Hand-Drawn Personalized Hand-Drawn Personalized Map Art & Custom Map Prints
Custom handmade maps and personalized wall art for collectors who value tradition over templates. Each custom map is hand-drawn using traditional cartography methods, then artist-signed and delivered as museum-quality fine art.
Where Handcrafted Maps Become Fine Art
Art Map Maker produces handcrafted maps using traditional techniques that unite geography, history and artistic expression.
Master Map Maker Bob Tibolt
For more than four decades, Bob Tibolt has been dedicated to preserving the art of traditional mapmaking. Trained under renowned Dartmouth College cartographer Van English, his work combines precision, craftsmanship, and artistic interpretation to create maps that feel both historically grounded and deeply personal.
Unlike software-generated designs, every original map begins by hand using pen-and-ink drafting techniques, mechanical lettering, and carefully applied color work.
Over 40 Years' Experience
Classical Training
Hand-Drawn Masterpieces
The Map That Changed Everything
This is the map Robert Tibolt created to chronicle his journey to Beirut in 1975, just before the onset of the Lebanese Civil War. His novel, Meet Me in Beirut, is based on that exhilarating tale which is almost too crazy to believe. You can explore his book, and so much more, on his website.
Inspired by the World’s Great Map Rooms
Throughout history, maps have been objects of reverence—displayed in palaces, libraries and halls of learning. The Map Room section explores the historical and cultural significance of maps, drawing inspiration from legendary spaces where cartography was celebrated as both science and art.
Traditional
Historic
Explore the Art of Handmade Cartography
Every map follows a deliberate process rooted in traditional craftsmanship.
From initial research and drafting to hand lettering and final color application, each original drawing reflects the care and attention that only a skilled cartographer can provide. The result is custom cartographic artwork with texture, depth and character that digital map generators simply cannot replicate.
Personalized Maps Created for Your Story
Our custom map commission service allows clients to transform personal meaningful locations into one-of-a-kind artwork. From family properties and historic neighborhoods to travel routes and cherished destinations, we create personalized maps designed specifically around your story.
Print Features
- Museum-quality archival paper
- High-resolution digital reproduction
- Signed and artist-approved works
- Limited editions reflecting the integrity of the originals
Robert Tibolt creates hand-drawn cartographic works with precision, clarity and depth.
See What Satisfied Clients Have To Say
Robert Tibolt creates hand-drawn cartographic works with precision, clarity and depth.
See What Satisfied Clients Have To Say
Art Map Maker Insights & Updates
by Robert Tibolt
Frequently Ask Questions
I make maps, and create prints, posters and finished, framed works from those maps. I display these works at my showroom in Mesquite, and sell them on my website artmapmaker.com.
I use traditional techniques of pen-and-ink, mechanical lettering, and coloring with colored charcoal to create original maps by hand.
People are surprised to learn that I make the maps by hand. I learned my craft from a renowned cartographer who taught this method, and I have continued it ever since. As with any other hand-made work, each piece is unique, and carries the mark of the maker. The nuances incorporated into each map are unattainable with a computer, and endow each map with personality and character. This gives an artistic spirit to my maps. Besides the detailed information that each map provides, the artistic nature of the map makes it attractive to people and yields a piece that is fit for display in one’s home or place of business.
I enjoy this methodical and detailed process for making maps. I am an ophthalmologist and I liken my mapmaking to ophthalmic surgery. Both are dependent on fine motor skills, require patience, and are unforgiving of mistakes. Also, I find the creative process to be satisfying; it is gratifying when people enjoy my maps.
Van English, former Professor of Geography at Dartmouth College, taught me. He was a world-renowned cartographer who was the personal cartographer for General George Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff, in World War II. Professor English offered a course in cartography, which I took. The course included a didactic section in which he taught the history of mapping, principles of projection, and general knowledge of maps. In the studio section, he taught us mapmaking techniques and gave us the opportunity to make maps ourselves. My final course project was a map of my European and Middle Eastern travels undertaken during my junior year.