Island of Biringan

[KMAlexander]

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In 2023, G. P. Putnam's Sons (Penguin imprint) commissioned me to do a map for Melissa de la Cruz's THE ENCANTO'S DAUGHTER, a YA fantasy romance heavily inspired by Filipino folklore.
The book is out now (it has been for a while; this is long overdue), and I can talk about it! This is a two-page spread with a gutter.

I wrote a post with a bunch of details that are easy to miss at first glance. If you want to see all the weird little things I scatter through the map, it's worth checking out.

The brief wanted me to evoke the feel of early 18th-century Spanish colonial maps, which is very much in my wheelhouse. Four faerie courts rule the island, each representing a season—weather and its effects aren't something typical in maps from that time period. Still, I think I represented them well without being heavy-handed. The passage from our world to the island is never fully explained and left nebulous. It took me a while to figure out a direction, but in the end, I had fun illustrating, and I think it adds a bit of magic to the work.

Anyway, thought you all would enjoy seeing it. Happy to answer any questions.

[Turambar]

Great map, well done! I especially like how the Biringan passage comes out of the map at the viewer.

[KMAlexander]

That was a tough one to tackle, as it's left pretty nebulous in the book. They were happy with my solution, however. I think it adds a bit of magic.

[Ilanthar]

Great map, once again. You're making good use of the elements you crafted. If I had a nitpick, it would be about the coastal waters, I would probably fade it a tad toward the seas.