For some people, maps are simply fascinating. The designs of the natural and man-made word revealed from a new perspective; the endless details and variety; the vastness of entire cities and countries held in your hands. Are you one of those people? Thai illustrator Karoon Jiamviriyasatien certainly is. His hyper-detailed, map-style drawings of Thai cityscapes are as easy to get lost in as the real thing.
Jiamviriyasatien, who uses the name Zillv as his artistic alias, was inspired to start drawing by seeing the city for the first time when he was a little kid. His earliest artwork were recreations of the train trip from his home in the countryside to Bangkok and his imagined versions of what life was like there. To this day, he continues mixing the real-world urban landscape with his own creative interpretations.
The pen-and-paper drawings of Jiamviriyasatien—which are so finely detailed that he needs a magnifying glass to make them—are 70 percent based on reality and the rest are drawn from his imagination. He likes to emphasize certain buildings and streets and heighten the contrast of other areas. For reference, he uses photos, historic maps, and of course Google maps. He also mixes past and present together, which is something he says is inherent in Thailand itself. It’s a country that welcomes the new but preserves the traditions of the past.
It takes a very particular type of person to create the type of drawings that Jiamviriyasatien does. The amount of patience, time, and care necessary to finish these is too difficult for most. He says that as a child he suffered from ADHD and that drawing these cities helped to calm him and focus his mind. They gave him a sense of peace. And he still considers himself to be a quiet person who lives in his own personal world—mainly the ones he draws. But they also coax him out into the real world to explore the cities and streets that have so deeply captivated his imagination.
Jiamviriyasatien’s current style began with practicing drawing places like train stations and rail lines in perspective. These created the foundation for his higher-angle views, which are drawn in a semi-isometric style that allows people to pick out details more clearly. The idea of angles is important; you can look at a city from many perspectives. And for him, the black areas refer to chaos and pollution whereas the white spaces are safe zones. Good or bad, he takes it all in.
