How a hit-and-run led to a labour of love for maps artist

When Joshua Tabti found himself housebound while recovering from a hit-and-run crash in 2019, he decided to finally take on a project he had been putting off - with Middle-earth as his inspiration.

"I really wanted to draw a map of Iceland, where I used to live - I worked there for a year as a glacier guide," explains the 32-year-old from his studio on a drizzly Tuesday afternoon.

Unable to continue in his job as a climbing instructor due to his injuries, Joshua found a new purpose in cartography, which has since become his career.

"Making maps is the main passion. I studied art at university. I also really love geography, language and history," he says.

"I get to combine all of them in one, so it's a real passion."

Joshua's latest project - painstakingly researched over two months before it was carefully crafted with dip pen and ink - is a map of Yorkshire and Lancashire inspired by those produced by Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien.

He says: "A map of Yorkshire is something I have wanted to tackle for a couple of years, so I have slowly been researching it and trying to gather a database of all the locations and particularly the hidden gems that I wouldn't to be able to find online.

"It's been a bit of a bigger project than I expected. Going from coast to coast also includes Lancashire, so there was much more research that went into it."

Joshua spends roughly half of his time on a project completing research before the intricate process of drawing begins.

"It's a lot of careful inkwork," he admits.

Any errors involve "a lot of rubbing out", or shaving off the top layer of paper.

Joshua also sought the input of local residents on an online forum for his latest piece of work to help refine the project.

"To me it's really important that the landscapes are very recognisable to a local," he says.

"It's a great way to fill in any gaps. It's really encouraging to read comments from people and I think the thing that matters most is that people feel represented, or when someone recognises the details and all the effort.

"That makes me proud."

Hertfordshire-based Joshua estimates he has now made about 30 pictorial maps, depicting landscapes as diverse as the island of Ireland, Malaysia and Virginia.

"In medieval times people would draw the landscape from an oblique angle, I have really enjoyed bringing to life that old tradition."

Tolkien remains his main inspiration.

"I grew up in High Wycombe and had no real idea as a child that we were actually that close to London," he recalls.

"We would just go on picnics and to the countryside. It was a friend at school that introduced me to the books. Those stories became a symbol for home in a way, and friendship.

"That sort of stuff is quite a big theme in the books. The maps fascinated me as a boy, as a teenager."

His labour of love, born out of misery, has also led to the discovery of new places.

"That's the pleasure because I get to learn so much about a location, its culture, its history.

"I really enjoy visiting through the pen."

One such location was the French Alps, which had been next on his list of places to visit prior to being hit by a car while cycling in south London.

"To finally visit and see the landscapes I had known so well from drawing them, but had never stayed in, that was a real pleasure.

"The blessing in disguise was that it [the crash] got me back into illustration and art.

"That was a silver lining of a rubbish accident."

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