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A review by readsewknit
The Art of Map Illustration: A Step-By-Step Artistic Exploration of Contemporary Cartography and Mapmaking by Hennie Haworth, Stuart Hill, James Gulliver Hancock
5.0
This book is delightful. Each page is visually appealing as they introduce children to map making. Traditional supplies are covered, then the book is broken up into sections by various map makers. Each one shares their favorite mediums and offers hints and suggestions to inspire children to make their own maps. We see the artists share some of their own creations step by step, then conclude with the final product.
I am creative in some ways, but drawing skipped my gene pool; my sisters gained that natural talent from my mother and grandmother. All the same, as Hennie Haworth opened her section, she shared how to draw a tree, and I thought, "Hey, I could do that!"
One note, though -- while these artists share great suggestions and offer a lot of pictorial ideas, there is some expectation of previously established drawing ability, with this book just to guide you with how to focus that skill to create an engaging map scene (one more example from Haworth's section: she starts with a sketch of a building, then goes into helpful detail as to how she would overlap colors and use pencils and pens for additional texture, but she expects you to know how to draw and just gain insight into how to shade and detail your existing drawing).
For children with digital resources, Hill uses his section to walk through the steps he takes in Photoshop and Illustrator to create his maps.
Plus, this book makes a point that maps can include more than just streets -- one artist has a visual recipe and a pictorial heavy page on how to change a bike tire. Another drew her profile with intricate details on the various parts of her brain based on what they control (short-term memory, etc). They also remind children that it's fine to play with perspective and distance and shrink things closer together to keep the visual interest.
Each section is engaging, with interesting details and helpful tips and closes with a gallery of that artist's work. This book would draw people to flip through it, and if I left it on our table with drawing supplies nearby, I have no doubt either of my girls would get pulled in and want to create a map of their own.
I am creative in some ways, but drawing skipped my gene pool; my sisters gained that natural talent from my mother and grandmother. All the same, as Hennie Haworth opened her section, she shared how to draw a tree, and I thought, "Hey, I could do that!"
One note, though -- while these artists share great suggestions and offer a lot of pictorial ideas, there is some expectation of previously established drawing ability, with this book just to guide you with how to focus that skill to create an engaging map scene (one more example from Haworth's section: she starts with a sketch of a building, then goes into helpful detail as to how she would overlap colors and use pencils and pens for additional texture, but she expects you to know how to draw and just gain insight into how to shade and detail your existing drawing).
For children with digital resources, Hill uses his section to walk through the steps he takes in Photoshop and Illustrator to create his maps.
Plus, this book makes a point that maps can include more than just streets -- one artist has a visual recipe and a pictorial heavy page on how to change a bike tire. Another drew her profile with intricate details on the various parts of her brain based on what they control (short-term memory, etc). They also remind children that it's fine to play with perspective and distance and shrink things closer together to keep the visual interest.
Each section is engaging, with interesting details and helpful tips and closes with a gallery of that artist's work. This book would draw people to flip through it, and if I left it on our table with drawing supplies nearby, I have no doubt either of my girls would get pulled in and want to create a map of their own.