Mildermaes

[Sylva Knight]

Mildermaes.jpg

Mildermaes is a land of cliffs and steep slopes, sheer precipices and sudden drops. It is sparsely populated and contains many regions that are only partially explored, due to the difficulty of access. Despite its altitude, few places are ever completely dry, and a dankness hangs around long after the last snow-melt waterfall has vanished into the sea. Foreigners coming from over the Vast Sea who wish to go into the Straights make landfall at Forge and take the highway to Crysallis, the gateway city. Those who do not intend to stay will unload their cargo at Tapaen and Tieron rather than risk the rough seas and rumored dragons.

This map was drawn by hand with a mechanical pencil, then scanned and colored in photoshop.

WIP Video: http://youtu.be/nX1hKtDfh0c

[arsheesh]

This is great!

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[foremost]

Very cool, I am a sucker for the hand-drawn ones.

When viewing this map, I almost had to focus my eyes to a point in space in front of it so i could see it as a whole (if that makes any sense). There's a lot going on, and that's great (we see a lot of maps that are 50% blank), but it makes it more difficult to pick out everything. I know this is a finished map, but more variation in the color scheme would have helped us see better. (Maybe the sea could have been darker blue).

That being said, I like your writing, it's not easy to be handwriting to look great on a map.

-fm

[Sylva Knight]

Thanks! Yes, I messed with the color quite a bit. The issue there was due to the technique I use, dark colors also means darker pencil lines, which only makes the details more intense. In this case, where there are equal amounts of land and water, I think a different design for the seas would have been better. Something with less pencil altogether would solve that issue, I think.

I'll be linking the WIP video as soon as I get it done; maybe you can spot something in there that I could have done differently. I think it's the style of the waves though.

There was one result of the "busy" effect that I was happy with, and that was that it adds a sense of overwhelming frenzy to the whole thing that demonstrates what being in this land might actually feel like. Everything is so confined and close together, wild and untamed and yet claustrophobic because of the coastlines and mountains, etc. There are so many untouched places to go and yet you just can't quite get there. Any sort of travel would require great care and patience, and even when you got going you might not end up where you thought.

As for the writing, that's some of the most fun. I try to come up with a different style of alphabet for each map I do; one that will reflect the culture of the while it contributes to the atmosphere of the map and maintains legibility.

[madbird-valiant]

Oh god hand-drawn? Brilliantly done, man, and loving the nordic theme.