The hand-drawn map of North America: Portrait of a Continent

It took me nearly five years to complete this massive map of North America. Hand-drawn entirely with colour pencils and fine-liner pen, it contains tens of thousands of details - including countless skylines and animals, all laid across a landscape faithfully to geography. It spans from the tundra to the tropics - from Greenland, Alaska and Nunavut, through all of Canada, all of the United States, all of Mexico, into Central America and the Caribbean. The ocean, too, is filled with details. This map is a tribute to a continent of incredible variety, and a project I never imagined would be so extensive when I began.
In this video I share my journey with the map and how it was drawn, right in the studio where it all happened in Melbourne. Thank you to the amazing Acetate Base who shot this and put it together, an incredible videography team based out of Geelong, Australia.
Buy prints and see more of my maps at www.antonthomasart.com/

[@atlantic_31]

This guy is so underrated, he need more recognition! As a geography lover, the map is amazing!

[@kikunkun]

I really respect you

[@kenster8270]

That one blessed fridge in Montreal is gonna be a rare collector's item a few years from now. 🤍

[@antonthomas3508]

The fridge was still in use until 2018 I believe, until it finally stopped running. While it is decommissioned now, it's still safe and intact in Montreal. Might have to draw a new fridge sometime.

[@BillCornell828]

I've been following your efforts for years over social media. This video is a great teaser. Can't wait to have the maps made available to the public!

[@recelehberger1603]

I am a social studies teacher in Colorado, and I will absolutely be ordering one of these maps for my classroom and showing my students this video in hopes to inspire some future cartographers. This is an awesome project!

[@GabrielaGonzalez-pq6vc]

I can't wait for this to be available to purchase and I would like to suggest something from a teacher's perspective; I'd like to see a map that's not coloured, and that still needs to be redrawn, following your original, I don't even know if I'm making myself clear, but I can imagine students having one big one in the classroom and shading and colouring as they cover units in the lessons, bringing it to life little by little. Amazing work!

[@ghentleman9397]

yes my man! great work. so well done. let's get a beer soon!

[@matheusferreira9431]

Amazing work! Congratulations for the effort! 👏🏻👏🏻

[@JamesssLee]

OMG

[@lizalaartistka]

You are incredibly cool for this Anton!!!

[@mazer4112]

do you have a list of the tools you use?? Paper type, pencils, magnifying lamp etc? Thanks BTW - Beautiful for thanks for sharing

[@jaylai7795]

I like this next time I want you to make a world map

[@allen9138]

Would u draw a map of japan?

[@antonthomas3508]

Yes, I would love to. I visited Japan in 2019 and love its geography and culture. It'd make a wonderful map. The big challenge for me (as an English speaker) is the labelling. Because my work is all hand-drawn, it isn't so easy to be flexible with labels. But once I determine how to offer prints in both Japanese and English, then I'll do it!