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These maps are no joke! They take a bit to draft by hand. Of course, I need reference maps from somewhere, but I don’t just copy/paste them from a website, I need to use my own base maps and apply my illustrated texts’ color scheme. The one that I am most proud of is that proportional symbol map. I remember making these for the first time in my cartography course and realizing that the proportions of the symbols (whatever they might be), must be mathematically correct. Proportions are actually quite useful in the real world and I am glad that I must not have fallen asleep that day in junior high). So, if 100%=the maximum size of my shape, and Japan is 93.928%, and the maximum height/width of my circle in Adobe Illustrator is 25mm, what size mm height/width should I make my new Japan circle. I’m sure a math teacher just looked at that attempt at a word problem and laughed, but that is how I tackled the circles for each of those countries in my proportional symbol map.
I’ve always had a crush on isoline maps, ever since I saw the light go on when I realized that it was really a 3D image that was hiding in 2D. I always make sure to draw these out for my students and see them smile as they start to see what all those squiggle lines mean.
Above all though, I think the choropleth is probably my most favorite map type. They are relatively clear, utilitarian, and plus I love the word monochromatic. Don’t you? Art Fundamentals taught me about monochromatic color schemes (thanks Mrs. S!) 23 years later, I just saw her at a retirement party for another former teacher of mine. She still remembered my name, face, and things I drew. I hope to have that memory when I get that far.
