I’ve been working on the maps and illustrations for Prue Batten’s new Eirie page.

Prue's Sketch

This is the first sketch Prue sent me of her entire world. Her’s what I did with it:

Eirie World Map

For the last week or so I’ve been working on some regional maps and adding more detail as Prue invents it. Her first book, The Stumpwork Robe, was set in the main continent of Trevallyn:

Trevallyn

. . .and her second, The Last Stitch, in the island city of Veniche:

Veniche

. . .and the third, A Thousand Glass Flowers, in the Raj:

The Raj

Her next Eirie novel, The Shifu Cloth, will be set in the closed civilization of the Han. Prue has provided backgrounds for all her invented places and people in her blog here.

The Eirie books have never depended on obsessive world-building detail, relying instead on human (and Other) emotions and actions with just enough strangeness to let her readers know what a mysterious but familiar place they’re in. So I haven’t pressed her to fill in every single village and stream with a long and unnecessary back story. There’s just enough information to help the reader stay oriented while following the story and whet the curiosity for the next one.

Prue’s upcoming novel Gisborne is different. It’s set in the very real historical world of twelfth century France and England, and the maps and diagrams I’m drawing are more matter-of-fact. Here’s Gisborne and Isabel’s journey from Aquitaine to Wales:

Gisborne's Journey

Drawing a map readable to 21th century readers based on the maps of the 12th century was a lot more puzzling than I had thought. Birds’-eye-view maps were by no means common. Most maps were linear travel directions like this:

12th Century Itinerary Map

“From our castle, go to Sir Lionel’s castle, then to the Abbey, then go to Montfold village, then to Wat Smith’s forge, then across the river to Sir Alban’s castle, then . . .”  The sort of map I’ve copied here was normally used to depict the whole of creation (Hell,  Earth, and Heaven), but I’ve borrowed it for a more earthly purpose.

I’ll be working on miniature portfolios to hold these map collections, and also my illustrations of the fabulous Stumpwork Robe featured in Prue’s novel of the same name. And castle-building illustrations for Gisborne!