Artist creates Lord of the Rings style map of modern day Merseyside
Merseyside has been depicted as a fantasy realm from something like JRR Tolkien’s world famous Lord of the Rings trilogy or hit TV show Game of Thrones in a stunning map.
Creator Chris Birse asked Liverpudlians which landmarks and quirks they would like to be included on the map before transforming each request into a suitable motif.
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Hide AdLiverpool John Lennon Airport is represented by dragons, Fiddlers Ferry power station is a mine full of gleaming gems and Liverpool Bay is resplendent with shipwrecks.
How the artist created Merseyside
Chris, who left his job in retail to pursue cartography on a full-time basis, said there were some unique challenges in creating the fantasy map of the Liverpool City Region.
“People ask for modern things to be included and I have to find away to tweak them to fit in,” he told LiverpoolWorld.
“The dragons are unique to Merseyside. An airport is obviously a bit modern, but a dragon is perfect.”
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Hide AdChris says he completed about 50% of the map and then uploaded it to local Facebook groups to ask what landmarks they would like to have included.
“I got about 1000 requests from Merseyside and I got about 95% of them into the map,” he says.
How it all started
About three years ago, Chris was writing a fantasy novel, he needed a map to go at the beginning of the book and decided to have a go at it himself.
After some positive feedback, he attempted to do a version of his local area, Teesside, and that too went down really well. From there he branched out to regions all over the UK.
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Hide AdWhile his personal brand of cartography has gone to strength to strength, the novel was never published and still sits on a shelf.
How can I get one?
Chris has an online shop here at Etsy, where you can buy all of his prints.