52 replies to this topic

[Michael Karpovage]

By the way, did you like the reflections of the ships and some of the buildings on the water? I had forgotten those and only recently added them in.

[Jean-Louis]

By the way, did you like the reflections of the ships and some of the buildings on the water? I had forgotten those and only recently added them in.

Absolutely, they work very well, especially for the power plant and the container ship and sailboats. Not easy to do. The curve under the tall ship looks a little odd, though. I think it is a consequence of the flip trick involved to create such an effect. I have not figured that one out myself.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Maybe change the container ship a bit. Move the superstructure two rows of containers to the stern and make it narrower, that will get the proportions more or less in line with the real thing. Compared to the tugs it seems oddly proportioned.

[Michael Karpovage]

Appreciate the thought Hans but that ship is accurate the way it is. I drew it from a real picture. I'm not so worried about it. You see anything else though? Do you like the little "area" map showing where River Street is in the big picture of the historic district?

[Jean-Louis]

Appreciate the thought Hans but that ship is accurate the way it is. I drew it from a real picture. I'm not so worried about it. You see anything else though? Do you like the little "area" map showing where River Street is in the big picture of the historic district?

Ah, If Hans says something, it is true...

I know the ship is accurate and that may be the problem.

I agree I dont think it is important enough to make the change and the ship does look fine.

This just underscores a technical point that comes up often in this type of map:, namely that sometimes real things dont 'look' right for various reasons. I think also it is because those modern container ships do look weird in and of themselves. They dont correspond to the standard 'ship' image we have in our heads. Personally when I think of commercial ships, I still see a good old-fashioned freighter like the kind Captain Haddock would command.

Ultimately, you know the place and if these container behemoths -which I think are hideous - do sail close by then this will look right to the locals

[Michael Karpovage]

Here is an updated design. I had to increase the height of the poster per one of our manufacturers set sizes. Which meant I had some extra space on the bottom. Rather than just add more text blocks making it way too text heavy I needed to separate out or break up the overall piece visually. I added in some picture boxes and some small imagery to give your eye some more to move around with. I've gotten good initial positive reaction with this new design. It brings more to the piece - added value. PDF attached for your browsing pleasure.

 RiverStreet_Poster_Draft_7.pdf   972.63K   81 downloads

[Kathi]

Wow, I'm spechless! This is simply beautiful.

One tiny detail: Shouldn't "dottie Streetcar" be spelled "Dottie Streetcar" - assuming it's a name?

Great work!!

[Michael Karpovage]

One tiny detail: Shouldn't "dottie Streetcar" be spelled "Dottie Streetcar" - assuming it's a name?

Thank you Kathi, that question was brought up before too. I forgot to answer it. It's one of those weird things I guess that was established when they named the streetcar that they specifically wanted dottie to be lower case. So, as you see it on the current map is how it is supposed to appear. Go figure!

[Pete]

I never get tired of looking at your work.

I like how you handled your extra space - the image boxes contain a lot of interesting information without making your layout look overly wordy or bottom-heavy. Your map is brilliant - you can pick out the Spanish moss in the trees and even the little people in canoes in I-2.

... are these the first little people ever in a Karpovage map ?!

[Michael Karpovage]

... are these the first little people ever in a Karpovage map ?!

Hey Thanks Pete! They are not the first people ever. The Village of Waterloo map I did years ago I embedded myself and my two sons as basically stick figures near the far left tip of the island on the shoreline that we used to visit. We are at an orange painted rock. The island is left of #22. http://www.mapformat.../waterloo3D.htm .

The two kayakers in this River Street map are my two boys again. In fact, I also embedded myself in this map as a gimmick. I am incredibly tiny and you can barely see me given the lo-res version of the PDF. I am located to the left of the kayakers standing on the round corner treatment in the trees. I've got a black shirt and blue jeans. At I-1.

[Pete]

... I embedded myself and my two sons as basically stick figures near the far left tip of the island on the shoreline that we used to visit ... The two kayakers in this River Street map are my two boys again. In fact, I also embedded myself in this map as a gimmick ...

There you are! Ha-haa, brilliant !

[Michael Karpovage]

Here's some exciting news on my Savannah River Street map design:

1. I just sold my very first 16x24" poster print at Artsy's Art Gallery on E. River Street. The owner had framed it for display and it sold immediately, frame, matting, protective glass and all!! She ordered more for her inventory. The print itself is selling for $50.00 and is printed on photographic high quality paper basically on an on-demand basis. I did not print thousands up via offset lithography. Hopefully one day I'll have enough demand for that as I land more and more businesses carrying this piece.

That poster design can be seen here: http://www.karpovage...com/riverstreet

2. A smaller cropped portion of the illustration was just published in a beautiful, classy, coffee-table visitor's guide called Savannah: a southern journey published by the Savannah Area Tourism and Leadership Council. My illustration appears as a spread in the middle of the hardcover book. Over 6,000 copies will appear in hotel and b&b rooms in Savannah throughout the year. Essentially free advertising for moi since I required my web address in the by-line. Here's a picture of the spread from the book.

 River_Street_Spread.jpg   718.83K   30 downloads

It's been a dream of mine to create a birds-eye-view tourist map product like this as a souvenir memento-type piece (minus any businesses or ads) for over a decade now. I've been creating maps with mapformation.com in a business-to-business role but never created one for myself to sell retail to the general public. Several of you on this site really inspired me to do so. Combining my love for history, illustration, writing, and research, and the goal to create an accurate, highly detailed, "WYSIWYG" map I wanted to raise the bar on how tourists, visitors, and residents alike can experience panoramic maps the way they used to be drawn. So, my dream just came true and I wanted to share the love of cartographic illustration with ya'll!

Now I've just got to finish the rest of the Savannah Historic District! Gimme a year or two. ;-)

Best,

[Jean-Louis]

Indeed Michael...
There is no more flattering and satisfying thing for a great map illustration to be featured in a nice high-end publication. Congratulation.

[Michael Karpovage]

Indeed Michael...
There is no more flattering and satisfying thing for a great map illustration to be featured in a nice high-end publication. Congratulation.

Thanks so much brother! Incidentally, your early birds-eye-view work with Unique Media was one of the main inspirations to set me on this course. I believe it was the Niagara Falls map you had worked on in watercolor, pen, and ink media. I decided then I wanted to create something similar in my own style but do it in Photoshop digitally. So, really Jean-Louis, I thank you.

[Derek Tonn]

Now I've just got to finish the rest of the Savannah Historic District! Gimme a year or two. ;-)

Only a year or two?! Hmm...we must not be keeping you busy enough then.

Seriously though, it is a beautiful piece, and it has to be awesome to see a few cash registers ringing on those posters. A lot, lot, lot of work! So hopefully the satisfaction (personal, professional, financial, whatever) you receive will far-exceed the effort. Sure is fun to look at though. If we ever get our company "gallery showing" at my alma mater (like my former advisor and current Chair of their Art Department says he would like to do), that one will definitely need to be in there.