Looking for information for my 10 year old

[Catherine Van Kempen]

Hi guys. I am a mom with a 10 year old son who is obsessed with maps. As long as I can remember he would draw, copy, color, and play with maps. I recently showed him how to do some things in photoshop but he is getting frustrated with the results and I can't help him. Would this be a good place for him to ask questions, learn about map making, and get some ideas? Does anybody have any good resources I could point him towards? Thank you. Cat.

[Mouse]

Hello Catherine - and a very big welcome to you and your son

This whole place is one huge mapping resource, and the members are just lovely.

I'm sure we should be able to help you both. If you can't find a relevant tutorial in the tutorials sub forum, you could try asking a question in the How do I forum. There are also many tutorials online at Fantastic Maps that might help with the practical side of the drawing, and if your son starts a Work In Progress thread (WIP thread) in an appropriate sub forum here, we could make suggestions relating directly to the map as well.

I hope that was helpful for you

[Voolf]

Would this be a good place for him to ask questions, learn about map making, and get some ideas?

I would say it is one of the best. If you are concern about letting you son into a "wild" internet, this forum has really mature community. It is also well moderate to stay that way from occasional "strange" individuals.

Mouse already guided you well. Welcome and i hope your son can learn here a lot, as we all do.

[The_Sleeping_Dragon]

Welcome Cat
My start point would be to try and make the whole experience fun
Relief maps are good ie cut them into plasticine trays or build them using old plastic bottles, bits of plastic containers etc and then cover them or paint them even plaster over them so that there is lots of mess. Make it a project to draw the neighbourhood or go to a local wood or beach and sketch down features that can be turned into Treasure maps, do the same with the garden or rooms in the house. Brown off any maps in the oven to give them a parchment or aged look at same temperature as pavlova
Making a globe is fun and there are several downloadable templates to do so, star maps are easy to do provided you find the right dark blue as your background and then you can have anything from stars, pulsars, planets, asteroid belts, black holes, worm holes, with many examples on the web to look at or even chart what you actually see one evening and if so then go to EarthSky Tonight web as it has the best star descriptions every night
http://www.in.gov/dnr/kids/images/ed-treasure_map.jpg
http://lib.omsk.ru/ip/forum/sites/de...E%D0%BA1_0.gif
earthsky.org/tonight
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/subje...ps-and-atlases

I am not sure were you hail from but the Met Museum in DC 5th Ave? and in NY, Brit Museum and Greenwich Museum in London and the Paris Musee Nisim and Louvre all have magnificent displays of maps as indeed any nautical museum will have and most libraries keep cartography books- they are great fun as they tend to be the biggest books in the library so instantly attention grabbing

But the big message is at 10, its the activity and excitement that surrounds a map as you go to various places together, go down and watch the ships head off to sea, imagine those distant lands then this inspires. Hand drawn is still the best start as all we try and achieve here is something that looks as good as the best hand drawn. A pirate never had a digital programme to draw that Treasure map, the hero in D&D use quill and parchment (if they even know how to write!)

Ask ask ask of course but make it fun and that is as much about what the map is for as how it is drawn

Warm welcome and thank you for a post that inspires us all as we recall our own first ventures into map making

The Sleeping Dragon

[Mouse]

I addition - if your son sees a map that he really likes and he wants to learn how to 'get that effect', or 'draw trees just like that', all you have to do is just ask how its done - right there on the thread.

Even if the original artist is not available for one reason or another, I have every confidence in this super community that someone will know how to help

[Josiah VE]

Hi Catherine!
I think this is an excellent place for him. It is a very friendly and welcoming community, and I would say very family friendly. I joined a year and a half ago and I was just a couple years older than him.
If you're okay with him going on youtube, there's some really really great videos and tutorials for drawing pen and paper maps here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G_2...3PVzM-vtTgWPKU
And for digital maps this is one of my favorite places for tutorials: http://www.fantasticmaps.com/2015/02/how-to-draw-a-map/
Posting a map is the best way to get helpful feedback and comments, and don't feel shy to ask questions! The cartographer's guild is full of many mapmaking masters willing to help.
I'm really looking forward to seeing his maps!

[Runninghead]

Hi Catherine!
I think this is an excellent place for him. It is a very friendly and welcoming community, and I would say very family friendly. I joined a year and a half ago and I was just a couple years older than him.
If you're okay with him going on youtube, there's some really really great videos and tutorials for drawing pen and paper maps here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G_2...3PVzM-vtTgWPKU
And for digital maps this is one of my favorite places for tutorials: http://www.fantasticmaps.com/2015/02/how-to-draw-a-map/
Posting a map is the best way to get helpful feedback and comments, and don't feel shy to ask questions! The cartographer's guild is full of many mapmaking masters willing to help.
I'm really looking forward to seeing his maps!

This is a great thread- I'm going to learn a lot myself from following up on what's been posted here already! I've just got my first educators qualification (the UK's NCFE/PTTLS award) so if he needs any help with the Photoshop stuff feel free to get in touch. I'd be happy to help him, via you.


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