Hand Drawing Moleskine Sketchbook Maps of Cities Sketched by Pen

Overview

The Moleskine City Map Series is an ongoing personal project exploring hand-drawn visual storytelling through urban cartography. Over the past five years, I’ve illustrated more than 50 maps inside Moleskine sketchbooks — each one a tribute to a city I’ve visited or dreamt of exploring. What began as a small gesture for a date in London evolved into a multi-volume body of work, combining travel, memory, and artistic documentation.

Approach

The concept was simple: capture the highlights of a city within a single day and translate that experience into an illustrated map. These city walks were planned around cultural landmarks, museums, bookshops, and galleries — places that offer a window into a city’s character.

Each journey began with research and walking routes mapped out in advance. I would arrive at dawn, ready to sketch, photograph, and observe. The process involved:

• Light pencil sketches drawn on location or later from photographic references

• Inking with fine-line Rotring pens to retain crisp detail and character

• Colouring using Pro Marker pens to add a signature palette — greens for parks, blues for water, and greys for streets

Design Details

• Format: A6 and A5 Moleskine sketchbooks

• Medium: Pencil, ink (Rotring), and Pro Markers

• Visual Style: A blend of cartographic structure and expressive, hand-drawn detail

• Subjects: Cultural institutions, hidden alleyways, iconic streets, local markets, architecture, and public spaces

Maps in the series include cities like London, Lisbon, Berlin, Venice, Barcelona, and Paris, each illustrated with its own unique character while maintaining a cohesive visual style across the series.

Outcome

These maps have grown into a recognised visual series shared widely on social media and appreciated by a global audience. They’ve connected me to fellow illustrators, travellers, and map enthusiasts, and they continue to evolve as part of my ongoing artistic practice.

The Moleskine City Map Series has also served as a creative blueprint for commissioned map projects, showcasing my ability to interpret environments in a way that’s personal yet universally relatable.