I’ve been writing a children’s book in my head for some time. It’s the long journey of some cute little animals called Ecks over the centuries as they become less like animals and more like sentient, technologically-aware beings rather like us.
A few months ago I took a week’s worth of art classes at West Dean College to chill out and draw. One of the courses was called ‘Mapping a Personal Journey’. So I used that time (2 and a half days of solid drawing!) to make a Mappa Mundi for my little Ecks. It was surprisingly useful in helping me articulate the Eck’s long history and come up with additional episodes in their story.
The map reads from left to right, following the river from its source in the primeval forest, the Vast Wild Orchard. (You can see a little Eck peeking out from behind a tree). From there, they crossef the fallen tree bridge into the desert and up to the caves in the mountains. Further on, there are Stonehenge-like monuments and a notation of where ancient treasure can be found. Southward toward “Skree’s Furnace”, the volcano where they discover fire, and over the ford where they lived a nomadic, plains-dwelling existence. Moving to the right, you can see the tidy farms and orchards and then down the river to the very modern, very civilised, medieval city. The map celebrates the marriage of the king and queen, which joins up the kingdoms of the north and south. They’re in the upper right-centre, in Tudor-style dress.
The map, for its time, is modern and scholarly. It uses mystical symbols, geometry and other details to convey the tri-partite nature of the world as they understand it. It’s also a traveller’s guide (here there be monsters!). Finally, and most importantly, it is a mechanism for showing off the wealth and prestige of the two rulers who have now merged the two greatest nations in their known world. Still not finished – more detail needed in the shield in the upper left corner, which shows the Coats of Arms for the two kingdoms. He is the ‘Sun King of Eck’ (see the sun image in the very centre – and note that he commissioned the map); she is the earthly manifestation of the four-handed, two-tailed goddess after whom the kingdom of Ixthia is named.
The image was drawn using pencils on Bockingford watercolour paper, with Daler Rowney and other water soluble coloured pencils, Winsor & Newton paints and permanent markers in sanguine and sepia. It was way too big for the scanner, so it was scanned in sections and put together in Photoshop CS5.
Had been wanting to make a map for quite awhile – very impressed by the fabulous Grayson Perry’s map. Here’s a video of him talking about the Hereford Mappa Mundi and his own self-portrait map.
