A LONDON artist has shared two drawings of Welsh maps he created in the style of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings.
Joshua Tabti, 27, who works as a climbing instructor but is now also operating his own small artwork business, drew one covering the entirety of Wales, and another of the Llŷn Peninsula.
Each were created by hand and with a traditional dip pen and ink, and though Joshua primarily made these as a piece of work he was commissioned to do, he derived a lot of pleasure from focusing on a country he has taken a lot of inspiration from.
He said: “The last place I visited before lockdown was Snowdonia for a weekend. Some friends and I went down to Abersoch and walked along the coast to Hell’s Mouth; it was a really good trip. I’ve spent a bit of time in Pembrokeshire, too.
“As you can tell from the style, I’m a big Lord of the Rings fan, and I spend a lot of time hiking and walking and imagining I’m back in medieval times, so Wales felt like the perfect place to be inspired for that - the hills, the forests but also the kind of Celtic culture, too."
The maps of Wales and the Llŷn Peninsula took roughly 17 and 14 hours of work respectively to complete for Joshua, who then received a great response online after sharing them on Reddit and Facebook.
These Tolkien-style maps are one of his latest endeavours, having created a similar drawing of Iceland, but he is also a keen photographer and drawer of jazz musicians and concerts, too.
Joshua, who was born in Roubaix, France, has been drawing almost his entire life, adding: “We were quite poor in France and couldn’t afford a TV, but I ended up using so much paper that it would’ve been cheaper to get a TV.
“On Facebook, I decided to join a few groups to share it there, and it was really nice just to get lots of comments of endearment and also people pointing out a few spelling mistakes!
“With the Wales map, a lot of people said they wished it was in Welsh, otherwise they’d have bought it, which was why I did the Penrhyn Llŷn map just in Welsh.
“I liked to draw fantasy maps as a kid, and Tolkien had some maps in the pages in which I really liked the way the mountains looked, so I just imitated that style and set off from there.”
You can view more of Joshua’s artwork by visiting his website at: www.joshuatabti.co.uk.
Prints of his two Wales map drawings are available from £30-33 at: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JoshuaTabti.
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