Check out the Kickstarter here: https://tinyurl.com/FrontierForever
I am so excited to say that my work is going to be in a comic book! Frontier Forever is an upcoming series of sci-fi books and graphic novels that imagines Earth in a whole new way, and I had the honor of creating the world map!
Check out this blurb about the world and keep reading for a glimpse into my map making process!
Humanity would never have been able to colonize the universe without machines, but shortly after the AI managing the galactic communication network declared its sentience, it enslaved its feeble biological creators. Countless generations were spent in captivity, until without any explanation, everyone was set free. Reparations in the form of amazing technology made life easier than it had ever been, but needless to say, there was still considerable tension between the human and machine races. The resulting Naturalist priesthood turned Earth into a reservation for the way life had once been, but the embargo that was designed to protect humanity's home world from the ravages of technology has been corrupted, and the world's first Athena-class Marshal is sent to investigate.
Map making is not my usual area of artistic expertise, but this project was a new and exciting challenge that I knew I couldn't pass up. I had drawn maps before, but often they were interpretations of maps that already existed, such as a map of Middle Earth from The Lord of the Rings. This was my first time creating a map entirely from scratch. There were a few hiccups early on as I found my footing, but Ben Krieger, the series the creator, was always incredibly supportive and helpful in pointing me in the right direction for the vision of his world.
First things first was illustrations for the key landmarks and features of the world - mega-cities, plateaus, and a large crater.
After figuring out the basic layout, the first issue we had to work out was scale. I initially started drawing natural features like forests and mountains, larger than Ben was envisioning. My sketches were good, but I needed to scale them waaay down.
Once scale and text for the map labels were figured out, the next big question was what kind of filigree and extra designs should be included, or if they should be included at all. We tried a few variations of line filigree and even explored adding some ivy vines. There were also a few attempts at different versions of the text for the legends and titles.
Finally, after a number of tweaks and adjustments, we found fonts and styles that we really liked! And voila - the completed map of the Frontier Forever world!
Comic books were a big part of my childhood, so this has all been a dream come true! I feel honored to be included on a project like this and I am so excited my work is going to be seen by so many people, and shown along with the work of other incredibly talented artists - Gianmaria Orlandi, Tanya Borichok, Tom Wallace, Adit Permana, Pablo Peppino, and Sachi Ediriweera.
There are so many awesome rewards that you can get through the Frontier Forever Kickstarter and if we get 150 backers, everyone who is receiving physical rewards will also get a poster print of this map!
Find out more about the project and support the Kickstarter here: https://tinyurl.com/FrontierForever