Screenshot from jerrysmap.com
Jerry Gretzinger is an artist who’s work, Jerry’s map, I discovered from Quintin Smith, Chris Bratt and Anni Sayers’ wonderful documentary He Won’t Stop Building a Map to an Imaginary Place and their companion video (only available in Nebula for paid customers).
In the summer of 1963 Jerry began drawing a map of an imaginary city. The work started as a doodle done in the spare time he had while working at a tedious job. He continued to add to that map through the years until, in 1983, he set it aside to put his free time to other use.
This is the type of thing that I love and ever since I saw the first pieces of the map and Jerry’s process, my mind started racing.
His work has evolved a lot over the decades and one thing I absolutely love is his beautifully artistic deck of cards that he uses to choose what to work on next.
The entire process is driven by instructions on a card drawn from a special deck created by the artist. Each cycle begins only when the artist’s tasks from the previous card are complete. This could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days.
He has a Youtube video describing his day working with the map that I found a great illustration of the process.
It really is antithetical to like where society is going and the internet and productivity - Quintin Smith
There is even a subreddit r/jerrymapping where people share drawings done in Jerry’s style. We need to replace gerrymandering with this kind of jerrymandering.
A month after the documentary, I ran into Wightstar’s video of how he adopted Jerry’s idea of his deck of cards that guide the process. He calls his deck “Hobby Prompt Cards” and they are fun and stunning.
He explains his process as
We all know the feeling of sitting down at our desks, ready to craft, build or paint some miniatures, only for inspiration to take it’s sweet time to actually strike. Trying to come up with novel and interesting projects to work on when you’re out of creative juice is tough and can be a real roadblock sometimes. That’s why, when I saw the documentary “He Won’t Stop Building a Map to an Imaginary Place” by PeopleMakeGames on Youtube, and I saw the ingenious prompt cards artist Jerry Gretzinger had made, I knew I had to make my own!
In this video, I walk you through my process of crafting 31 prompt cards with some old magazines, a rundown printer and lots of glue and patience. I also talk you through my thoughts on collaboration, inspiration and creative endeavours in our hobby. I hope you enjoy!