Charting from the shores of New Buffalo Beach to the Art classroom in New Buffalo High School, the 2D Design students from the Mixed Media Madness class have been dreaming up undiscovered lands and ancient treasures as creative writers and artists!
(Cover Art: Digital compilation of multiple student artworks)
Inspiration for this Fantasy Map project comes from my personal interest in Sci-Fi/Adventure movies like Indiana Jones and Star Wars.
This project is also based on my hobby for strategy board games. Many games include detailed maps used for area control, building structures, or completing quests. These games are not only informative but also works of art created by professional artists and board game designers.
Creating maps also leans into the field of Cartography as a historical, scientific, and artistic process used not only for the exploration of our globe, but also to the creative imagination of worlds that do not exist in reality.
Students learned how to distress paper and organically create ambiguous land forms with grains of rice as the starting point of their artworks. They had to problem solve how to balance the space of blank, outlined maps with invented lands that can only be created by unlocking their imagination.
Step 1: Distressing drawing paper with a mixed paint/ink solution
Step 2: Unraveling the ball of wet paper before ripping edges and rolling it out to dry
Step 3: Pouring rice onto the distressed paper and outlining the shapes created. (This technique has also become a viral trend on YouTube.)
Step 4: Planning fantasy worlds and drawing biographical features
Step 5: Balancing the positive and negative space with Value and Contrast using pen & ink hatching techniques
As their artwork began to emerge from the tattered maps, the students shared feedback with each other during in-progress class critiques to adjust for a full range of value that could be read from a distance. This was also a great opportunity for some of the students to explain the stories behind their landmarks.
When their artwork was complete, students reflected on the features that they had created on their fantasy maps and wrote artist statements describing the origin stories.
"The Isle of Lost Treasure" by 10th Grade Student
Artist Statement:
Washed up on the shores, a crinkled paper in a glass bottle is found… behold, an old treasure map! Finding the treasure is a hard voyage with crocodiles and krakens that may attack you. Deadly weapons are stored at Harpoon Island along with an army that is sure to wipe you out. The journey across land is tough due to the active volcano at Calloway Covers; the land is also very mountainous and rocky. Many who try to enter the isle end up in a shipwreck along Shipwreck Shack or lost in The Land of no Return.
"Volunruud" (vol-en-rude) by 9th Grade Student
Artist Statement:
Volunruud is a map of war where orcs are coming from Mordor to invade the mainland. In the province of Fog Forest is a dense fog where there are no towns, camps, or cities so it is pretty much abandoned to where not even the orcs will go there. The sludge monster lives there with different types of droopy green slime. What do you think happened next? Did the orcs capture Volunruud or did the humans save their home? We may never know...
"Milonia: The Mermaid Island" by 10th Grade Student
Artist Statement:
Milonia is inspired by the Mako mermaid map but with more of a unique shape. Its story began centuries ago when dinosaurs were extinct and the people of our world just started to populate. Humans weren't aware that mermaids lived among them and they still don’t. The mermaids were hiding out of sight from civilization and it was the only way to survive. Some sailors would see rare appearances of their fins when they sailed over the Milonia bridge. The mermaids were shy and curious because they did not usually see people and would hide in the cove.
"Sweet Island" by 12th Grade Student
Artist Statement:
Sweet Island is the land of everything sugary and sweet that you love. From the Fluffy Cotton Candy Forest, down the Rock Candy Road, all the way to Caramel Canyons there is something that will catch your eye. Don’t get lost in Lollipop Lane, or sticky at Fudge Fountain! Mint Mountain gets a bit chilly, but never too cold for the wildlife like our chocolate bunnies, or peeps swimming in Fudge Fountain. And if you're lucky, you might even catch a sighting of the rare rainbow unicorn!
"The Land of Magliall" by 9th Grade Student
Artist Statement:
I imagine my map to be a place where there’s lots of unexplored locations inhabited by all sorts of monsters and other creatures. An adventurer's paradise with magic and spirits around every corner. There’s the Firefly Forest, which is so thickly wooded that you can only see by the light of the fireflies that never seem to leave. The Ever-Rain Isle had spirits of the storms move in and it seems like it has no intention of leaving. The monster-filled mines were abandoned by humans until other things decided to make the uninhabited darkness their home. Magliall is a land just waiting to be explored!
"Dolor" by 12th Grade Student
Artist Statement:
Far far away, past the tallest mountains and the deepest seas, lies a treacherous land filled with adventure and whimsy. This land is occupied by many creatures and species, such as the Orcs to the North - West, the humans in the South, and the Dwarves in the East. These three key civilizations have lived in peace and war throughout the centuries; however, they aren’t the only ones occupying the land. Off to the South - West “Circus - Island'' has attractions of all kinds such as clowns, jugglers, and even fire breathing dwarves. Within the southern seas the Sea King lurks, waiting for passing ships and pirates seeking the riches of “Treasure Island”. To the deep reaches of the mainland South- West lies the treacherous “Dragon Den," a massive cave filled with dangerous creatures of all kinds, ruled by the mighty dragons. Just above the western sea, a large unending storm cloud strikes the sea under it with unending amounts of lightning. What's the name of this whimsical and treacherous land you ask? It’s called the land of “Dolor."
"The Isle of Forgotten Kids" by 10th Grade Student
Artist Statement:
My map is a quiet land with only a few kids on it. They live in the Hidden Village and they hang out at the Hideaway, which is an abandoned lighthouse. The kids love to explore the Floating Forest and the Lost Land for new species and lost treasure. Their favorite thing to do is go to Lily Pad Lagoon and visit the mermaids that live there. The kids are adventurous and spontaneous, so this is the perfect place for them to live.
"The World of Tioec" by 12th Grade Student
Artist Statement:
Tioec is an intriguing world full of mysteries, various types of landforms, and many interesting and discrete creatures. Two countries, called Sunland and Moonland, are constantly in fierce enmity with each other, despite the lack of reason to do so. South of Sunland and Moonland are the Impeccable Isles, full of technology and intelligent people. People from the Impeccable Isles have tried on various occasions to make peace between Sunland and Moonland, but so far without any success. Sunland and Moonland have been enemies for as long as either country's history has been recorded, and the enmity shows no sign of stopping.
One day, however, someone from Sunland begins to question why it is so important to fight Moonlanders, and the revolution begins from there. After a group of people from Sunland and Moonland begin meeting together with a person from the Impeccable Isles, they decide that the only way to make peace between Sunland and Moonland is to venture into the dangerous and unexplored continent of Vulputate and retrieve 'the piece' from the Impossible Islands. In their journey, they will encounter dangerous creatures, tall mountains, loss of direction, and, most dreadfully, they will encounter IT. Will they survive? Will Sunland and Moonland ever be at peace with each other? Why does the relationship between the two countries depend on something on the other end of the world? Only time will tell. Look at the ancient map of Tioec to learn more.
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