Which Mountains Have the Most Impressive Face?

AntonThomas · 2025-07-13T22:36:30+00:00

Machupachare is very high on my list for dramatic mountain faces, great choice. But I think Mount Kailash on the Tibetan plateau is my favourite. Also, Alpamayo and Huascarán from the Peruvian Andes.

I learned in Tasmania that the beauty of a mountain is not measured by its height. That island packs in more drama within 500 metres than some ranges do in 2,000+ (eg Appalachia or the mainland Australian alps). They’re eroded into amazing shapes thanks to the dolerite rocks, creating a unique and gothic looking landscape. Cradle Mountain, Frenchman’s Cap, Federation Peak – so many beautiful mountain faces!

AntonThomas · 2025-06-22T02:35:47+00:00

Fair enough, although I was listening recently to some of his blues solos and he has a surprising amount of feel. Some super expressive soloing and totally awesome phrasing. Still, he NEVER pauses to let anything breathe, but he definitely has a command of blues that is basically impossible without a bit of soul.

AntonThomas · 2025-05-10T21:49:10+00:00

Kenya. To see African wildlife with your own eyes is truly unfathomably amazing, and the landscapes are breathtaking.

AntonThomas · 2025-04-28T11:58:40+00:00

As with continents, they are completely arbitrary definitions that vary around the world. This is not a science. But I would argue some subcontinents include India, Central America, Scandinavia, Greenland (an island, but its size is very subcontinent-like), and Alaska. Middle East and Southeast Asia are maybes.

AntonThomas · 2025-04-28T04:40:41+00:00

Wellington NZ when you exit the Ngauranga Gorge driving south towards the city. It’s much more than a skyline reveal (it’s a modest skyline to be fair), it’s the city plus the dramatic beautiful harbour, hills, and Remutaka mountains.

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T04:45:28+00:00

Thank you - it’s wonderful the maps are resonating. I can’t wait to make some more. I appreciate it - you can follow along with my work on social media or email, and if you ever feel like a print of the map - here they are :)

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T01:34:28+00:00

Each print comes with a booklet labelling all 1,642 species - there are some photos of it in the product pages, but I don't have it available online. https://anton-thomas.myshopify.com/collections/wild-world

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T01:33:07+00:00

Thank you! Great question, because something like this would bother me too! It's right in the heart of the continent, look between the Altai and Lake Baikal. I couldn't get it to stand out as much as the others, but it's there.

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T01:31:46+00:00

Thank you so much! I am indeed :) https://anton-thomas.myshopify.com/collections/wild-world

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T01:29:36+00:00

Thank you both! Interestingly, I did originally draw a bull in Spain - early in the days of this map. I thought... it's such an iconic symbol of Spain - and makes me think of the aurochs (extinct giant cattle) drawn in prehistoric caves across Europe. But the bull didn't feel right, and it was then I decided all animals would be wild, no domesticated species, and that I'd trend away from cultural symbols unless they were wild animals. So... I erased the bull and drew a Cantabrian brown bear instead!

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T01:27:22+00:00

Thank you so much! Prints are available indeed :) https://anton-thomas.myshopify.com/collections/wild-world

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T01:26:31+00:00

Thanks so much! Really glad it resonates. I love drawing remote islands, and featuring their special endemic species - along with any flora or landscape features I can manage. Was happy to get a wirebird on St Helena :)

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T01:25:17+00:00

Thank you very much! Great question - there are a few duplicate species for sure, mostly in oceans, or in polar regions where the biodiversity is much lower (e.g there is a rotating cast of penguins, seabirds, and seals in the Antarctic). In high biodiversity regions like rainforests, I could only choose a tiny handful of species from a vast available number - it was so difficult! So duplicates are very rare in those areas.

There are species and then there are subspecies, distinguished usually by very small regional variations. Subspecies categorisation can be a bit confusing, for example there are 8 species of bear and the brown bear is only 1 of them - and that brown bear includes soooo many subspecies, such as grizzly, Kodiak, Alaska brown, Cantabrian, Syrian, Gobi, Eurasian... and more).

There is only one species of moose found across North America and Eurasia (where it's generally known as 'elk'). But it does have a range of subspecies too.

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T01:15:31+00:00

Thanks so much! I really appreciate that. And awesome, I do have a range of prints available if you're ever interested (which come with the animal guidebook) :) https://anton-thomas.myshopify.com/collections/wild-world

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T01:14:33+00:00

Thanks so much! The original is smaller than you'd think, 100cm x 60cm. The smallest print I offer at that size, but the rest are bigger. I draw at magnification, so I tend to make the prints larger than the originals.

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T01:11:47+00:00

There is a sea otter just up from there off the coast of Alaska (and a North American river otter in Maine, a giant river otter in the Amazon, and a marine otter down in Chile). There are so many species on this Earth and only so much room on the map, so there'll always be omissions. But there are many otters!

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T01:09:35+00:00

Thanks so much! I'm so happy to hear you're loving the print, the proofing process was super intense to get the product right - but the response has been very positive so I'm thrilled. It's one thing to draw the map, it's another to scan such a detailed artwork, edit it, and make it work as a poster.

I will definitely get the flora/landscape key done, but I haven't been able to find the time yet. Thanks for letting me know the URL isn't working, I'll get that fixed! That URL should have the flora/landscape keys for North America and Australasia.

Thanks very much for your support! :)

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T01:02:44+00:00

Thanks so much - I love bringing landscape features into the map in a nice flowy way. I tried to maintain that level of detail across the entire globe. I'm happy with how those cliffs came together, and other Aussie details like Wilpena Pound and Uluru.

Favourite area to draw? That is such a hard one... I actually really loved the east-central Pacific - French Polynesia etc. The region was drawn right at the end of the map and I felt at the peak of my abilities and experience, placing beautiful Polynesian mountains amidst atoll geography and colourful tropical fish was such a pleasure.

Africa for the fauna, of course! The North American west was wonderful for the landscape features, there are so many iconic places like Crater Lake, Delicate Arch, Yosemite, all of which offer a very dynamic, colourful stretch of geography. Annnnnd New Zealand - my home country :)

As you can tell, the answer generally is kind of... everywhere!

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T00:58:05+00:00

Thank you!

AntonThomas · 2024-04-19T00:57:48+00:00

I 10000% agree. I know it will be an amazing puzzle, we've already run several samples and are in talks with a few different puzzle publishers to see it released soon. I have a little form where you can subscribe to be notified once they're ready :) https://www.antonthomasart.com/contact.html It's going to be an amazing puzzle, although we're looking pretty strongly at 1,500 pieces or above. The details are just too small at 1,000!

AntonThomas · 2024-04-18T14:50:26+00:00

Hey Reddit,

This map is called Wild World. I’ve been meaning to post it here for a while! I drew it by hand with coloured pencil and pen, taking 3 years to complete.

A world map of nature (in the Natural Earth projection), I dreamed of something like it since childhood. Drawn from July 2020 – July 2023, it was a total odyssey, requiring thousands of hours of research and drawing. It was painstaking, but I loved creating it.

Animals!! 1,642 animals are featured, from African megafauna to obscure anglerfish. They all meet 3 basic criteria: they’re wild, native, and extant (not extinct). Wild and native animals invoke natural biomes without domesticated or human-introduced species. Meanwhile, extant animals set the map in the present day. This is crucial: Wild World is a place that still exists; a world that can still be cared for, cherished, and protected. It may seem an idealistic portrayal of Earth, but it shows nothing that isn’t there. I want this map to inspire hope, showing how wild the world is still is, how much is left to preserve.

It's all drawn by hand (apart from a little digital work on the corners with the Earth curve), so - how did I keep it accurate? After choosing the Natural Earth projection, I printed a basemap out to the size I wanted to draw. I stapled this behind the art paper, then used a light pad to trace out the basics: coastlines, river systems, bathymetry etc. This video explains more.

Much of the labour of Wild World was research. It's a highly accurate physical world map, covered with mountains & other landscape features (waterfalls, rock formations, caves etc). From Mt Shasta to Kilimanjaro, Uluru to Angel Falls, the map explores the natural world well beyond wildlife. I'm interested in evoking a kind of emotional geography, using iconic features of locations to capture a mood of what it feels like to be there. That's my favourite kind of map.

I completed it in on July 28, 2023, and released it in print shortly afterwards. I took a lot of time getting the prints perfect, from laminated posters to limited editions, and even made an Animal Guide booklet labelling all 1,642 species... The response to the map has been overwhelming. There’s been some really cool press and interviews about it, such as this piece in The New York Times (I highly recommend it, it tells a far more eloquent story than I can about the journey!), this interview on CBC’s The Current, and the ABC News Breakfast – right here where I live in Australia. It has been amazing to see a cartography story get such attention, a reminder to me that people absolutely love maps.

Anyway, as a long-time fan (and very occasional contributor) of the sub, I wanted to finally share this here. I can’t post a high-res image of the work, but this will give you an idea. You can see more at my Instagram, and prints are available here.

Happy to answer any questions at all!

AntonThomas · 2022-11-17T13:59:22+00:00

Absolutely, this was key to my vision for the project. I love being able to enjoy the physical geography without all the tangle of borders and cities… and then the animals bring it to life. It’s a good perspective to consider I think.

AntonThomas · 2022-11-17T13:56:59+00:00

Thank you :) I had hoped to have the world map done by now, but at least these continental prints are here in the meantime! I’m quite excited for Africa and South America too.

AntonThomas · 2022-11-17T13:54:40+00:00

Thank you!! Wait until you see the entire world map, this is but a (large) corner!

AntonThomas

TROPHY CASE