Map-Making

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One of my very first loves was map-making: as a kid, maps were one of my favourite things to draw. I would make maps of treasure islands, maps of our neighbourhood and maps of my bedroom (usually during my annual rearranging-fest when I was trying to figure out where I wanted my stuff to be for MAXIMUM BEDROOM PERFECTION. As an adult I still do this but for my studio. The never-ending goal of finding just the right place for everything is a curse I am willing to bear.

Illustrated diagram of the same bedroom with 3 room variations, titled “Various permutations of my room”.

Recently I’ve been getting into the animated series Craig of the Creek (which is absolutely delightful and fast becoming a firm favourite with me - thanks Mitch for the recommendation!). The titular character, Craig, is a self-proclaimed map-boy whose goal (while adventuring with pals) is to map the Creek where all their adventures happen. Watching it has reminded me of my absolute love of maps and prompted me to share some of the maps I’ve made, including this Story Maze Map.

Forest Story Maze Map. The map is of a forest with a yellow sandy path. The words START HERE and a bonfire are in the middle of the forest. Throughout the forest are scattered different monsters.

This one was originally designed for an issue of Pigeon Post (a quarterly publication by 100 Story Building, a centre for young writers). You start in the middle of the forest and choose a path to follow. Throughout the forest are scattered different monsters, events or items and when you come across one of these you need to incorporate them into the story you’re telling.

E.g. It was a bright sunny day and we were in the middle of a lush green forest. The trees were so tall and the canopy was so thick that you could barely see the sky. We couldn’t at all remember how we got here.
“We have to get home!” Sophie said. “It’s almost tea-time! I can’t miss dessert. Not again.”
We all agreed: missing dessert was not acceptable.
“I have a good feeling about the path to the left,” I said.
“I think right is the right way,” said Tom.
“Split the difference?” asked Carsen.
It was settled; we would go down the middle path. A short way into our journey there was a sharp turn which opened into a small clearing where we saw a large black cauldron bubbling over with something sticky, pink and incredibly smelly.

I’d love to do more of these Story Maze Maps. Or just more maps in general. Is it really a story if it doesn’t have a map?

A small section of my collection of maze & map making books.

I’ve shared my love of map-making with a variety of my students over the years. Recently I ran my map-making workshop with my Inky Fingers kids and they took to the challenge of making maps like a duck takes to eating popcorn. Here are some of the maps they created. They had to include:

• A compass

• A key (with 3 different items, e.g road, forest, lake)

• A cartouche (a fancy illustrated title for the map, so people know what it is a map of and who drew it)

• At least 3 special landmarks (e.g. home, a mysterious mountain, the best fish & chip shop).

I’ve been wanting to put together a short map-drawing activity book for a while (maybe once the final art is all done for Oh Brother and I have a bit more free time). But I have created a little guided resource for the workshops I currently run and I’ve just popped a free downloadable PDF version up on my online store. So if you’re looking for a fun summer holiday activity, head here to download it for free.

Two black and white worksheets on a green checked cutting board with two rulers and a lead pencil.

I love poring over maps of all types, they help me make sense of a world and give me a feeling of comfort and order. But also there is so much storytelling you can do with maps! If you have a go at making your own map, I’d love to see what you come up with.

A short comic where a friendly postal bat give a map to two lost witches.

In which our hero draws some maps

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As part of the researching prep I've been doing for Oh Brother, I thought I should probably work on sense of place, something I've struggled with in the past. I mostly end up drawing talking head comics or just drawing labeled objects floating in space. I want people to read my book and without even realising it know they are in suburban South Australia, near the beach. Or at the very least, the burbs.

So I've been drawing up some maps of my childhood homes. I only had two and as a kid I always thought that was too many. I remember when dad told me that we were moving, I was bouncing on the trampoline at the time and I just stop bouncing and kind stood there, on the elasticated surface dumbfounded. 

Then I found out we were only moving two streets away and in the new place I would I far cooler room. Plus the guy who lived in it previously had carved a unicorn out of slate a stuck it on the wall. He also shot pigeons in the backyard, soooo yeah. 

Anyway, house number one, Balmoral Ave. They was no google earth image for my old house (once it was sold it was knocked and replaced by a dreadful unit type house - this is defs an objective view of the new house and has nothing to with someone knocking .down my childhood). So as there was no image available I had to go from memory and, even though the yard was long and large, I feel like my brain has made this map with a touch of nostalgia and a 9-year-olds perspective.  

This house also backed onto the neighbourhood park. Perfect suburban living for a kid. 

Next up we have Somers St. It was even in the same postcode has Balmoral. It had a beautiful big weeping willow tree in the front yard (recently chopped down as it was unsafe) that house my first (and only) tree house. The roof was flat and perfect for sitting on. You climb up the house in various locations and to get onto it. There wasn't much yard (nowhere near as much as balmoral) but by the time we moved in I was becoming a teen and bigger bedroom was a much more exciting prospect. 

There were lots of strange room and additions to the house with each different family that lived in the house. This meant lots of different possibilities for music rooms, libraries, studies, art rooms. 

In the Somers street house, I was given the old lounge room (with one of the many additions a new lounge room was added leaving a rather large front room with air con - the only aircon in the house when we first moved in) much to my delight it was huge and filled possibilities! I would always (and still do) use my room, in fact any space I inhabit, as extension of me and what I'm thinking. You could not see the walls as every inch would be covered with movie tickets, pictures either drawn by me or artists that I loved and had cut out of magazines. When I moved out of parents home, the amount of bluetak (and peeled off paint -whoops) that we got off those walls, could have been used to put up all the gig posters in Adelaide for months. 

As these room were extensions of myself, like me, they would change and grow. Move around, get rigged into the haven of my insular teenage world. I would draw endless floor plans and use my feet to measure how big things were (I refuse tape measure for some unknown reason - impatience most probably) to see if they would fit in there newly designated homes. 

This new, ex-lounge, bedroom was amazing, It had hardwood floors, air-con and most importantly an old seventies cocktail bar! Which I swiftly transformed into my own version of the Three Broomsticks (a la Harry Potter). Mine was only called the two broomstick, due to lack of spare cleaning tools. One of which was actually a mop. Anyway, I loved the wormhole that was this bedroom and took great pride in making it the haven for all comics loving, music nerds who play sport too. Below are some of the many styles that my room has been in. 

Apart from the key - the above floor plans are eerily similar to the bedroom plans I was making since I was about 10. I love trying to sort things out unfortunately being tiny - I couldn't easily move furniture. Didn't mean I didn't try, much to the dismay of my parents when they saw the scratches in the floorboards. 

And as a bonus - here is a picture of me out the front of the amazing willow tree just before it got chopped. I loved her so much! (note: the treehouse has been taken out because the tree had started to rip it apart with it's growing strength! Nature is amazing).

Talk to y'all soon. 

Gx