This is why I’m allowed to call myself a cartographer

Two reasons:

  1. I once attempted to draw a map of Wisconsin by hand, for no particular reason.
  2. I’m writing a stupid blog post about it.

Hand-drawn Wisconsin map

It’s freehand, of course employing the help of a grid that was also overlaid on a map used for reference. You know it’s hand-drawn because of the requisite old-timey coastal effect:

Hand-drawn Wisconsin map coastal detail

I’d probably try to finish it (or would have tried to finish it sometime in the last year) if I hadn’t inked my crappy lettering already. Or if I had an iota of artistic skill for drawing awesome symbols on the map. At least the boundaries and shorelines are passable, though.

There is no real purpose to this post, but I will invent three:

  1. Real cartographers draw maps by hand once in a while.
  2. Computers are way better at making maps than real cartographers, but remain incapable of love.
  3. Look at the Hand Drawn Map Association if you haven’t before.

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