Map of Elandia (WIP)

[Texas Jake]

Greater Elandia 2f cliff 3.0a.PNGI am working on an overland map of Elandia for a book I am writing. I am using Campaign Cartographer 3+ and the Jonathan Roberts style. I have edited some of the symbols in Autodesk Sketchbook. The waterfall on the cliffs in lower right of map is one example of one of my modified symbols. The ending cliff on bottom right of cliff-run is another modified symbol (had to make my own since none of the symbols would work here). The red and black lines running north-south are reference lines and not part of the map. Once I finish the map in CC3, I plan to touch-up and add more details in Sketchbook or Photoshop.

[Texas Jake]

Greater Elandia 3.2.png

Adding forest and rivers. Forest will extend to the cliffs and the faint line to the west.

[Texas Jake]

Greater Elandia 2f cliff 3.1b.PNG

The forest has grown. I had to plant a bunch of trees.


Greater Elandia 2f cliff 3.1a.png

A view of the larger canvas.

[Texas Jake]

Some history behind the map.
map 2.png

Sometime around 2006 I began writing a fantasy novel and needed a map for reference. The above hand drawn map is what I came up with. As you can see, my artistic ability is somewhat limited and my focus at the time was more on writing the book than drawing the map. This map served as my only geographical reference until recently.

Of Prophets and Kings Beta Map.JPG

After many revision and several periods of off-and-on writing, I was nearing the time to send out my first two books to beat readers and I wanted a better map to send with them. In mid-July of this year I purchased Campaign Cartographer 3. The map above is what I sent with the manuscript for book one. It was a quick attempt at a map while learning the program. The results were much, much better than my hand drawn relic.

After completing the map, I realized that I had learned a lot about the geography of my imaginary world and the knowledge I gained added more clarity to my writing and drew attention to things I had not considered. I also had a much more complete vision of the geographical setting and my characters were able to see things they had not seen before. As a result, I came to the conclusion I needed to map out more of this world and several specific locations before I could complete the pre-beta revision of book two. So now I am all-in on map making and the writing has been put on temporary hold.

The Continent added Valimere 4.JPG

Above is a map of the continent I did strictly for my reference. I am making images off sections I want to map and using them as overlays on their own sheets in CC3 (set at about 50% opacity) to trace the land mass and locate geographical features and cities. The map of Elandia I am working on is the first map produced of the continent map.

[Texas Jake]

Slide1.PNG

Above is a image I did using PowerPoint to draw arrows on a PNG from CC3 to show the prevailing winds and ocean currents. The Northern Reaches are effected by an arctic current off the northern shore and a prevailing wind out the the north-east. Sker Threk has a more mild climate because of the warm current that flows into the Dark Bay. The Great Desert is dry because winds from the west and east lose their moisture while crossing mountain ranges on either side.

[Texas Jake]

Greater Elandia 3.2a.PNG

Greatwood is fully forested.

[Texas Jake]

Greater Elandia 4 lost effort.PNG

I got to this point and realized the trees I had been planting were a freakish dwarf specimen and the scale was all off. I tried to uproot them, but there were millions of them and they refused to to be pulled up willingly. Finally I realized it was futile and reverted back to a pre-forested save. I will carefully inspect the next crop of trees to ensure they are worthy of planting.

[Texas Jake]

Just a quick note to let you know this map has not been abandoned. It is on hold until while I develop my skills with SketchBook and PS and answer a few questions. One of them is how I will mark places. I intend to create my own town/city/fortress/outpost icons and I have no idea what they will be. Not sure if I want to go with a graphic icon that is representative of the place (if I do I will probably be making a unique one for each place) or a simple symbol similar to what is used on modern maps. I probably won't pick this back up until I finish my map of Melekhir.