This map depicts a stretch of suburban commercial landscape in Chandler, Arizona with strip malls, big box stores, parking lots, gas stations, and fast food restaurants rendered in precise detail. Every element is accounted for: the drive-through, parking lot stripes, even turning lanes. Walmart, Fry’s, IKEA, Ross, Staples, In-N-Out, Chevron, Starbucks, and a dozen other […]
This map is of the Atari 2600 game, Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was drawn circa 1983 by Justin and his brother on computer paper of the time period, green and white striped on one side with perforation holes down the edge. Justin says, “I was in the first grade at the time, and […]
Marjolein, an artist from the Netherlands, sent us two maps of fictional worlds. The first map depicts a mountainous mainland with smaller islands. Marjolein explains that because many of the destinations in this region are on the peaks, the inhabitants have constructed huge sky bridges to cross the water. The red lines represent traffic. The […]
This anonymous map was sent to us with just a title: “Hi Fi Lo Fi.” It may be of a specific place, but without any text, it’s difficult to make a reasonable guess. Given the title, I’ve come to see it as a comparison between drawing styles with a more contemporary, possibly even futuristic, approach […]
The western edge of Tanaloth is dominated by a large mountain while a road threading east through Findlay Pass leads to the city of Tanaloth itself. Nearly everything here is named: ridges, streams, hamlets, and larger settlements such as Burin and Romsey. David drew this for a campaign he ran using GURPS, the Generic Universal […]
George drew this map while attending Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India for a year of study in 1969. The fictional archipelago of Montablan originated years earlier in his imagination while mowing the yard of his childhood home in Iowa. Driven by his contempt of cutting grass, he fantasized himself as one of a group […]
Pier was recently commissioned to create a map for a client’s soon-to-be husband. The client wanted the image to depict every place her fiancee called “home.” Pier’s solution was to represent a pile of overlapping books. He writes,”the four open atlases display maps – each in a different way: the charming and exotic town names […]
Grzegorz, an amateur cartographer from Szczecin, Poland, sent this collection of fictional maps depicting imagined islands and continents, each rendered with the care and detail of a serious world-builder. His maps feature invented place names such as Ocean of Dreams [Ocean Snu], Blue Mountains [Niebieskie Góry], and Dragon Mountains [Góry Smoków].
David mapped his entire personal fanverse, the sprawling imaginative universe built from a lifetime of science fiction, fantasy, and pop culture. The map organizes his fandoms spatially: star systems for Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, and Star Trek; a “Galaxy of Limbo” for He-Man, Thundercats, and Transformers; and a world map dotted with MacGyver, LOST, and […]
Drawn on a rainy afternoon with her eight-year-old daughter, Lux creates a fanciful world in her home’s kitchen. Everyday appliances transform into potentially treacherous points of interest. The refrigerator houses the Icy Lair of Evil Troutus [top right], the stove transforms into an island of fire [middle left], and her precariously overstuffed bookshelf morphs into […]
Amanda created this map inspired by the music of Sigur Ros. She writes, “We could drink spinach berry smoothies and listen to fantastic music all day. The band originates from Iceland, it may be a little too cold for me there. Thus, Smaskeyti was born! Using titles from their songs, I have created a beautiful […]
Eeyar’s map includes a detailed look at the islands just off the coast of Candycorn Peninsula. The various islands in the Sorry Sea include cities such as Susan, Beth, Gertrude and Larynx.