A Dylan Odyssey is being published this May to coincide with International Dylan Thomas Day. I was commissioned by the publisher, Graffeg, alongside Literature Wales to create a series of 16 illustrated maps which explore the places connected with Dylan Thomas. The book consists of a collection of essays, written about each place by leading writers, academics and journalists. The publication of the book follows a series of literary tours that happened in these places during 2014, and my maps accompany each chapter of the book as introductory spreads.
I was delighted to work on this publishing project - from devising the colour palette and sketching the characters, to creating the final maps and learning along the way about the places that Dylan frequented, both in real life and within his writing.I’m pleased to share an insight here, in words and pictures, into my process for researching and creating the maps. Above are several images from my sketchbook as well as a small selection of the finished maps. See more here on my website.
I have always had an enthusiasm for maps and diagrams. I like their bold marks and the particular colours used to display information. When I was small I would pour over an atlas, imagining who lived in these faraway places and the journeys they made. My copy of Lord of the rings had a map of Middle Earth - it was not just for navigating but for setting the scene of a story. A map can also document a process - from getting from a to b, whether a route, a recipe, an idea.... So to picture Dylan's life - his homes, people and inspiration, a map would be just the thing..
My research began with leafing through old atlases, looking at the colours and lines used. The mid century ones were my favourite, mossy greens, mustard yellows, slate blues and bright peach. The weight to these rich tones printed onto textured paper had a really nice feel - I took this as a starting point for the style, wanting to create maps with a sense of depth and history.
I then set about researching Dylan's connections with each place, re reading Under Milk Wood and reacquainting myself with areas of Wales I knew well, and learning about places I was a stranger to. Having moved from Wales to Brighton in 2013 this was a great pleasure. I drew out ideas, redrew, made lots of notes and nosed around many a suburb on Google street view, tracing Dylan's footsteps for each chapter. I worked in pencil and ink to get the ideas out and slowly begin to form them into the beginnings of a map that actually started to look like somewhere. I then added quotes, characters, symbols, buildings to the bare roads and slowly each place and idea started to take shape.
When I embarked upon this ambitious project, I had recently drawn a map of my desk - basically just some lines between objects like my laptop, pot plant, books. Drawn in pencil it was then scanned into Photoshop and textures added. I wanted to work with this style for the maps and set about to create the right textures to make the maps really stand out. I took cartridge paper and rolled over it with ink and paint. Sometimes I rolled onto a piece of Perspex or Lino first and made an impression to enable a blocker look. I photographed painted walls, mixed in sand and generally got quite messy!
The maps developed further once the texture and colour was applied digitally. Characters and buildings got redrawn, motifs added here and there, trees sprung up, road layouts edited. Sometimes I called upon the writers of the essays or local knowledge to check certain details - where were the sites of streets bombed in the Swansea Blitz? Which Surrealist paintings most related to Dylan's work? Where was this or that farm located....the project became a piece of detective work as I began to build a picture of Dylan's life in these settings and translate those site specific experiences into the illustrated maps.
It was great to have a longer project to get my teeth into, and through it I’ve developed my process of blending physical sketchbook work with digital techniques. I’ve learnt a lot and already have more map-based work in the pipeline. Both Graffeg and Literature Wales were a pleasure to work with, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing everything in print
