The Pen and Ink Westeros Project

[Cold]

I hereby lay claim to this small piece of internet! |** (<that's my flag.)

First, I am new to the guild and recently posted my intro in the intro section.
Second, I am just starting a large scale hand-drawn project that will likely take the better part of the rest of the year to complete (hopefully). I thought I would chronicle it all here in this thread for my own sake, for critique sake (any and all not only welcome, but asked for), and for anyone else who may be interested. Note: this is my first ever attempt at map "making" (quotations since I'm not creating the land--or even the map, simply interpreting it a little different than what's out there).

A bit more about the project:

• As the title states, the map will be of A Song of Fire and Ice's Westeros.
• The map will be split into 3 different pieces. South of The Neck, The North, and North of The Wall.
• Each piece will be drawn on smooth bristol paper.
• South of the Neck will be the largest piece, up to 24" in height and 18" wide. North of the Wall will be the smallest piece at a very rough guesstimate of 16" x 8".
• It will be completely done in black ink with no washing or trickery.
• The purpose is to be framed and thrown on a wall in my friend's house.

I hope to update this thread often with materials associated to my project but not necessarily direct images of the maps. Since I'm new to mapping and an eraser is a thing of lore in my style, I will be doing a lot of experimenting before tackling the first piece, and even during the piece. ...If I overdo it with updates (or underdo(?) it), just let me know.

Once more, I love thoughtful, heartless critiques.

Lastly, you can "borrow" any my art and ideas you want so long as you ask first.

[Cold]

My first attempt at developing a font. Don't ask me what happened to M - N - S ... I have no idea.
font.png

[Cold]

Experimenting with a few different ideas, such as:

• Border
• Labeling in the water sections
• Evergreen forests
• Tundra
• Mountain ranges
• Rivers
• Cliffs
• The Wall (in particular trying to illustrate the ice aspect of it)
• Transition to the ocean
• Cliffs on the ocean
• A few very crude compass ideas (is this called a compass, or is there a more technical name?)

experimenting.png

[kaelin]

I really like the mountains you've done. Also, the trees (each type) look interesting as well, maybe mix them together?
The wall looks really good, but I worry that it too closely resembles the cliff to the east (or vice versa).
The rivers are a bit too smooth, I would think and the water labelling...I don't like it so much, but can't put a finger on the why of it.
The border also looks great.
It's called a compass rose and the lower one looks really nice.
I look forward to seeing this develop! Have some rep!

[Lingon]

Ooh, hand drawn. I like that.

The experiment looks very good. I actually agree with Kaelin on almost every point, except for the water labeling, which I think is pretty cool. Do you plan to make the oceans completely black? That could look great. For the forest, drawing each tree individually would be an incredible feat, but an easier alternative that also might look better when more zoomed out could be to just outline the shape of the forest and add some fluffy or spiky texture, depending on tree type.

Also, your font looks great!