Line Drawing Teapigs Book of Tea cityscapes from around the world celebrated
Teapigs, a renowned tea brand, approached me to create a set of six cityscape illustrations for their upcoming book dedicated to tea. Each illustration was meant to depict landmarks or distinctive characteristics of various regions and cities featured in different chapters of the book, which explored tea cultures around the world.
These cityscape illustrations were meticulously crafted, with each city’s landmarks individually drawn using a fine-liner ink pen. The goal was to create detailed skylines that would serve as chapter headings in the Teapigs book. To distinguish the landmarks from one another, colour was carefully added to the drawings.
In addition to the architectural elements, the illustrations also featured tea-related imagery to tie in with the content of each chapter. For example, a teacup peeked out from behind the Gherkin building. The six cityscape illustrations were divided into the following regions:
- Africa:
- Tunisia: Carthage, Zebra, Land Rover, Rooibos tea Plant, Mud Hut
- Algeria: Maqam Echahid, Metal Tea Pot, Giraffe
- Egypt: Sphinx, Small Tea Glass
- North America:
- Argentina/South America: Yerba mate
- Sydney: Opera House
- San Francisco: Golden Gate Bridge
- New York City: Empire State Building
- New Zealand: Sky Tower Auckland
- Canada: CN Tower, Iced Tea
- Eastern Europe:
- Uzbekistan: Bukhara
- Prague: Powder Gate
- Kazakhstan: Bayterek tower
- Russia: Red Square
- Middle East:
- Jordan: Petra
- Oman: Asma Bint Alawi Mosque door, Fez
- Saudi Arabia: Burj Khalifa, Burj-al-Arab
- Northern Europe:
- Ireland: Giant Harp
- Germany: Brandenburg Gate
- France: Eiffel Tower
- Britain: London Eye, Route Master Bus
- Netherlands: Windmill
- India:
- Taj Mahal
- Cambodia, China: Great Wall
- Japan: Kamakura Daibutsu
- India: Rice Boat, Taj Mahal
Each illustration was a complex piece of work, featuring over 60 individually illustrated elements that came together to form a larger composition for each cityscape. Despite the intricacy, I’m delighted that the client was pleased with the final results.
