Personal Map Making

This prompt is jam packed with lots of creative ideas all centered around the topic of maps. Here is an overview of this mega-post:

• Introduction to personal map making
• Getting started with making your own personal map
• Fantasy map
• Character map
• Painted papers
• Interview: Marney Makridakis, Founder of Artella
• Fabulous Contest & Giveaway

Introduction

I love, love, love maps. As a kid I would eagerly open up the new National Geographic Magazine to check out the map. I would stare for hours at these maps focusing more on the design details in them than the actual content -- I guess this explains why a map lover like me is so geographically challenged. Each month a different style of map would be waiting for me - topographical, celestial, ocean floor and the topics ranged from sociological to geological. I was mesmerized by the idea that a map is more than just a picture of a place, maps are snapshots of time and what the cartographer decides to put on the map is intriguing. Each map tells a story. This prompt is about telling our own stories using maps.

Getting Started

There are so many directions that we can go here with our map play which is precisely why this post is jam packed. I could spend the next 20 years dedicated to exploring the use of maps in our soul journeys. I share my map play from the last month and offer three different creative ideas. I invite you to make a map of your own choosing your own style and topic -- or you may wish to play with maps as a design element. Here are some things to consider:

1. Go Exploring. Look at maps that you may have around the house and visit our friend Google to see what maps are published on the Web. This stage will help you to decide the style of map that catches your fancy. Here is a look at some of what I discovered:

Pictured on the left is the game of Risk only designed using Tolkien's story, "The Lord of the Rings." When I thought of maps I immediately thought of "The Hobbit" and remembered that we not only had the LOTR DVDs and books but this game board. On the right is a National Geographic map that I have that was originally published in 1949 and depicts the classical lands of the Mediterranean.  The text in red are notations providing details about different characters and events. I can see where Zeus, in form of bull, swam to Crete from Phoenicia with Europa on his back. I could get lost in these little details, my mind wandering as I picture the stories.

My son went through a phase where he was hooked on a series called, "Warriors." In the front of each book were two maps. The photo above shows the map of the story's setting from the human's perspective and pictured below is from the cat's perspective.

Each map style has it's appeal. What maps can you find in your home? Blog about it -- I'd love to see what you come up with.

2. Pick a Topic. What are you interested in mapping? Your map might be about a single milestone and the events and people surrounding it or a series of milestones. Mapping your dreams, goals, places you wish to visit are other ideas. It may be a map looking back in time, at the present time, or in the future. The places depicted can be real or imaginary. You decide.

3. Develop the Topic. Once you know your topic add some detail. One starting point is to brainstorm ten defining moments related to the topic. These milestones then become the points on your map. For each milestone associate it with a land form and get creative with the name. Some land forms to consider: rivers, lakes, coves, swamps, mountains, meadows, forests, hills, valleys, and fells. What landmarks are important to your map? The landmarks can represent people, places, or events.

4. Design your map. I start by sketching out my ideas on notebook paper. Several loose sketches lead to a more detailed comprehensive sketch. Once you have your ideas mapped out on paper it is time to make the final map.

Continue on to see some examples of my map play.

Fantasy Map
To honor and celebrate my one year blog anniversary I decided to create a map of my travels in Bloglandia. Here is a look at my process:

Once I did my research I knew I wanted to make a fantasy map in the Tolkien style. I pulled out the supplies shown above.

Supply List

• Journal Page - My journal pages need to be prepped since it is thin sketch paper.
• Gesso - My favorite primer.
• Ivory Acrylic Paint - I use the cheap craft paint. It rolls on and mixes up easily. The expensive acrylics in tubes are thicker and are pretty heavy for the journal. I chose ivory to use as my base coat.
• Brayer - I love coating my pages using a brayer rather than a paint brush. It goes on smoothly, quickly, and evenly.
• Freezer Paper - I recently discovered how wonderful plastic coated freezer paper is for a work surface. I tape down, plastic coated face up and use this to mix paint. It is so easy to clean up.
• Color Box - Cat Eye Chalks - This is a new discovery for me. I am now infatuated by these little pigments.
• Makeup sponges and applicators - These are helpful for blending the chalk inks.
• PITT pens. I love these pens. They are archival, super black, and come in different widths.

Here is a peek at my rough draft and my final journal page. I started by rolling on the base coat of ivory paint mixed with gesso. Let this dry really well. Once I had the map sketched out I colored the back of the page with a pencil (charcoal works really well) so I could transfer the shape onto my journal page. The cat eye inks were used to fill in the color. I chose to color in different regions to add interest to the page. For each region I used a lighter color in the center and a darker color around the edge. Once the color was applied I filled in the details using the black PITT  pens. I started by outlining the regions and then went in to add more and more detail.

Here is a look at the finished map. Join me tomorrow as I celebrate my 1-year blog anniversary. I'll show more details of this map and will include some photos of the artwork I created during my travels in Bloglandia.

Character Map

I discovered character maps recently when my son was working on a project for his English class. The worksheet had a basic cartoon character with spots to fill in the details. I thought this would be a perfect soulFULL prompt. I started by photocopying a map. Photocopies are great as you don't use up your original and the photocopy is archival - it won't yellow and age like old book pages and maps.

I found a full length image of a person from a magazine and cut it out to use as a template. Chalk inks were pressed and smeared onto the page.

I scanned in my finished page and added the text using Adobe Photoshop. You can write on the page or cut out words and glue them on. Where are you on the map? What do you see, hear, feel, think, do, and go?

Painted Papers
Maps make great backgrounds and design elements.
I've been using photocopies of maps and then painting them. The sample on the left was created by tearing up the photocopy and pasting it down to a piece of journal page using gel medium. Gel medium was brushed on the front and the back. Once dried I applied two colors of paint - blue and purple, using a brayer.

The sample on the right uses torn pages of photocopy paper. This time I rubbed the edges with the chalk inks and glued them down with a glue stick to a page in my journal. I smeared on the surface some gesso but whipped down with a paper towel so the map details could still be seen. Once dried, an acrylic wash was brushed on. An acrylic wash is basically watering down the paint before brushing it on.

I like to photocopy my painted papers so I can use them again and again. Pictured here is a detail of a journal page that I created where I cut up a copy of my painted map papers. CLICK HERE to see the full journal page.

To get more ideas on paper painted techniques, visit the list of Soul Journal prompts and click on the painted paper links. Go get messy and have fun!

Special Bonus Interview

One of the very first places that I visited in Bloglandia was Artella. As I was researching this journal prompt I received an e-mail from Artella and there were so many map references. I couldn't resist contacting Marney Makridakis the founder of Artella to see if she would be available for an interview. Much to my delight Marney was available to share with all of us her love for maps and how she uses them on her creative journey.

Marney, I love the colorful and creative map that graces your homepage, www.artellawordsandart.com. Places like "Creativity Cove" and "Inspiring Springs" are just too irresistible for me not to click on. I see the theme of maps throughout your site and products.

Tell us more about your love for maps.

I guess I've always been fascinated with maps, starting when I would make maps for fictional places when I was very young.  As an adult, maps have fascinated me because of their inherent juxtapositions.  For example, they are just normal, "boring" every-day objects and yet they are also so visually complex and stimulating; they are truly works of art.  They seem so permanent and even all-knowing, and yet they can become easily outdated.  They offer clear direction and yet remain mysterious. 

In recent years I became fascinated with using maps as a background in art.  I know that maps are often used a bit haphazardly in mixed media work, but I find the process most fulfilling when the map takes on an active, meaningful role in the piece.  When creating art on maps, to bring more meaning to the process, we can ask questions like:  "Are these real places, or imaginary?", "What do the meaning of these locations add to this piece?", "Why is THIS map in particular in this piece of art, as opposed to any other?" (An important question when using any ephemera in a meaningful way.)

I especially love using maps to create self-portraits, which is actually one of the self portrait projects presented in my new Artella e-course called Mixed Media ME-flections: 30 Self-Portrait Projects to Change Your Life. Creating art on a map is like having a dialogue with lines, shapes, colors, and spaces. You have to choose what to cover and what to leave exposed, and what kind of opacity and translucency to use on the parts of the map that you cover up. Maps represent journeys of all kinds, and you get to create a relationship between your own personal journey, and the places that the map represents.

How have you used maps to reach your personal and professional goals?

I've been running Artella for 7 years, and through the years I've continued to use mind maps (first invented by Tony Buzan) as a way to help my right-brain talk to my left-brain!  By orienting myself visually, and getting ideas and plans down in a very free-form, creative style, then I can actually work with the ideas in a more linear way.   

Because I also believe very strongly that you have to bring in lots of things that you love into your work, I have also incorporated maps into Artella in many ways.  When we redesigned the Artella home page a couple of years ago, I wanted to invite our visitors into a unique, memorable destination unlike anything they’d see online, and I started with a map to achieve that feeling.  

More recently, when I started individual one-on-one project consulting for creative entrepreneurs, after taking some time of during my pregnancy and to be with my baby son, I added a new twist to it all and it has now become Creative Cartography Coaching.  I've been creating personalized maps for creative people to help them visualize their goals.  I created this map component because I realized how it is to feel lost as a creative person navigating their dreams to make a living doing what they love.  I realized how nice it would be if we could also just be handed a literal map...with all the steps and paths mapped out to get directly to our creative dreams.  Recognizing how helpful this would be, especially during difficult financial times like these, I decided to roll up my sleeves and become a Cartographer of sorts.  And I am enjoying that process so very much!

I'm also excited to say that the theme of the next print issue of Artella magazine, now in production, is Lost Art: paradise found, and it will be bursting with spectacular, artistic maps!

Do you have a favorite map style?

I love maps that illustrate the unusual journeys.  Since October 2006, we have had an unusual map every single day in The Artella Daily Muse (which is now under renovation, but will be back soon).  Our team has so much fun searching the world over to find creative maps, especially those that represent original journeys that you normally wouldn't think about putting on paper.  Maps of broken hearts, maps of time travel, maps of intuition, maps of the senses, maps of how to make a sandwich…. those types of original maps get me every single time!

How can creatives use maps to help them reach their goals? 

I think there are several ways.  Using mind-mapping as a brainstorming tool is a very helpful practical tool for creative types.  And the act of creating artistic maps to represent the "stops" you need to make to reach your goal is a very powerful way to connect viscerally with your goals. 

You can make a personal map where the stops are mostly practical, tangible things – like ordering business cards, attending a networking function, writing a press release.  But just as important are the interior stops along our journeys, things like breathing, asking for help, connecting with true passion, and believing in the dream.  Either way, creating a map to reflect the road you need to travel is a great way for an artist to align herself with the journey.

Thank you Marney for sharing your love of maps with us today. I can't wait to see the next issue of Artella!

Blog Contest & Giveaway

I hope you are excited to jump off the computer right now and go have a play with maps. Before you go I want to encourage you to come back and share with us your experiments and discoveries. I designed a special Soul Journal Bag for one lucky winner.

This adorable little bag has a surprise inside that will be revealed when the winner is announced. The bag and surprise will go home with one lucky soul journal sister.

Here is a look at the back side of the magical bag. But wait there is more! Marney has thrown into the bag a free 30-day Artella's Luxury Art Journal Membership. To enter all you have to do is go create something this month using maps. Blog about it and link back to this Soul Journal page. You can enter more than once! That's right if you are loving maps as much as I am you might want to keep creating. For each blog post of your wonderful map art that links back will enter your name in again! I'll post the entries as they come in so we can keep the inspiration going. More map ideas will be posted on Collage Diva.

The Personal Map Making contest deadline has been extended:

Deadline to enter: May 22, 2009
Map Gallery & Winner Announcement: June 1, 2009
Next Soul Journal Prompt, "Serendipity Compass": June 1, 2009

**** To enter the contest please link back to the new blog using this address: www.collagediva.com/truenorth

**** Feel free to use the new button on the left on your blog.

I think it is time for some personal map making! Have fun!

{soul hugs}
Kathryn Antyr, Collage Diva

Comments

[susan hosken]

I put some maps on my blog at
srhosken.blogspot.com at 10th April

[susan hosken]

I put some maps on my blog at
srhosken.blogspot.com at 11th April

[mar]

I am not sure if I completed the linking thing
I did place the newest address on my blog
I do plan to enter the map quest contest
but as i just saw it today of course we aren't ready
may 22 is the last day to show it on the blog? or june 1?
(seeing how long I can extend this project LOL)

your map is gorgeous kathryn...!

[Lay Hoon]

Kathryn, I really love your gorgeous map. Thanks for inspiration for this prompt.

My submission
http://mescrap.blogspot.com/2009/04/true-north-arts-personal-maps.html

I wish to explore the others idea you gave us.

Thank you again for this wonderful prompt.

[Kara aka Mother Henna]

Finally posted my maps just now:

http://motherhenna.blogspot.com/2009/04/following-journal-bliss-pt-2-heading.html

Thanks so much for this great prompt!!
miracles,
k-

[Mel]

Hello all,

Here's my map...

http://creativeclutter-mel.blogspot.com/2009/04/emerging-from-snotland.html

I really enjoyed this prompt and plan to *explore* it further.

~blessings~

Mel

[Arlene / Spirit Essence Art]

Hi! It took me a while to get in the groove, and I am sure I still have lots to learn. I did some of Sarah's original prompts to learn some basic techniques (thank you Sarah!) Then I felt inspired to attempt the Personal Maps prompt. I blogged about it here: http://www.spiritessenceart.com/spirit-essence-art/personal-map-creation

I still want to also try the Character Map. In fact, I have prepped the next page in my journal for it by gluing down some map fragments from magazines and partially covering them with gesso mixed with paint! Can't wait for it to be dry.

What fun this has been!

Arlene

[Rose]

I need to give up my job so I have more time to do all these lovely fun things! Thank you!

[Rose]

I have made a map of Mylandia! http://rose-creates.blogspot.com/2009/04/mylandia.html

[Lay Hoon]

I've made my Character Map

http://mescrap.blogspot.com/2009/04/character-map.html

Thanks for looking at.

Wish you have a nice day :)

[Judy]

I'm not going to get my personal goal map done in time for the contest as I've been on the road the last couple weeks. So here's a map of one of those weeks.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25838238@N07/3462707951/

I'm looking forward to spending some more time with this prompt.

[Arlene / Spirit Essence Art]

Guess what? I know I already posted my personal map of my art career history, but I just HAD to try a Character Map too!

Here it is: http://www.spiritessenceart.com/spirit-essence-art/creative-character-map

Can we have more than 1 entry to the contest? LOL. I really want that special bag. Heehee.

Arlene

[Kara aka Mother Henna]

Added another post today exploring my character mapping:

http://motherhenna.blogspot.com/2009/04/true-north-character-map-dialogue-on.html

Thanks, Collage Diva!
miracles,
k-

[Dianne]

finished my Mind Map and posted it on my blog, but have other ideas too...will have to see what happens...

http://artbeneaththecottonwoods.blogspot.com

enjoying the journey!

[Lay Hoon]

I enjoy so much in Map collaging. My third submission for this prompt.

http://mescrap.blogspot.com/2009/04/map-collage-for-travel-journal.html

Thank you.

[L Hynes]

I would like to enter and have used your link to this site on my blog.
Great Prompt
Lee

[L Hynes]

http://www.artrato3.com
Link for post above
Lee

[Danielle]

I have added a link back on my blog. I've started my map and will continue to work on it over the next couple weeks. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Christin]

Kathryn, thank you so much for this prompt. It finally gets me to start my blog :) Just have to become familiar with the technique.
Here is my map

http://colorfulwhite.blogspot.com/2009/05/true-north-arts-map-making.html

[Laura]

Here is my map
http://bellasartes-laura.blogspot.com/2009/05/finding-my-north.html

[Rose]

I have had another play with maps! I have played with altered maps and adore the way this paper looks. I also created some cards using a map stamp!

[Renata Pacheco]

Hi, Kath. This is my submission for this challenge:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scraparty.com%2Fscraparty%2Findex.php&langpair=pt|en&hl=pt&ie=UTF8

It was translated to English by Google. So, pardon me some mistakes. Thank you for the inspiration and blessings from Brazil!

[Haloquin]

Here is my map! I struggled for a little while, until I remembered star-charts and thought it'd be the prfect base for somethign to reflect how I feel now: the whole world opening up, but requiring this huge leap of trust!

http://haloquin.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/carnival/

I really want to do some with physical maps... I've had lots of ideas, but this is the one that grabbed me and moved me :D

Thanks Kathryn,
~Halo xx