Ashford Castle Hotel and Resort

[J.Edward]

This was a commission I did back in January/February of 2016.
The process started in May of 2015, but got held up for a while till they were ready to proceed in January.
This was one of the most challenging pieces to date. There was a lot of research required.
I spent a lot of time on Google maps and in Streetview trying to get views of what I needed to map.
They had some aerial imagery but not enough to do the whole property.
Real world mapping is a lot less forgiving than fantasy mapping.

The castle had been renovated recently and more property added and new structures.
They had an older map but it didn't show the full property at this date.
They wanted the map done as much like the previous map as possible.
That was tricky as the previous artist used an unusual perspective and things were not to scale or in the right locations.
So I had to mimic this but with bad sat images to work with. That was difficult to say the least.
I had a 4 week deadline which was also tough to meet, given all the research required.

But I was thrilled to have an actual castle as a client and I'm pretty happy with the result.
The client did not need text labels but I like to add them to maps I post so I added some that were similar to the older map.
The posted map is at 40% of original size, so I'm adding some detail images.


Detail close-ups

[ladiestorm]

J. This is amazing!!! It's beautiful, easy to read and find what you are looking for, it's inviting, and makes me want to go there and see the actual place. I'm assuming this map is on a brochure of the castle and resort? So that guests can find the different areas of the resort they may wish to visit? I love how you portrayed the golf courses and the tennis courts!

It's quite realistic, as it should be, but at the same time, if you changed an element here and there, it would make a fantastic battle map! I could see it quite easily being adapted for a fantasy game. Excellent work!

[Tom]

Well, this is really huge! real map are hard to make indeed, but you did it really well! Don't know exactly where to start, since all the details are gorgeous: the buildings, the golf course, the trees.. oh my dear so many trees!!!
This is a big point for your portfolio! Bravo!

[Lingon]

That's amazing!
Trying to think of more things to say but nope, drawing a blank, it's just so stunning

[Larb]

Can't rep you but very pretty, as expected!

[Tonnichiwa]

Amazing work.Cool that you got a commission from a castle owner. It looks awesome!

[Bogie]

Awesome work JEdward!!

[vorropohaiah]

Saw you put this on fb. Great work!

[arsheesh]

Fantastic! It's even more impressive given the constraints you were working under. Very well done sir. Wish I could rep you for it but it appears I'm still tapped.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Ilanthar]

I can't help myself but add my "awesome"! Such a wonderful map! The perspective is indeed unusual, but it makes me think of the kind you find on those big touristic panels.