Click map to enlarge view
I have been working on two of the three maps I must create for
Buttons & Beads. The final maps will include a Northeast American map; a detail map of Schuylkill County, PA (rough seen below); and a map of all of North America.
Seen above is the first rough draft of the Eastern Woodlands regional map including Pennsylvania,
Lenapehoking, parts of Virginia and the Ohio Country, and the remote Kanawha River where Wynonah sees George Washington one last time.
Our regional map will appear on the front end-sheet of the book, coming in handy for placing the story's events. To the left of it Wynonah's family tree will appear. I have some exciting ideas for that, but you'll have to wait to see. I think the final result will be beautiful.
I have experimented with coloration and lettering on the rough map, drawing the original in blue pencil, digitally altering hues on the right. The final map will be done
entirely by hand in watercolors and pencil.
Much of what you see is based on the
Mitchell Map (right, image from Wikipedia) the most important American map from the French and Indian War period. The boundaries of states as we know them today were very different back then. Two types of broken lines will indicate former and modern boundaries.
was used to accurately plot and combine map data from different sources-- such as towns, paths, rivers, and tributaries-- before anything was drawn by hand.
