Map of the Kingdoms and Principalities in Aran & Ilan

[Caenwyr]

Okay, I really hate myself for doing this, but... I'm re-rebooting my Twin Kingdoms map.

I know. I'm sorry. The only excuse I can find (and it's a poor one) is the fact that I'm still slaving away at my novel, so as long as that's not finished, the map can be considered a work in progress as well. Poor excuse indeed...

Still! Before I show you guys what progress I've made, I assume it wouldn't be a bad thing to showcase some of the previous iterations of this map.

1. The less-than-impressive beginning (a badly drawn map on a piece of paper, photographed and clumsily coloured in)
   
   Erhaniell%u00252520%2526%2520Ilya.jpg
2. The first "final version" (in the magnicifent Arsheesh-style, though not nearly as perfectly executed)
   
   51685d1359578585-map-twin-kingdoms-aran-ilan-awi_relief6.jpg
3. The second "final version" (this time a hand-drawn type of map, completely from scratch)
   
   AWI_handdrawn_overhaul14.jpg

It looks like I'm going back and forth between the hand-drawn style and the more satellite-like style. And my newest version is no exception to that rule! While I liked the look of the mountains and the forests of my last final product, I still missed something in the lands between the rivers. There still was a sort of emptiness. A feel of desolation, of non-definition if you will.

So I set about drawing out the relief map of the place. In excruciating detail. Took me several months! Then I kinda dropped the project (my girlfriend started complaining about the lack of attention, and not unduly so!), but since this emptiness kept bugging me, I kept waiting for an opportunity to pick up the mapmaking business again. And that opportunity finally presented itself the past two weeks. With the kind permission of my SO, I dedicated a carefully measured amount of time to the re-re-rebirth of my map.

It's not finished yet - not by a long shot. But the most important work, the foundations of the map so to speak, have been laid out, and now I can really start drawing in the details.

So this is it. My current work in progress:

AWI_handdrawn_overhaul15.jpg

Let me know what you think!

All the best,
C

[ChickPea]

Welcome to the Church of the Never Satisfied!

I like your new version so far and will enjoy seeing it filled out. Your previous hand-drawn map was very pretty, so I'm looking forward to seeing you top that.

[Diamond]

I loved your previous version, but I think I'm going to LUST this one.

[Ilanthar]

Hehe, welcome to the club! I also love your previous version, and I'm curious to see what you'll do with this new one.

[arsheesh]

Is the relief work hand drawn? It's gorgeous! I can see why it would have taken you so long. I'm excited to watch this develop.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Caenwyr]

Is the relief work hand drawn? It's gorgeous! I can see why it would have taken you so long. I'm excited to watch this develop.

Not hand drawn directly, the shading etc are computer-generated. But I did draw the contour lines for the DEM file manually. Which was a pain in the ass, I can tell you ;-). You can find the stepped version below. Unstepping the file took another titanic amount of work, but ultimately I arrived where I wanted to be: the bump file that I used as backdrop for this map.

A sample of the (stepped) DEM file:
AWI_relief-revamp.jpg

I've also had the opportunity to work on the map a bit. No huge leaps, but some progress at least.

• Tweaked the rivers some more, so they look more natural.
• Adapted the terrain map, so some areas seem more rugged than in the previous version, while others now seem more habitable.
• Added the towns and cities and their icons (decided to go for simple dots of varying sizes instead of the more elaborate icons I used in the other version). The font size for the city names is rather small, but any bigger would demand too much attention (and I want people to stare at the terrain, of course!).
• I also played with the oceans a bit: darker tones, and a nice little Lagrange grid. The subcontinent you see on the map is about the size of Europe, and I hope the grid helps convey that message.

As always, thanks for your great comments and suggestions! Let me know what you think of this WIP!

AWI_handdrawn_overhaul16.jpg

[johnvanvliet]

But I did draw the contour lines for the DEM file manually. Which was a pain in the ass, I can tell you ;-)

odd that is normally very easy and fast
i used a "posterize" filter to drop the 8 bit dem copies ( 255 tones) to 12 tones

took 30 seconds
--Olympus Mons
-- Valles Marineris

[Caenwyr]

Well yeah, but what I actually did was the opposite: turning an image with 16 different grey levels (the one I posted above) in one with 256 (the smooth bump lighted version you see in the map). That's a rather more complex process ;-)

[AzurePlanet]

I like a lot all your "final" versions!
And especially the last one: since I used the same technique to get my DTM, I see your point.
Did you also apply an erosion cycle to the raw DTM?

[RigoIII]

Ah I feel your pain, as a fellow novel writer whose pretty much obsessed with the world building (thankfully still hasn't gotten in between me and my own SO). I love the maps you've created, especially the mountains! Keep in the good work and hopefully I'll able to read your novel admiring one of your 'final' maps. Now I have to go and redraw some house crests, because few of them have the same charge as some of yours

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