If you’ve stumbled across my Extract Water article or spotted my 30 Day Map Challenge 2025 entry (see map), you may have noticed that I have a habit of sneaking watercolor paint into my mapmaking whenever I can. So, when the Esri Experience team encouraged employees to color to a page from the recently published, Color Me Mappy: A Cartographic Coloring Book, my paintbrushes practically leapt out of their jar.
🖌️This project was SO much fun!
It gave me an excuse to be creative, get lost in cartography, color, and blend together two things I love:
🗺️maps & art 🎨
How did I make this?
To start, I printed the page on watercolor paper, gathered my favorite paints, and let the mapmaking mess begin!
I drew inspiration from Holi, the Festival of Colors, as a way to honor my Indian roots and fill the page with the festival’s joyful, vibrant energy.
Did that mean taking a few creative liberties? Absolutely! Sometimes you have to let the creativity flow and follow where the paint wants to go!
I recorded most of the creation process to share the behind-the-scenes peek of my creation process to show how I brought it all together.
A huge thank-you to the Esri Experience team for dreaming up such a fun challenge, and to Molly Green-Hogeweg for creating a coloring book that turns cartography into a wonderfully colorful adventure. 🌈
Ready for your own cartographic coloring adventure?
Curious about what’s in this wonderfully map-filled coloring book? Hop over to the Color Me Mappy ArcGIS StoryMaps story to preview the pages.
And if your crayons, pencils, or paintbrushes are already calling your name, click here to get your copy of Color Me Mappy: A Cartographic Coloring Book from Esri Press.
Happy coloring!
Commenting is not enabled for this article.