Hand Made Maps Ltd

Hotel Bel-Air time-lapse movie

2011-12-03T06:25:00.000-08:00

The process revealed! - Shot at intervals of 10 seconds and then edited, a movie of the artwork for the Hotel Bel-Air aerial-view being created - to be used as publicity and guest location guide for the hotel clients. With thanks to Jonathan Mattis, Marketing Manager at the Hotel Bel-Air, who provided visual reference, including movies and still shots from a helicopter circling the site.

Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles

2011-10-17T15:17:00.001-07:00

Aerial View Illustration and Hotel Plan for Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles

Commissioned by Dan Bernstein of &Smith Design Group on behalf of the Dorchester Collection

St Trinian's : Original illustrations

2010-08-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

Some of the illustrations prior to animation for "The Legend of Fritton's Gold" the most recent St Trinian's Movie.

St Trinian's - The Legend of Fritton's Gold

2010-08-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

Recent St Trinian's movie illustrated by Hand Made Maps Ltd . Animated by Matt Curtis of Abrahams Pants - the animated map sequences used as a link in the story-telling of the film.

Coworth Park Hotel

2010-08-11T02:31:00.000-07:00

Commissioned by Anna Leaver at the &Smith design group - an aerial view illustration of the newly completed luxury hotel at Coworth Park, Sunningdale, Surrey, UK. The Hotel is part of the Dorchester Collection and due to be opened Autumn 2010. Illustration to be used as part of the literature introducing guests to the facilities on offer.

Globee Ltd

2010-03-05T00:46:00.000-08:00

In recent months Hand Made Maps has been creating a series of illustrated globes for Globee Ltd. The concept, originated by Mr David Sinclair, is to illustrate cities and their main points of interest, to be retailed in the tourism market. Some of the globes will talk (!) - by touching a specific illustration a commentary comes from within on the history of what is being touched...

Already completed are globes for London, Harrods, The Royal Collection, Edinburgh. Cambridge, Las Vegas and Los Angeles (shown above) , Berlin, Paris, Rome, Venice, Sydney and New York. More destinations are planned.

Award for Charles Darwin exhibition 'Uncovering Origin'

2009-12-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

Including maps and illustrations from Hand Made Maps Ltd the 'Uncovering Origin' permanent exhibition at the home of Charles Darwin at Down in Kent has been awarded the 'Best UK Tourism Project for 2009 Award' by the British Guild of Travel Writers. There are further examples of the artwork featured earlier in this weblog, but better still visit the exhibition !

Hellboy II

2009-09-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

(Click to run tiles sequence for Hellboy II.)

Commissioned by Matt Curtis of Abrahams Pants, we produced a series of drawings (above) in renaissance manner to be used in the title sequence of Hellboy II ( directed by Guillermo del Toro).

The sepia drawings and da Vinci-style mirror writing were reversed out into glowing white overlaying the machine animations.

The concept behind the commission being that the mechanical monsters had humanistic traits, hence the use of drawings styles from the great humanist age of the Renaissance.

28 Wonders of the World

2009-07-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

Short while ago, commissioned by The Guardian, a World Map Poster with free stickers, depicting various wonders of the world – 7 Ancient, 7 Modern, 7 Natural and 7 Technological. Given away with the newspaper on four consecutive Saturdays.

Body Holiday, St Lucia

2009-05-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

Completed in March 2009, an aerial view illustration for the Body Holiday resort in St Lucia, West Indies. Referenced from site photography and Google Earth, the illustration shows the layout of amenities and the general landscape of the resort. Unfortunately, illustrators don't get the trip, whereas photographers do!

The two pictures show the final artwork, with text overlay, and a work-in-progress shot – taken to show the client at a half-way stage.

Ecology Game

2009-04-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

Recent commission for Hand Made Maps Ltd concerned a prototype board for a game commissioned by Fleur Howle of "Gaming Shakespeare". The brief concerned producing a sample for a game that engages players in a debate about the pros and cons of the environmental argument. The sample is currently providing a discussion point for academics, on the relevance and stimulus for debate on ecology issues, also whether or not the game can be fun!

'Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire' by Iain Sinclair

2009-03-01T15:04:00.000-08:00

Commissioned by Nathan Burton at Penguin Books, Hand Made Maps Ltd have produced the illustrated map artwork for the dust-jacket of 'Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire' by Iain Sinclair.

The concept, designed by Nathan Burton was to have a jacket that folded out to become a map of the Hackney Empire (sic) with Victoria Park as a nearby island.

The artwork was produced mainly in Adobe Illustrator, then printed out and to give the lines a distressed quality the artwork was reduced in photocopy by 25% and then these copies were enlarged by 400%. Illustrations were hand-drawn and added in Photoshop. Another device to make the map look as if from an earlier age of lithographic printing was the use of flat colour, with some of the printings out of register.

'Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire' is published by Hamish Hamilton

Sailing Yacht Eos

2009-03-01T11:51:00.000-08:00

Launched in 2006, S.Y.Eos, the largest sailing ship in the world (305 ft), contains a 14ft world map mural supplied by Hand Made Maps Ltd. The commission was handled by Tom Ackerman a freelance New York Art Director, employed by Barry Diller and Diana von Furstenburg, the owners of the Eos.

The brief for the mural was quite open, with the request that images representing cultures around the world were not to be clichés but by imaginative and unpredictable subject matter. The other request was that is would have as much information as possible. The map was initially created as a water-colour of the world's seas (photo above). This was then scanned by an over-head scanner and through various digital processes in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator a large file was produced for the mural to be printed in the USA. This was then mounted and sent to Germany where the yacht's builders Lürrsen Yachts installed the mural.

'Amazon' by Bruce Parry

2009-02-26T15:18:00.000-08:00

Penguin, in 2008, commissioned Hand Made Maps Ltd to produce 6 double-page-spread map illustrations to be published in the book 'Amazon' to accompany Bruce Parry's television series. The agreed solution was to create the floor of the Amazon rainforest and use Google Earth maps as print-out to give the effect of the ultimate in technological mapping, in contrast to the primitive surroundings of the rainforest. The photographs show the finished result for Chapter 2, and the developing studio set for the photography of the forest-floor environment. A detailed search was carried out across London for suitable rotting vegetation to simulate the rainforest floor – the boiling pot contains bark, cooking to produce magic medicine.

Unfortunately, the map concept was cancelled as the project developed, the programme/book became less of a travel narrative and concentrated more on political and social issues, making the need for the six maps redundant.

Motor Yacht Steel

2009-02-26T14:41:00.000-08:00

February 24th saw the launch of M.Y. Steel, the latest project from the Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth, UK. The four-year building programme, included a commission for a 3 x 1.4 metre map of the world mural from Hand Made Maps Ltd. The work was briefed in December 2008 and hand-drawn on Fabriano 4 Liscio, flat mounted on to Forex exhibition board. As the request was to have the original artwork displayed on the boat, the mounting of the paper was done in advance of the drawing, so there was no risk of creasing on a final mounting of the work. The drawing was mainly executed in shellac based drawing inks for permanence and the use of various staining materials to give the map an 'aged' look . Above are two photographs of work in progress, the piece has yet to be photographed in situ on the boat.

Darwin-Wedgwood Family Tree

2009-02-18T15:26:00.000-08:00

Included in the recent re-design of the Museum at Down House, was a new drawing of the Darwin and Wedgwood Family Tree – illustrated by Hand Made Maps Ltd. The use of the tree plays on the Mulberry tree that grow outside the window on the right of the photograph. The artwork for the Family Tree was done in watercolour with pen and coloured inks. The illustration measure 1500mm x 750mm, was scanned on an A3 Epson 10000 XL scanner, the text and photography was then applied digitally on several layers in Photoshop. The illustration was enlarged commercially by BAF Ltd., printed on to a plastic-coated paper and pasted to the wall.

The photograph above shows the back of Down House, with the Mulberry tree to the right hand side.

February 2009 - Down House, Kent

2009-02-12T16:54:00.000-08:00

The Charles Darwin Museum, Down House, Kent, UK

Hand Made Maps has recently completed several projects for the new permanent exhibition at Down House, Kent. The exhibition, commissioned by English Heritage and designed by Design Map, commemorates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin.

Voyage of the Beagle illustrated world map.

Hand Made Maps studio created the illustrated map showing the voyage of the Beagle. The image above shows the map in situ, boxes mounted on the map containing four of Darwin's notebooks that went with him on HMS Beagle.

The idea behind the illustration was that although being made in a traditional manner, the artwork was to be of a current stylistic idiom. To achieve this, the map is partly unfinished (in areas of no relevance to the voyage), and the graticule lines of longitude and latitude form a pattern, coloured and textured according to the earth's climate and giving a vertical/horizontal framework to support the text on the map - all quotes from Darwin's journal.