Dubrovnik Map

Here's why I really like recurring jobs like these weekly maps I did for the New York Times Travel Section. Freelance jobs are appealing because you can quickly dive into an unusual subject, create the illustration, and clear your mind of all that info as soon as the work is accepted (usually within a week). These maps were like that: I'd learn the geography of somewhere and what the buildings look like and draw it and be done with it. But since I had another one coming next week, I could build on my mapping technique. This map of Dubrovnik (a place in Croatia I had never heard of) was assigned pretty early on in these maps. Compare it to the later Monaco Map below. See how the compass rose for Monaco is a lot slicker? Also I hadn't figured out that I wanted that neatline border (which I'm using just as a design element). When I started doing these maps, I hadn't even come up with the label flags. I was writing names on rooftops and streets. So by the time I had done about 20 of these things, I really felt like I had my mapping down cold. Then the job ended and I had to clear my mind again.