MUSIC MAPS – DESIGN AS TRANSIT CONNECTIONS
During lockdown, I lost all my 3D show design work, so to keep my brain moving, I started drawing data instead. That became Mikebellmaps, and it has kept growing ever since: mostly band discographies drawn as tube maps, but also film plots, sport, politics and lies.
The logic is borrowed from Harry Beck. Every credited musician is a line, every studio album is a station, and branch lines mark the one-off contributors who turn up on a single record.
Follow one line, and you follow one player through the whole story, including session musicians and guests. There are now maps for more than seventy artists, all researched by hand from liner notes, session credits and verified discographies.
Where to start with Music Maps
- Music discography maps – Bowie, The Beatles, Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, The Fall and many more
- Film plot line maps – James Bond, Blade Runner, The Shining, Back to the Future, Jaws
- Manchester bands, punk, post-punk, prog and classic rock
- Place and oddity maps – Lewes, Uckfield and the political lies map
- The full A-Z of every map
Since I started drawing these
My David Bowie map is held in the permanent collection at the V&A David Bowie Centre, and my Bruce Springsteen map sits in the Bruce Springsteen Archives at Monmouth University.
The Guardian interviewed me about the whole detour, from a de-diagnosis of Parkinson’s to making maps as a lockdown escape. Billy Bragg, Warren Ellis and Dr Susan Rogers have all been kind about them.
Prints are museum-quality Giclées on 230gsm acid-free matte fine art paper, available in A2 and A1 sizes, from £42, printed locally wherever you are. If you want the thinking behind them rather than the prints, I explain the research and drawing process here.
Everything lives at www.mikebellmaps.com. My 3D show design work is at freelancevisuals.co.uk.