Erthal Province Frontier

[jshoer]

Another quick-turnaround map for me that I did mostly over the holidays. This one was because I sort of had Old West on the brain from reading Brandon Sanderson's latest novel. It's a sketch map of the frontier extreme of Upper Erthal Provinces:

Upper Erthal Province.JPG

Erthal is a rough-and-tumble province, but its northern extremities are...sleepy. People go here not for adventure, to hit it big, or to make a living, but to be in a quiet place away from prying eyes. The local Fort Vantage keeps things generally safe from brigands, but don't expect the comforts of home in Clifftop or Gallaston. There's barely a tavern worth the name in the whole place. Still, there are rumors of treasure stashes that various landmark hoodoos indicate, and you'd be surprised who you could meet in the little canyon-bottom town of Hide Away. Some of those faces might have been on wanted posters, oh, a decade or two ago...

This one is black ink on Bristol, and then colored pencil. I skipped my usual step of painting the watercolor pencil afterward (like this one), to try and give the map a bit of a different feel. I also wanted to play with the border a bit, and used a black brush pen to fill in the edges like a tattered piece of paper. The absolute top-down perspective is new for me, and the cliffs are also something new (but inspired by some of what I've seen around the Guild). I'm quite happy with the lettering I did, too. I think my favorite thing might be that rock in the middle of the river.

I hated the cartouche as soon as I drew it. It just seems totally out of style. So I turned it into a bit of a joke.

[Greg]

I like most of it jshoer! Your line is generally pretty good especially for ink and it's got good clarity so everything is easily identifiable. I like your labelling too with its thin font and good placement!
MY own personal bug would be the colours. I've only produced B&W maps so far so feel free to ignore me if you wish, but I don't particularly like your colour palette. I think the sand around the river is too strong (maybe?) or at least (i my mind) doesn't work with the red regions or the lighter sandy colour. Like I said, my experience with colour is pretty limited, so feel free to ignore that.
I do like the texture you got from the pencils though and it works very well with the faux-torn border you've got going!

[ChickPea]

Very pretty! I like how you've the forests. Very simple but very effective.

[jshoer]

Hi GLS,

Thanks for the criticism - I do appreciate it! I was trying to pick a color scheme that would evoke a place like Sedona, with a mix of sandstone ranging from tan to red. It is unusual and unexpected to someone who doesn't spend much time there, and that's kind of why I like it! Perhaps I could have done a better job blending those colors into one another, though, instead of putting sharp divides by elevation.

Thanks ChickPea! I'm trying out new forest styles.

[Greg]

Yeah, no worries! Like I said colours aren't my strongest suit, but I like your response. A foreign land is a foreign land and doesn't have to conform to my expectations of geography.

[pezzam]

nice layout

[Bubblegum Knight]

well done.

[jshoer]

Glad you like it, even with the screwy cartouche! :-)

[Ilgoth]

Well done jshoer. I like the style, the river has nice feel to it.

[arsheesh]

Another delightful piece.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh