Bilbo's Game of WALK

[aeshnidae]

My entry for the June 2022 challenge, “Map Like an Animal.” I decided to map my neighborhood, as seen through the eyes (and nose, and ears, and mouth) of my dog, Bilbo. When I read the challenge description, I immediately thought about the old board game, The Game of Life, and decided to go with a board game-style map, so I present…the Game of WALK!

Bilbo is a Feist mix, which means he’s a squirrel-hunting, tree-climbing dog with crazy feet that are unfortunately close to having opposable thumbs. He can also walk upright on his back legs. Until I adopted a squirrel hunting dog, I had no idea that my neighborhood contained approximately 6 billion squirrels, plus a ton of free-range pet bunnies and cats. Bilbo is obsessed with squirrels, bunnies, and cats and he can remember the exact location of every little furry creature he’s ever seen, especially the bunnies. Whenever we get close to a yard that contained (or once contained) bunnies, Bilbo gets on his hind legs and walks upright, so he can get a better look to see if bunnies are around. You’d think after 5 years, he’d chill out about the squirrels and bunnies, but nope! Each and every walk is just as exciting as the very first one!

This was hand-drawn in Photoshop on a Wacom Intuos tablet. The font is Franklin Gothic Demi Condensed (except for “Pet” in the pet insurance policy, which is Engravers MT.) The animals and buildings are all clipart from the public domain; all the other stuff is mine.

WIP thread is at https://cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=50911.