I MAKE MAPS. I make maps because I love maps. It has been this way since I was a boy. Making maps has always been the career I aspired to. Through much hard work, careful planning and perseverance I have been able to turn my childhood dream into reality. For the past 16 years I have supported myself entirely by the creation of projects involving maps on some level. My business practice has been to only take on work where the creation of a map is involved. I will create an entire publication, app or product if even a single original map is to be included. From standard locator maps to highly detailed illustrated maps I treat every map I create as a piece of art. For me maps are art.
In 2000 I received my Bachelor's of Fine Art degree from Emily Carr University of Art & Design located in Vancouver, Canada. Upon graduation I accepted a year long teaching position in Bangkok, Thailand at Udomsuksa School Lat Phrao where I taught Art and English. After completing my contract social contacts led to opportunities working freelance in Bangkok as a graphic artist. Those opportunities led to others, which eventually led me to work making maps for Thailand's largest contract publisher, Media TransAsia Thailand. For nearly 2 years I worked alongside Thai artists conducting the days work primarily in the Thai language. During my time working at Media Trans Asia I had an opportunity to work making layouts for more than 10 major magazine titles, including PATA Compass the magazine of the Pacific Asian Travel Association, which required the creation of numerous maps for each issue.
An online job advertisement from Discovery Map International drew me back to the USA in June of 2004. For nearly two years I worked with 20 different franchisees to create their cartoon style birds-eye view maps and advertising. Although I gained invaluable project management experience, I found myself wanting to make maps of a different sort. I yearned to make maps that did not rely on advertising geared toward the tourism industry. After working for Discovery Map I launched my career as a freelance map designer and ever since have split my time between Thailand and Washington State in the USA. All total I have spent nearly 19 years in Thailand, immersing myself in the culture, learning the language, dealing with the day to day struggles that come with being forever a foreigner. I have stayed in Asia so long due to the fact that Thailand provides me with a very affordable place to live and focus entirely on building my map business. Since 2005 I have created hundreds of maps for clients big and small worldwide. This includes maps for over 90 different book titles, mostly in the military history genre for BIg Sky Publishing of Sydney, Australia.
In 2000 I received my Bachelor's of Fine Art degree from Emily Carr University of Art & Design located in Vancouver, Canada. Upon graduation I accepted a year long teaching position in Bangkok, Thailand at Udomsuksa School Lat Phrao where I taught Art and English. After completing my contract social contacts led to opportunities working freelance in Bangkok as a graphic artist. Those opportunities led to others, which eventually led me to work making maps for Thailand's largest contract publisher, Media TransAsia Thailand. For nearly 2 years I worked alongside Thai artists conducting the days work primarily in the Thai language. During my time working at Media Trans Asia I had an opportunity to work making layouts for more than 10 major magazine titles, including PATA Compass the magazine of the Pacific Asian Travel Association, which required the creation of numerous maps for each issue.
An online job advertisement from Discovery Map International drew me back to the USA in June of 2004. For nearly two years I worked with 20 different franchisees to create their cartoon style birds-eye view maps and advertising. Although I gained invaluable project management experience, I found myself wanting to make maps of a different sort. I yearned to make maps that did not rely on advertising geared toward the tourism industry. After working for Discovery Map I launched my career as a freelance map designer and ever since have split my time between Thailand and Washington State in the USA. All total I have spent nearly 19 years in Thailand, immersing myself in the culture, learning the language, dealing with the day to day struggles that come with being forever a foreigner. I have stayed in Asia so long due to the fact that Thailand provides me with a very affordable place to live and focus entirely on building my map business. Since 2005 I have created hundreds of maps for clients big and small worldwide. This includes maps for over 90 different book titles, mostly in the military history genre for BIg Sky Publishing of Sydney, Australia.