Caribbean Map

Click image to make larger.

I just finished a map of the Caribbean for the book called Hot Sauce! A Spicy Food Lover's Guide to Making and Using Fiery Condiments. 

Below is my original sketch:

Pollo con Wasakaka

When I lived in the Dominican Republic, we'd go to a great barbecue (from the Taino word barbacoa—the Tainos were the orginal inhabitants of the island where the DR is) chicken place. Wasakaka is a citrus based sauce. Here is a link to the recipe.

DR map in process

I'm working on a map of the Dominican Republic to try my hand at some map illustration.*
I lived in the Dominican Republic for a over 2 years 1993-1995 in the Peace Corps.

I'm trying out a few different things. I especially want to do some hand lettering. I got some new brush pens from jetpens.com

Also, I'm trying to incorporate some fake halftoning too.


























I'm still working on some new lettering. Then I need to do some small illustrations for the various cities and regions.

*I used to work at a company called ESRI, that makes GIS software. I was a graphic designer there. But when my friends from high school asked me dad what kind of work I was doing, he said "John is making maps." So its been a running joke for over 10 years, where they ask me if I still am making maps.
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Illustration Friday: Superstition

When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic, Dominicans would talk about "La Cigüapa", which is kind of like a female boogie-man, but with backwards feet.
"cigüa" is a bird indigenous to the DR, and "guapa" usually means "pretty" in Spanish, but in Dominican spanish it means "angry." So it sort of comes out to "beautiful angry bird monster."
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From the Wikipedia entry:
A Ciguapa is a fictional creature originating from the Dominican Republic. They are legendary women that live in the high mountains in the Dominican Republic. Since they are nocturnal, they come out at night to look for food. An odd feature to these women is that their feet are backwards, so you can never quite tell where the footprints came from. In some cases, people believe that they bring death, and are warned not to look them in the eye^[1]