This Artist Creates Hand-Drawn, Hyper-Detailed Maps Of Cities Around The World

www.awol.com.au

If you’re looking for the perfect Christmas present for the travel lover in your life, search no further. We’ve got just the thing and we guarantee it’s about 10 times more unique than that travel wallet you buy them every year. London artist Jenni Sparks has teamed up with online giftware shop Evermade for a range of hand-drawn, hyper-detailed maps of cities around the world — and they’re crazy good.

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Jenni started out creating intricately detailed maps of her hometown, London, before turning her cartography skills to international cities like New York, Paris, San Francisco and Berlin. Her most recent creation is a spectacular map of Sydney, and she’s currently working on one of Melbourne.

Far from your average map, her Sydney print perfectly encapsulates the various pieces of the puzzle that comprise Sydney’s unique culture — from the food scene and local architecture, to the street art and Indigenous history. In each suburb, she’s pinpointed iconic landmarks and institutions, like the Beresford, Belvoir Theatre and Bourke St. Bakery in Surry Hills.

The maps are a labour of love for Jenni, taking more than 1000 hours to create – not to mention the months of research.

“A good starting point for me when deciding what to put on each map is looking at the tourist guides and doing a thorough read through,” Jenni tells AWOL of her research process. “I then compile a list of all the places that are mentioned and turn it into a personalised Google map. I categorise and colour-coordinate the different kinds of places such as cafes, museums, landmarks. I also visit the city and speak to local people about what they think should be on the maps, which is really essential as because I’m looking at the city from an outsiders perspective I can only know so much.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnluTVijYQV/

While Jenni is mostly known for her map making, she also dabbles in typography work, portraiture, infographics, as well as a hilarious Instagram account called @myfriendisatwat where shares all the offensive and insulting things her best friend texts her. “I like to make work that uses a lot of dry humour to poke fun at things but I also like to have a message behind it,” says Jenni.