​As always, it's hand-drawn with coloured pencil and pen. With much ocean ahead, and Antarctica, I think it’ll take another year to finish. But most of the land is done. And prints of certain continents are already available, so the map is going well. It’s just... more complex and detailed than I ever dreamed.

And I draw full-time now! This is my gig. My previous map, North America: Portrait of a Continent, took five years because I had a day job back then. It was drawn in my free time. Now mapping is my day job, yet the journey goes deeper than ever. The research needed is mind-boggling. I now understand that with maps of this scope, the scale is akin to a large nonfiction book.
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So, those are my excuses for why I am (once again) entrenched in a multi-year map odyssey. This was not my intention. But I’m okay with it – Wild World is worth the wait.

So Wild World has been a long time coming. Still, I had no idea what I'd started. That I’d still be going two years on, with 1,002 animals (so far), its own rules and conventions, and my life revolving around it.

After much deliberation, I went with the Natural Earth projection centered on 11° east. Then, I simply rolled out my art paper, traced the coastlines with a light pad, and said… world map of animals: GO!
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I started in North America, as I’d just spent years drawing a very different version which, along with all its skylines, has many animals. Drawing N.A. without the human layers was an appealing warm-up.

​The change is remarkable. They are totally different visions. They also reflect two years in Melbourne during the pandemic, a city which held records for time spent under lockdown. As the world outside was grim and inaccessible, I embraced Wild World to escape. For months we had 5 km travel limits, but my mind was in the Sahara or the Amazon.

As a result, I drew more in 2021 than in any past year of my life. My skills vastly improved over thousands of hours, and these changes reflect that.

The rest of the map doesn't require re-drawing. As the first place drawn, North America really was a warm-up. This early bison I always particularly hated... I’m glad it evolved into something more majestic!

Just quickly – I talk about this often but it’s crucial: how are the animals chosen? The worldwide count today is 1,002 so we're talking a vast range.
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I’m always after the iconic, the beautiful, the unique and the endemic.
But there are three criteria they must meet: wild, native, and extant (not extinct). So no thylacine or short-faced bear, sadly. Also no Bigfoot I’m afraid, although there’s one on my last map (I’m usually partial to a sasquatch).

​These rules are guidelines… not every animal fits them neatly. For example, the origins of the dingo are hotly debated. But the guidelines serve the map well, laying its thematic foundations.

​Wild and native animals invoke natural habitats only, crucial for that Attenborough-esque lens on the biosphere. And without extinct animals, the map is set in the present day – highlighting a world of nature all around us. A world that can still be cherished, respected, and protected.

Wild World may seem an idealistic view of the planet, but it shows nothing that isn't there. Some of its animals may go extinct in coming years, but it's a celebration of nature – not an obituary of it. It's designed to encourage a natural perspective about Earth, inspiring passion for our wild world.

​First the map was scanned, and then I hit Photoshop – transforming this completed sweep into a standalone work.

The space and stars (drawn in Photoshop) are my best yet, experimenting with dark purples and comets, atmospheric haze and aurora borealis. It includes iconic northern constellations – such as Ursa Minor and the North Star, Ursa Major/Big Dipper, Leo and Perseus.

Wild World: North America is my favourite release yet. With several years of print experience now under my belt, I feel I finally have a good grasp of the fundamentals. And both continents were fantastic practice for the final world map!

There are 345 different species on the print, ranging from tarantula to blue whale, moose to iguana.

​Please keep in mind I can't fit every animal. Despite the immense detail, it's very hard narrowing down and choosing animals. So if your favourite critter isn't here, or where you'd like it to be, just remember there are limits. I'm only sorry if your home is being crushed by an opossum.

The beauty of the American West is always exciting. It's a great place to experiment with my ultimate vision of a map: one which feels like places, that captures something experiential, as landscape art does. I want all the geography to be solid and accurate, but on a map that feels alive, that truly takes you there…

Wild World: North America spans a vast region, with the North Pole as the top edge and the Equator as the bottom. It ranges from Arctic sea ice to the northern Amazon jungle.

Importantly, every print comes with a two-sided guide. One side labels every species on the map, including their Linnaean names. The other is a 'Landscape & Flora Guide', naming every flower, every discernible mountain peak, and even the constellations.

Guides, which also accompany WW: Australasia, are integral to the project. They greatly improve the educational value of the map. It goes without saying that when Wild World is finished, every print will come with a guide – likely in booklet form!

Now, let's finish by discussing the soul of this map. I'm writing to you from Melbourne, where I’ve lived for 8 years. It's quite a big city, and I can hear ceaseless traffic outside – punctuated by the occasional caw from an Australian raven.

At first glance, Aussie cities don’t look different to those in the States and Canada. We have plenty of skyscrapers, strip malls, traffic, sprawl, concrete, and people.

​So I urge visitors to get out of town in Australia, go hiking. Because the moment you’re in nature everything is different. No more squirrel, raccoon, or bear – instead we’ve got wombat, koala and platypus. Redwoods and maple, they’re swapped out for tree ferns and red gum.

​It even sounds different! Different birdsong, the wind rushes through different leaves. There’s a depth of spirit in nature that our urban lives often lack. If you want to get in touch with reality, get into nature.

I retired prints in 2020, when North America was released. I do wish to print it again, but not without upgrades. I was an amateur when I drew it in 2013 and, put simply, it could be better.

I figured a few tweaks would suffice, so in September I fired up Photoshop and went to work. But as it progressed, the "tweaks" morphed into a total re-imagining. This pencil/digital hybrid is a lot of fun, and I may re-release the map in this updated form one day. Wild World remains my priority for now.

So - this blog is the untold story of the South Asia map. Born out of a difficult time in my life, this project kicked off my career in mapmaking. The blog also discusses the upgrades, the nature of digital vs. traditional, and breathing new life into an old map.

In 2013, I had just returned to New Zealand after two years criss-crossing North America. I was 23, working as a line cook, and living an exhausting, transitory life.
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I would set up base in a new city, work kitchens for a few months, save just enough money to move on… and do it all again. Despite its tax on well-being, this life was exciting. It's good to let adventures roll when you're young... to travel, to experience the beauty and danger of life. To keep an open mind about the future.

​​I didn’t know it then, but those travels were building my future. They were fun but also chaotic, often difficult. But such is life. Those adventures were teaching me about the real world.

However, since moving overseas, my childhood obsession with maps and geography was reignited. Finally, at 21, I saw the world outside of New Zealand. And while music was my dream... geography and art began to take over.

In late 2012, I drew a detailed map of North America on a refrigerator. Two years marveling at continental geography found an outlet: the old fridge in my Montréal share house. From there I was hooked. This fridge is often discussed, as it became the draft for North America: Portrait of a Continent.

​Much less discussed is the map that came between them: South Asia & Australasia.

After the Montréal ​fridge, I returned to New Zealand. Instead of settling there, or in Melbourne where much of my family are, I chose to keep the transitory life. A friend offered me a cooking job in Perth, and I wanted to see the Indian Ocean. Once again, I chose the road.
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Here in Perth, the spell of the travel bug began to wane. I had grown to hate the kitchen. I had no direction, and my mental and physical health went downhill. I realised that while the adventure had been great, I needed to consider my future. What did I want to do? Who did I want to be?

I had a refuge however - a new map. It was a port in a storm. Ever since the fridge, I'd been desperate to map again. So when I arrived in Perth, I purchased a large piece of mat-board (1x1.5 metres/5x3 ft) from a local framer. Great for drawing, the board was canvas and easel all in one.

I wished to become familiar with my new region, and chose a swathe of Earth with Perth at the central meridian. Asia was enticingly close to me, so the map covered all of the Indian subcontinent, southern China, and Southeast Asia. This plus Australia and New Zealand.

​And so began South Asia & Australasia. 

As a kid, I was an avid artist. I drew many maps. But music had been everything since my teens. For years, I devoted woefully little time to drawing. Commencing South Asia was both a return to an early passion, and an exciting new experiment.
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I loved it immediately. Drawing it distracted me from depression, fear and illness. It taught me about the world, while I watched my skills improve each day. It was both a healer and a portal to the wider world.

It started in Pakistan and ended in New Zealand. The quality gap between start and finish is enormous. Through the Asia section, I worked quickly, without going too deep with research. I was just remembering how to draw again.

​And the sheet of board was huge! Back then I couldn't fathom drawing maps that took years. Spending ages on each detail seemed insane, I figured doing so would make finishing impossible. Thus, the early artwork was quite rushed and experimental.

As the months went by, the hours began to add up. I moved through China, into Indonesia, towards Australia. I was becoming a much better artist. I took more time with details. My animals were looking better. Local friends were excited for how Australia might look, and the power of mapping began to reveal itself.
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As I drew Australia, things really evolved. The small number of cities meant more time with each skyline. The vibrant colours of the Outback were a great test. Overall, it was looking a lot more polished.

After NZ, I took to the ocean. In my opinion, this is the weakest aspect of the map. It is bathymetric, so it shows the undersea relief. But unlike the smoothed, fish-filled ocean of North America, the ocean here is scribbly and lifeless.

​I did not know about tortillons/paper stumps (for pencil smoothing) back then, but mainly I was rushing. I’d decided to move to Melbourne, and my time in Perth was almost up. I simply had to finish the map.

It was January 2014 and finally, I signed it off. Over six months, in my free time, I'd put in enough hours to unlock a new skill. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. The map introduced so much hope and purpose into my life. Concern I might waste my artistic ability was gone. Instead, I was wondering if this could be a career.
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Because it was drawn on a sheet of card, it couldn't be rolled and shipped to Melbourne. I had Pack & Send build a large wooden box, wrapped the art inside, and sent it trucking across the Nullarbor to my mother’s house.

​The original still sits in that same box. I actually used it to roll my very first North America prints this year (before a friend built me a map-rolling table).

​Once in Melbourne, I had two things in mind. First, start a map of North America (which I did, and so commenced the Portrait of a Continent). And second, get South Asia scanned and printed. People had asked about prints a lot, and I knew it’d be an important step.

Meanwhile, I left the kitchen forever. I took the most non-stressful job I could find: photocopy/print guy at a local school. I wanted something easy to (barely) pay the bills, while mapping in my spare time. Changing toner made for much calmer mornings than cooking 200 breakfasts.

So this September, I took a break from my new map (Wild World) to do just that. I gained considerable Photoshop experience preparing North America for print, and felt I knew how to update South Asia. My main goal was to improve the ocean, but I also wanted to adjust colours and tweak some details.

​I applied a Dust and Scratches filter to the ocean, which definitely helped. I played with Curves and Levels, and had it looking bolder. Then, I went to India and started tweaking details. And it was here that it all began to escalate…

​The power of Photoshop began to reveal itself. I realised that, of course, I could make any change I wanted to! Back with North America, I redrew vast swathes of it. It was brutal. Over many months, I scratched off immense amounts of pen with a knife. It was manual, delicate and painfully slow... but I still did it. So, imagine how I felt seeing the ease and speed of Photoshop edits.

As with all my projects, it escalated sharply as the weeks went on. My “little tweaks” turned into a complete re-imagining of the map. I went from adding touches of colour to cities, to 100% re-drawing every single one. I marveled at the ease of perfecting an archipelago. My digital animals were looking better all the time.

This re-imagined South Asia & Australasia is an interesting work-in-progress. I don’t know how it will pan out, but I’m excited to see. The method and original base make it quite unique. Once Wild World is released, I may finish this digital work and re-release South Asia.

No matter how much you love traditional mediums, it’s difficult to be an illustrator or cartographer today without some digital expertise. This is partly why the North America map took forever. It has been very enjoyable experimenting with digital tools, even though I feel hand-drawn/traditional generally leads to superior artwork.