A rough idea of what the orientation panels might look like. Early days Today i begin work on the initial sketches of the Brighter Bushmills tourist map. We met last week at the French Rooms and discussed the next stage in our plans. What goes through a local artist's head when drawing his own hometown you might wonder?
As in any given town, there are many houses and many areas in which a local resident will be very familiar with. Everyone is a judge, and i mean everyone. That does not mean they are a critic in the sense that they will vocally show their disdain for your work, but everyone naturally decides whether they like a particular thing or not. An illustrated heritage map of a town is no exception. This will be my first major showing of my artwork to Northern Ireland. As mentioned elsewhere on this website, i have had my work published in America a total of three times, but in three very different ways. My first work was Run Run Catch Me If You Can by Texan author Bette McBride which was a childrens book and released as a print on demand title at Xlibris. My second work, King's Journey Tarot was self published by it's author C Bayless through a printer in Colorado, and finally Simply Deep Tarot was published by Schiffer Books of Pennsylvania. These works were seen and bought by those from all over the world. In 2011 i started to produce local souvenirs from my own studio for distribution throughout the local shops and so in that sense my art has been already introduced to the town.
As in any given town, there are many houses and many areas in which a local resident will be very familiar with. Everyone is a judge, and i mean everyone. That does not mean they are a critic in the sense that they will vocally show their disdain for your work, but everyone naturally decides whether they like a particular thing or not. An illustrated heritage map of a town is no exception. This will be my first major showing of my artwork to Northern Ireland. As mentioned elsewhere on this website, i have had my work published in America a total of three times, but in three very different ways. My first work was Run Run Catch Me If You Can by Texan author Bette McBride which was a childrens book and released as a print on demand title at Xlibris. My second work, King's Journey Tarot was self published by it's author C Bayless through a printer in Colorado, and finally Simply Deep Tarot was published by Schiffer Books of Pennsylvania. These works were seen and bought by those from all over the world. In 2011 i started to produce local souvenirs from my own studio for distribution throughout the local shops and so in that sense my art has been already introduced to the town.
Dundarave hangs in the balance folks, but we'll see what happens
There is something very different however in depicting one's local town in an illustration. People can be very proud of their little patch of the world and so care must be taken. Thankfully i have been given some artistic license, and i feel you really need that if you want to create a visually interesting map which also poses as a piece of art. You do find yourself wondering however "what will the owner of this garage think of my depiction of their establishment?" or "will the residents of Dundarave Rd notice if I've literally cut corners?" (Don't worry Dundarave people, I'm just using that as an example, don't get the magnifying glass out). However the map is taking shape and things are looking good.
Thanks for reading
James
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