities of the world that thought that i would share them and get thoughts..

i have done three so far.. the one that has taken the longest is the amsterdam map. about 100 hours to carve so thats not including design time. i went to amsterdam. and have been to all the three cities i have done thus far. My next map is going to be paris, of which i went to in November 2007.. kk cheers

AMSTERDAM MAP SHOWN BELOW IS FOR SALE! ON MY WEBSITE BTW.



Linocut of amsterdam, i have flipped the photo on the computer so you could see it better on here. the real one is done backwards so that the print comes out forwards!! its about 37 X 33 inches in size!. so about 96cm X 84cm



London linocut print... this is a print i did for the london design festival and the international society of typographic designers of which i am a memeber!.



New york... This is the first linocut i did, and is what has inspired me to carry on with the series.. this one took me about 60 hours to carve!

[pyrandon]

Dexter, welcome! I'm ever so glad you came her and shared these linocuts--first because this is something vastly different than we have ever had posted here at the Guild, and secondly because these are so inventive, creative, and well done! Wow! I just keep looking at them--there's so much interest to each one! These are really, really, neat.

What gave you the idea to create these sorts of visualizations? Do you do other sorts of mapping too? I'd like to hear a little more about their creation. Very intriguing work!

[Sirith]

Those are awesome. I especially like the one of Amsterdam (of course I live in the Netherlands, so that makes me biased). It's intricate and recognizable, and I like the idea of using typography like this

[ravells]

Wow, that's really clever, and beautiful too. I have to say, even though I'm a Londoner, I like the Amsterdam one the most. So are you an expert at making fonts?

Cheers

Ravs

[dexter121uk]

hey thank you!..

Well.. i am no Expert.. i just enjoy doing this type of thing soo much that i put everything i have into making them... that said because of other comitments and me being in my final year of college and them not letting me make one as they say it doesnt fulfil the requirements of the course.. i have not been able to make another one since before last summer... grrr..

i am going to be making Paris next.. and am really getting excited about the prospect of doing it. i went to Paris.. last November as 1. i wanted to make another map - Paris... 2. i tied my Dissertation into this map series by looking into if you can get a series of typefaces that show national identity... and aimed it mainly at one country France. so going to Paris as i had never been before was great!.

Well if you want to know more i'll say but its a long story!! LONG LONG LONG AHHHH.... so be warned and also not sure if its soo interesting either.

This all started really with my love of travel.... i had just come back to college from a month trip in Argentina and a month traveling from miami to new york... also two years previously, visiting Australia for 5 months conservation volunteer work.. and visiting a penfriend and going to their highschool for a month near seattle. i then got home worked and was bored out of my mind.. all i could think of was traveling.. and yea i loved looking at maps and dreaming...(which happend when i returned home from both trips)

anyways i just drew loads (not maps though) and when i started college a few months in a brief for ISTD came out.. international society of typographic designers.... the brief was called "where in the world" and somehow one of the first ideas i had was to make a typographical map.. but i also love traditional methods of printmaking.. but had not done much before.. the requirement also was for it to be as big as broadsheet newspapers.. which i loved the idea of and it enforced the whole map idea more..

i explored using different sizes and different types of fonts and also looking into maps and thinking about cities and directions.... and how multidirectional cities are.. they are not just streight 2d places.. and i experimented with looking into how to make a 2d text based map that would show this...

one big help i got with this was getting a piece of linoleum big enough.. lucky for me i had a great tutor who got me a big piece for free.. i only had like a week to produce it.. so i was working day and night carving... and then printed it and handed it in the next day... i chose New york for the first map.. as i loved the city and really liked the shape for it very much....

now i took it to college and AHH people found two spelling mistakes.. me being dyslexic and not seeing spelling mistakes (i actually didnt know at the time i was dyslexic... as i did well at school only made loads of spelling and grammer errors) anyways yea some how i missed out the "T" from central park..haha yea i know CRAZY as it was one of the bigger words on there.. and also spelt jersey with a U.. anyways lucky for me i had a while before submission to the competition... i cut the R out of central and re-drew the Tr in and lucky for me them letters Fit together well... and did the same for the U...

Wahoo.. so i got accepted into ISTD from this.... a magazine Editor at ISTD.. saw this and wanted to put pictures of the lino and final works in the magazine "GRAFIK magazine" from this i got commisioned to do the front cover of Crafts magazine in lino which can be seen on my website...

www.markandrewwebber.com

so anyways that was great. .i also got commisioned to make a map of London for the london design festival and the MY CITY MY LONDON exhibition.. so wow. i did that...

then i joined the university college falmouth.. and at the end of the year was about to do what i wanted.. i said i wanted to do a map of Amsterdam.. my tutor was a bit skeptical at first and thought i wouldnt fit in with the Graphic design course.. i did it anyway and she was prooved wrong and really liked it.. but as i did that last year they are not letting me do a similar thing this year.. grrrr... anyway yea so i had traveled to amsterdam before doing the map.. as we had a college trip.. i really really liked the shape of amsterdam and all he canals were amazing on the map!.. and yea it was really hard to lay out but fun..

Someone recently from princeton press has asked me to send them a picture of the amsterdam map to be included in a hardcover book of 100 contemporary cartography artists ..wahoo so im pretty pleased about that and i get a copy of the book when they print it at the end of the year....

umm and thats my story with these maps really... loving the linocutting and am going to continue it for the long time yet.. the style might be experimented with and stuff with change over the years... and yea i just cant wait...

anyways yea i got a deviantart page,, i do a lot of varied works really but must of all i like things that are out of the ordinary... like i do canvasses of just lines.. lines lines lines and more lines... currently doing a canvass thats taken me roughly 80 hours maybee more and its basicly all lines!! WAHOOOOO anyways cheers for showing an interest im glad you like them! encourages me to make more for sure!

[The Cartographist]

dexter121uk - Your work is incredible. And your story is almost just as incredible.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that your experiences can be summarized as follows:

You have a love (of travel). You (obviously) have some talent. You decided that you wanted to pursue a project, which you did. You poured your heart into it. And now (contrary to everything we are told about how the world works) you have earned a minor amount of fame for art that you created on your own terms.

FANTASTIC. And, frankly, inspirational.

Glad that you've found your way to the guild.

[hans_worst]

Hi Dexter,

Your Amsterdammap is absolutly brilliant! I live in Haarlem and study in Amsterdam and must say the map is very recognizable. I did spot a spelling mistake. SHEEPVAART MUSEUM (in the right top corner) should be scheepvaartmuseum. I think you should try to sell this to the Tourist Information Amsterdam.

[Kagehito]

Wow, really well done! I love to see things that break the mold of what is currently the norm, and I have to say that I'm a little bit inspired by your work.

Kudo's to you, and your future work!

-Rob

[dexter121uk]

cheers! yea im working on more stuff!.. another map planning stage! Paris this time!>.

ahh spelling mistake! always worry about them! especially in a foreign language!! AHHHHHH.. man i would love a city to ask me to let them use it as a tourist thing!! that would be sweeeeet! i will be selling cheeper digital prints on my website once i get that side of it all sorted!.. still working on it!.

http://www.markandrewwebber.com

[dexter121uk]

no spelling mistake i just checked it! it does have a C in it on the map!.