My Los Angeles map poster was made in the early 90s. I drew on four separate 30”x40” illustration boards with pencil and then India ink. I then had these originals professionally photographed and from those, a print was made that was later reduced to one black and white image on bond paper on which I used colored pencils and markers to create the final original.

As for maps of Los Angeles neighborhoods, I started creating these in the late 90s. I was living in Silverlake and wondered one day whether anyone had made a hand-drawn map of this hilly enclave northwest of Downtown L.A. And so it all began.

I spent many evenings and weekends (when I wasn’t at work) sketching and doodling ares of the neighborhood and working out how the roads all joined up over the interesting terrain. I used the maps that were available to me at that time, e.g. atlases and The Thomas Guide, along with aerial views from postcards etc. I then transferred all of these sketches into my final map, which at the time I penciled onto 20”x30” illustration baord. When I was happy with the pencil work, I drew permanently using India ink (rapidograph pen).

Not long after I completed and began selling my Silverlake map, people started asking me if I had a map of Echo Park, then Los Feliz, Mt. Washington, Eagle Rock, Venice, and so on. I made these maps in essentially the same manner: pencil followed by India ink on illustration board.

Several years later, I digitized the maps using a flatbed scanner and then colored them in Photoshop before having prints made. My process then evolved into both drawing and coloring directly in Photoshop. Tom Lamb Maps became my full-time business in 2014 and I’m grateful to make art whenever I want.