Existing stuff

OK, I didn't get round to doing this last week, but finally here goes. Some of the stuff that I have been working before I started this course....


This is my latest version of 'Overland' a 'tube-map' style map of the overland journeys I've done. This version includes the trip I took in the summer from Nairobi to Johannesburg, which invoved rejigging the whole layout. Despite a lot of tweeking, I'm still not happy with the layout - there's too much empty space in the middle, and it's too cluttered. So this is work in progress. I did this partly to practice using Adobe Illustrator. Once I'm happy with the result, I may get it printed to about A2 size and mount it.

I find maps really interesting subjects for artwork; I think a lot of their beauty is that they are functional and that they impart knowledge. Of course my Overland map isn't really either, but it looks as it it should be. However, it is a very personal piece of work - I love travelling on overland journeys, am a logically minded person, and am interested in transport; all of which show in this work.

One of the other tings I have been working on - although with very limited success so far, is utilising data from topographical maps (ie ones that are to scale, instead of topological diagrams such as the tube maps), and playing around to see what interesting affects can be achieved.

This is very much work in progress, it is a map of the road network of East Anglia, with the roads represented in red - major roads with thicker lines than minor roads. The idea is that it looks almost like blood vessels, with the artieries (of traffic or blood) serving the towns and cities (Norwich is the main focal point here). Different parts of the country have different patterns - Norfolk is flat so the roads are generally straight - although there are gaps around the broads to the east of Norwich. Hillier parts of the country show roads following valleys, and have a distinct pattern. Anyway, this is all stuff that I need to be playing around with more to see what comes out of it. I've been using data from Ordnance Survey and putting it into an open source Geographic Information System (GIS) application called QGIS.