HOW THE MAPS WERE MADE:
Previously on this thread I discussed writing that first book. Now, Daytrips from London required maps, lots of maps. Over 50 of them. Today, of course, these would be created digitally, but back in the 1980s they had to be drawn with ink on poster boards, with graphics and lettering pasted in. Fortunately, Hastings House (a major publisher of graphics arts books at the time) was able to show me how this is done. Now you young 'uns might find this a really complicated way to draw a map, but pre-computers this was the procedure: First, photograph the appropriate part of a reference map using slide film. Then project the slide onto a white drawing board at least twice as big as it would be in the book, and lightly trace the image in pencil. The final drawing was made over this pencil trace, using "technical" pens of various widths filled with india ink. After this, the pencil image was erased, leaving only the inked lines. Tones were added by sticking down a thin film printed with tiny dots and cutting this with an X-acto knife, then peeling off the excess. Lettering was even more fun — I used rub-down Letraset letters and symbols, a really tedious process. You were always short one letter and had to run out to the art store! When completed, the map, then called a "mechanical," was photographed to its final reproduction size using "litho" film in a "process camera." The image was then burned onto the printing plate.
Oh, how computers have changed everything! All you need now is a draw program and a scanner. The whole procedure takes about an hour or so, depending on complexity. I won't tell you how because that's my secret, but smart folks like you can figure it out.
Interested in photography? Check out my "Assisting Avedon" blog.
SO, just what Little Adventure am I up to now in 2013? WHY, just the most challenging one of them all! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.
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