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About the Artist, Johnathan White
I have had an interest in art my entire life. I started when I was very young and have continued since. I have always had an interest in all things nautical, especially history. I developed an interest for charts and navigation while working in merchant shipping in the Gulf of Mexico. I became a navigational specialist and proceeded to pursue the histories associated with map-making.
I started creating charts as more of a hobby and giving away my work to friends, family, and anyone wanting the maps I was creating. The first map I created was actually for Captain Michael Day, Master of the ship I was employed on. I have worked as a freelance artist my entire adult life until the last 5 years where I have only concentrated on the creation of actual "Portolan" charts. I have created charts for a number of different companies for a number of uses. Movie set props for movies like "Cutthroat Island", "Horatio Hornblower", and "Pirates of the Caribbean"; Illustration for publishers and authors as well as in-game maps or charts and box art for gaming software companies.
Maps and charts are a combination of sciences, art, history, and mythology. The cartography of early mapmakers was a form of art practiced by few in times past, and even fewer now. Almost all maps created today are the products of computers; either enhanced or supplemented by computers in someway shape or form, but not truly hand made. There is a unique niche for what I do in the world of cartography and illustration. I provide a service that cannot be offered by any computer.