Keegan Hines and Hannah Wood 10/14/25 Keegan Hines and Hannah Wood 10/14/25

Beregond’s Map of Middle Earth

It’s finally here!

Beregond’s Map: 22x30 inches, Arnhem 1618 art paper, Ticonderoga pencils, Sigma Micron pens with archival ink

Greetings and salutations! Apologies for the delay, but the wait is finally over. I finished work on my map of Middle Earth at 5am on a Thursday, just in time to get it scanned and order prints for a lovely festival we attended in Pennsylvania called Forrest of the Fae. Definitely check them out here if you get the chance; we have every expectation of joining them next year.

I am especially excited about this project, my latest map. I drew it from the perspective of a Gondorian cartographer in the late Third Age, after Sauron's return to Mordor but before his defeat in the War of the Ring. The map is oriented to the West, towards Numenor-beneath-the-waves and the Undying Lands, and the geography is somewhat distorted, especially the further one gets from Gondor, to reflect the limits of premodern mapmaking technology.

The map features various inscriptions in Tengwar as well as an iconographic border depicting scenes from the Silmarillion. I've recently acquired a light-box and will be able to trace a second version of the map to make a watercolor edition. The black and white original has already been sold (though my first draft using the Pentel Energel pens has not), but the watercolor original will also be up for sale once I finish it sometime next year, and I’ll get the scan so that we can have colored prints as well.

I’ll be sharing a translation of the map in the coming weeks, for any who are interested.

In referencing various historical maps, especially Linschoten’s work, I knew I wanted to include a scale on Beregond’s map. I had to determine the unit of distance used by Gondorians - Lár, roughly a league, or three miles, about as far as an army marches without taking a breather. I made certain that the scale would be fairly accurate with regard to distances in and around Gondor itself by referencing the scale in Tolkien’s book maps and converting miles to Lár. I had to determine how many Lár to include on the scale - would it be 0-100, counting in increments of ten, or some other number? As it turns out, the Elves and some of the learned men use base 12 (and Beregond’s map is supposed to be in Sindarin, which could be used among the learned of Gondor similar to the use of Latin as a language of religious and academic import in medieval and early modern Europe). That’s why the scale goes from 0 to 144 in 12 increments of 12 Lár each.

“This sovereign is called Marwan. He is the noblest and richest of all Harad. He commands an army of 864 Mûmakil, 60,000 riders, and countless men.”

There is one other significant place where I make use of numbers - in the inscription near powerful Haradrim King Marwan, inspired by the Catalan Atlas’s depiction of Mansa Musa and its description of a North African Sultan. “This sovereign is called Marwan. He is the noblest and richest of all Harad. He commands an army of 800 Mûmakil, 60,000 riders, and countless men.” Until I was working on my updated version of the map using waterproof archival ink and calligraphy pens, it didn’t occur to me that 800 and 60,000 are not nice round numbers in base 12, so they would come across as oddly specific estimates, especially for guessing the size of a foreign army, which is likely wildly overestimated to begin with. On the physical original that I scanned to make prints, I corrected 800 (represented in base 12, hereafter indicated by bold text, as 568) to 864, a nice round number in base 12: 6(12^2), represented as 600. But dingus that I am, I just figured that since 60,000 is already divisible by 12 that I’d leave it as is - but 60,000 is only evenly divisible by 12 once, so it would be a sort of oddly specific estimate, written as 2A880 where A=10. I just got around to rounding this number out to 62,208 - which is 3(12^4), or 30,000.

“This sovereign is called Marwan. He is the noblest and richest of all Harad. He commands an army of 864 Mûmakil, 62,208 riders, and countless men.”

The first batch of 21 ;) maps that we ordered all contain the numbers 864 and 60,000. All subsequent maps contain and shall forevermore contain the numbers 864 and 62,208.

Just a wee fix. By the way, this is part of the reason Biblical and and other ancient texts often provide what seem to us to be oddly or impossibly specific estimates - many premodern societies used base 12, base 6, or another base system for counting.

Well gang, that’s all for this time. In case you’re local and would like to come chat with us about maps, we will be at the Arts On Market in Chapel Hill on November 23rd. Check out their website here for more information. And thanks again for tuning in! It’s been a blast working on and finishing up this project, but as always, there are many more in the planning stages that we can talk about next time. Until then!

Keegan Hines and Hannah Wood 4/23/25 Keegan Hines and Hannah Wood 4/23/25

Welcome to Mapsterpiece!

Welcome to Mapsterpiece, a blog about maps! In addition to finally getting out our first newsletter, I've also finally come around to writing a blog, which I will try to update in tandem with the newsletter. If you’re joining in from there, welcome! And if not, but you’d like to see Drunk Kitten in your inbox, feel free to sign up at the bottom of the Home page.

Let’s get in to our exciting new developments, as well as some progress photos to show you what I'm working on currently.

A blog about maps and other fun stuff

Greetings! In addition to finally getting out our first newsletter, I've also finally come around to writing a blog, which I will try to update in tandem with the newsletter. If you’re joining in from there, welcome! And if not, but you’d like to see Drunk Kitten in your inbox, feel free to sign up at the bottom of the Home page.

Let’s get in to our exciting new developments, as well as some progress photos to show you what I'm working on currently.

Progress photo of a Gondorian cartographer’s map of Middle Earth

New Partnerships

First, I'm happy to announce that Drunk Kitten Cartography is now partnering with Flights and Fables fantasy and destination travel company. They specialize in designing and booking your dream getaway, doing all the tricky planning stuff so that you can just enjoy the experience. I’m really excited to be partnering with a such an enthusiastic group of people. I’ve always enjoyed traveling, and I think their idea of creating a magical getaway for people just adds that extra layer of fun to a trip that can make it so memorable. Check out their website and contact them through the link above, and receive one our our map prints as a commemoration of your fantastic trip!

Additionally, the Moon Dog Meadery in Durham and Sidequest Game Lounge and Bar in Raleigh have been gracious enough to put my maps on display (and for sale) in their spaces. Please visit them, and enjoy games and a nice brew while getting lost in the maps, or in your bottle. Or both, no judgement.

Current Projects

Middle Earth: 22x30 inches, Arnhem 1618 art paper, Ticonderoga pencils, Pentel Energel 0.3mm gel pens

I am especially excited about this map of Middle Earth. I am drawing it from the perspective of a Gondorian cartographer in the late Third Age, after Sauron's return to Mordor but before his defeat in the War of the Ring. The map is oriented to the West, towards Numenor-beneath-the-waves and the Undying Lands, and the geography is somewhat distorted, especially the further one gets from Gondor, to reflect the limits of premodern mapmaking technology.

The map features various inscriptions in Tengwar as well as an iconographic border depicting scenes from the Silmarillion. I expect to have the black-and-white original done sometime in early summer, at which time prints will be available (sign up for our newsletter if you’re interested in hearing about the release).

I've recently acquired a light-box and will be able to trace a second version of the map onto watercolor paper using non-water-soluble ink, so there will eventually be a watercolor original as well, and colored prints to boot.

This map's style is different in many ways from what I'm used to. I'm drawing a lot of stylistic inspiration from Jan van Linschoten and Olaus Magnus, who worked as cartographers in the 16th century. Many of the inscriptions are at least partially inspired by the 1375 Catalan Atlas, which was remarkably accurate for its time (if not in its inscriptions, then at least in its depiction of the Mediterranean and Western Europe!)

Map of Great Britain (a.k.a. Perfidious Albion) and Ireland

Britain and Ireland: 15x22 inches, Arnhem 1618 art paper, Ticonderoga pencils, Pentel Energel 0.3mm gel pens

This is another map I'm excited about, though I haven't had much time to devote to it lately. Alas, drawing maps by hand is slow and meticulous work, and there are only so many hours in the day (and night) that I can spend drawing. I received a lot of suggestions as to what to include on this map and will try to fit in as much detail as I can without overcrowding. Hoping to finish this map right after releasing the Gondorian Cartographer’s Map of Middle Earth. (I’ll be needing to come up with a shorter title for that one…)

And last, but not least…

North Carolina: size TBD

"How do you not already have a map of North Carolina?!" one might ask, to which I would answer: because I am a dingus and a goof. I suppose it’s also because home is less alluring than far-off lands, though I will admit it has some interesting and beautiful geography of its own. I got started on a full-size map of the state over a year ago, but given time constraints, I'll probably start over with a small or medium-sized version first. This will be my third state map after California and Texas (not counting Hawai'i and Pennsylvania, which are in need of a redesign). New York and Florida are also planned, after which I might leave it there unless I get a commission for another state. I know some have gone about designing beautiful maps of each and every state, but I have no such ambition.

Until Next Time…

That’s all for now! We hope to see you out in the world at some of our upcoming events. And if you can’t make it to those, no worries. We’ll always have the wonderful world of the Internet. And this blog. Definitely easier to find us here.

Best,

Keegan and Hannah