3D Shading & Rendering in Illustrator: A Globe
In a few quick steps, you can give a circle-shaped vector path a 3D-rendered appearance in Adobe Illustrator. I’m a cartographer – I make maps.… Read More »3D Shading & Rendering in Illustrator: A Globe
Sarah Bell
The High Alpine typeface is available now!
High Alpine Semibold has an unapologetically high ascender with no accompanying adjustment to the x-height. The descender was kept rather short as well, allowing uppercase to maintain its towering command. For moments when you designers feel like reaching ultimate heights, I’ve added many alternative characters; uppercase crossbarred characters have alternatives with daringly high crossbars, and stemmed lowercase characters have longer-stemmed alternatives. Many further glyphs are included with this font to accommodate multiple languages.
A Glimpse of the USPS Landscape with Maps
By the time I publish this, I will have just finished presenting at the 40th annual North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) conference. NACIS is… Read More »A Glimpse of the USPS Landscape with Maps
The Font is Ready! BellTopo Sans Fonts Design Complete
About the BellTopo Sans Font I designed the BellTopo Sans font, originally inspired by the typefaces on the antique U.S.G.S. maps of the late 1800s… Read More »The Font is Ready! BellTopo Sans Fonts Design Complete
Typography for Topography: BellTopo Sans Typeface & Free Font
While making my own USGS-inspired maps, my search never returned the exact type of font I was looking for. The fruitless search was serendipitous however, because it provided the push to make my own. It was designed for map labels that are no larger than 80-100pt, but usually much smaller. I decided to name it BellTopo Sans with the plan to create a serif version.
Video is up! Colored Pencil Hillshade
The North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) holds a marvelous annual conference, and this year’s was in Tacoma, Washington just 90 minutes down the road… Read More »Video is up! Colored Pencil Hillshade
Adobe MAX 2019: Mapping
By the time you are reading this, my colleague John Nelson and I will have presented to a bunch of fantastic creatives at Adobe MAX… Read More »Adobe MAX 2019: Mapping
A Happy Map
Making maps is fun. As a cartographer, I’m biased to feel this way. Still, when I tell people that map-making is my career, a lot… Read More »A Happy Map
Drawing Color Hillshade: A tutorial (with time lapse videos)
Last year I shared my technique for drawing hillshade with graphite (pencil). Since then, I have explored a few different methods for drawing color hillshade.… Read More »Drawing Color Hillshade: A tutorial (with time lapse videos)
Hello visitors
It has been a while since I have done things on this website. I am a cartographer working at a large geospatial software company, so… Read More »Hello visitors