Mapping Molls London

Grace Gagne

I truly love having such free rein when it comes to projects in this course, I knew that I wanted to something hands on that would challenge my artistic abilities; and I found a way to do just that. For my final project I decided to draw a map of “London” as it is portrayed in The Roaring Girl. As soon as I started to jump into this process I realized that the project was going to require a mix of skills that I don’t usually rely on, such as drawing, research, etc. Even though this project was seemingly pushing me toward an unfamiliar area I decided it would be better to try something new that is out of my comfort zone. Drawing is not a strength of mine, but I had a good time doing my best to tie together historical locations and a kind of “fantasy” genre into this map. The process of making this map helped me to better understand the play more fully and on a deeper level. This reflection shows the challenges I faced while doing my best to create a seemingly accurate world all while attempting to keep my creative liberties at bay.

One of the first challenges that I encountered while working on this project was my lack of drawings skills. In the past when a school project involves visual art I feel a certain level of discomfort because I worry that my final product won’t look how I had hoped. Starting the map was the hardest part but once I began I decided that if I messed up there was nothing an eraser couldn’t fix. I wanted each building and street to carry a realistic vision, but I didn’t harness those drawing abilities so I did the best that I could. I decided that instead of focusing on detail I would focus on clarity, I started each and every building with a cube and a triangle. Using this slow ambiguous process helped me to see that I was capable of carrying my ideas visually, even if I am not a super strong artist.

Another major part of my project was “research”, I spent a long time sifting back through the play to find any buildings that were mentioned all while attempting to research London in the 1600s. I learned that in the 1600s London was still a somewhat congested city, but I wanted my map to reflect a clearer and more concise visual, some of the terms from the play didn’t make sense until I found clarifying information online. Doing research also led me to multiple places that aren’t actually in the play but were huge parts of London at that time. I decided against including most of these places in the map besides “Tyburn” a place where criminals were executed. I wanted my map to reflect more so the world from The Roaring Girl more than real London. Even with this decision, this aspect of the project really helped me to deepen my knowledge of the play as I had to re-read it and sift through it, all while drawing the world out on my own.

I knew pretty early on I wanted to play into the cliché of the rich side of town and the poor side, so that’s exactly what I did; and put a river right down the middle. This and looking at inspiration pictures online made me realize it would be fun to mix the map of The Roaring Girl with a more fantasy genre. I want to make it clear that I know very well that London isn’t an island, but I thought giving the map a kind of kingdom aspect would not only be more artistic but tie into the early themes of class. So, I kept the 1600s London look for the buildings but decided that I would give the rest of the map a medieval and or renaissance theme. I am really happy with the end result of the map, a few days ago I wanted to burn the edges of the map and soak it in coffee to give it an even older look, but I decided against this. I like it too much to risk ruining it the day prior to the due date.

In the end , this project helped me grow in multiple ways. I learned to work outside of my comfort zone when it comes to more artistic things. I got to grasp a deeper understanding of the plays structure and themes by mapping out its world. What started as a challenging idea that I gave myself ended up becoming a meaningful way to connect deeper to the literature from class.

Progress Pictures