no. 28 Mexican paradise map-making

Mexican paradise map-making © thesmarti

I made a friend in Copenhagen while learning Danish. Online. Covid times, amiright? We had such a fun energy together, and I learned she was also a graphic designer. So during breakout sessions, I would gush over new design projects with her. Many adventures later, I was overjoyed when she looped me in to help illustrate a map for a Mexican paradise.

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A couple of years ago, Karla Cifuentes landed a dream role for the design and promotion of the Careyes website. It's classy and sweeping with gorgeous photos and killer aerial shots of palms and bright colorful architecture. When the time was right, she pulled me in to build the map and customize some illustrations. Her goal was to make a responsive map with iconic key spots illustrated. Then the map would have pop-outs that direct people to the real estate options.

Part One was the map foundation. I patched google maps together, aerial shots. I studied drone photo shoots and tried to cobble together some understanding of the area. (It's really hard to map a place you've never been to.) I wanted to make sure the map was precise to the coastline so this required outlining pixelated photos and double-checking landmarks over GPS mapping for scale accuracy. It was tedious and frustrating, but had to be done. This took months because I dragged my feet on it. Thankfully Karla was patient.

Aerial google photo of Careyes.

First outline attempt of Careyes coastline by Smarti.

Multi-layer final map design illustrated by Smarti.

1) Reference photo googlemaps for Careyes, 2) my first outline attempt and 3) multi-layer final map design © thesmarti

Eventually I submitted the map layout and Karla and I went back and forth on the coastal areas - some places were actually less beach - like Playa Teopa which is actually more brush than is shown on aerial photographs, and some cliffsides drop immediately into the ocean. I was grateful for Karla's expertise in the area. We also tried to highlight topographical depth in Careyitos Beach and Playa Rosa. To synchronize the colors, Karla covered over a lot of the forest area with some watercolor patches in dark green to emphasize the jungle density. The map foundation eventually culminated into this:

Explore the Territory Map - ?! Careyes - © Karla Cifuentes

Part two of the project was illustrating the iconic landmarks. Oh the joy of the research! Hunting out eccentric houses in bright colors, blue pools, lush landscaping - I had help with the drone photos from Karla's files. But the pieces featured on Pinterest and through online searches slipped me into some surreal fantasies of living the tropical life. Ah, Mexico - they really know how to play with color, and the architecture of Careyes is so bizarre and fun! Karla had to color correct me on some of the illustrations - house colors have been updated since their original debut. Karla wanted a watercolor look, so despite everything being sun-drenched and vibrant, I tried to stay light on intensity.

Actually, my bigger pickle was finding a way to draw these hot spots at an angle despite having reference photos that were either aerial or face-front. I spent way too much time building perspective lines, testing to see if the angles were right, and trying to add just enough detail to capture their essence. Again, it's really hard to paint something without seeing it in person. All my regular tricks of judgement and measurements went sideways until I finally got one illustration right and then started building the rest of them using the same perspective-line tools.

Illustration of careyes club by Smarti.

Reference photo of Careyes Club by Karla Cifuentes.

Illustration of Sol Occidente by Smarti.

1) illustration of Careyes Club © thesmarti, 2) Careyes Club photo refernce © Karla Cifuentes, 3) illustration of Sol Occidente © thesmarti

And once we had some illustrations in the bag, we brainstormed a B-list of local hot spots and nearby marine life to help fill out the map. At this point I was just having a blast, zipping through sketches, and then coloring and shading with natural facility and ease. It's funny how sometimes projects can end with a bang like that. Here are some of my favorites from the complete set:

Illustration of a manta ray by Smarti.

Illustration of Centro del Universo in Careyes by Smarti.

Illustration of Mi Ojo iconic rocks by Smarti.

Illustration of Copa del Sol by Smarti.

Illustration of Pueblo Careyes by Smarti.

Illustration of a speckled blue whale by Smarti.

Illustrations of 1) manta ray, 2) centro del universo, 3) mi ojo iconic rocks, 4) copa del sol, 5) pueblo careyes, and 6) whale © thesmarti

After the project wrapped, it took a while to get paid. That's a whole other story, but it deserves a side note: a deposit upfront can help you sort through potential financial snafus before the project even launches. Lesson learned. But it was fun to work with my friend and draw naively in paradise for a while. And I'm glad the project was successful, and its serving its puprose to introduce people to the fantastic mexican paradise of ?! Careyes.

Karla is using a mapping software that allows a responsive interaction. On the website: https://careyes.com just click on Explore the Territory so you can see the map live. You can click on the different pins on the map to see the true photographs, or you can just pinch or zoom in to see the different illustrations I contributed to the final piece.

Cheers to a paradise project with a friend,

smarti