October/November 2014 Challenge : The Hunt

[- Max -]

Well, well, well, here's the brief my esteemed and honorable client Djekspek gave me :

People have been talking about the elusive city of Baleia for centuries. It is said to be build on the back of a gigantic whale. Inhabited by legendary merfolk... Once every decade the whale emerges and a 10 mile high spray of mucus and carbon dioxide is send flying into the sky. And although many stories are told about this wonderous event, only few actually claim to have witnessed this. The great explorer Jonah is determined to find the whale and has been hunting it for his entire live now... He tracks down people that claim to have witnessed the blowing with his lifetime goal to actually visit the legendary city of Baleia...

Your challenge is to create the map constructed by Jonah. In should tell the story of his hunt... He uses this map to try to find out the route the whale travels (filled with scribbles and notes of sightings, plans and encounters.. possible feeding grounds, currents... maybe a skeleton of another huge whale is somewhere so they know about anatomy...), the world has a lot of water obviously else it would be spotted often...

Let's try to not disappoint him, he really pays a lot for this commission Ok, here's some start :

### LATEST WIP ###

The Hunt1.jpg

[Djekspek]

Great start Max! I'm sure I won't be dissappointed love the border as well! cheers, DJ

[Wingshaw]

Oh, that's a great brief. I always like maps that contain stories.

And presumably you don't have to map the city, but the journey to find it--interesting concept.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this.

THW

[- Max -]

Actually, Djekspek gave me 2 options : map the journey or map the city. I chose the first one but I might mix both options a bit to see what comes up. Not 100% sure at the moment though.

[Sapiento]

Actually, Djekspek gave me 2 options : map the journey or map the city. I chose the first one but I might mix both options a bit to see what comes up. Not 100% sure at the moment though.

I'm looking forward to this map.

[- Max -]

I went into texturing and coloring the background parchment and worked a bit on defining coastlines. Current direction is some kind of brown monochromatic.

The Hunt2.jpg

But I also played with this as an idea.

The Hunt3.jpg

I have several ideas for this map and I still have to figure out how to mix them into something good. If I'm going in this way, the journey map will probably have to be size-reduced but would it still be interesting? Hmm...

[Diamond]

As I said once about Ascension, I think I need to eat your brain so I can absorb your talent.

NOTE: I have nothing to do with Ascension's long absence from these forums...

[- Max -]

Make me think that some talentuous mappers dissapeared last months. Diamond ! You dared !

Ok after a few thoughts about it, I decided to flip the map vertically. I thrown in some basic geographic elements (meaning mountains and rivers) More shouldn't be that relevant in the journey. I also started Jonah's route and thought it would be fun to make the WIPs as his journey's steps so you can follow the story along those steps. First steps, so :

### LATEST WIP ###

The Hunt4.jpg

[- Max -]

One step further :

### LATEST WIP ###

The Hunt5.jpg

[lostatsea]

NOTE: I have nothing to do with Ascension's long absence from these forums...

I have been tracking this for quite awhile ! ANOTHER CLUE IN THE PUZZLE!I am watching you. MAX I suggest you get a body guard IMMEDIATELY !