Boredom strikes back !

[ThomasR]

Hello fellow cartographers.

The end is nigh again (the end of school year I mean) and here in France, the ballet of class council has started followed by this feeling of boredom that never fail to cease us, teachers, during such assemblies. So, I took out a sheet blank of paper, my 5mm pencil, my faithful eraser and my wonderful TWSBI fountain pen loaded with Heart of Darkness ink by Noodler's Ink. I then fiercely dove into the never-ending fight against boredom and I did not came out short !

After 3h30, you can see the result below.

When I see what I can achieve with a pen and paper, it makes me think I'd better do the next challenge I take up here the old fashion way and leave my wacom in it's sleeve to complete it faster ...

Contrées de l'ennui.jpg

Gimme your critics or praises ... but critics will be more helpful.

[Josiah VE]

Don't have any critiques, just praises. Looks awesome!! I love the land shape, feels like something that would be in a book. Good job.

Perhaps just colouring the ocean a little bit grey in photoshop would help with distinguishing the land from the sea..

[Greg]

Your gorgeous doodles always amaze me Thomrey! I love the shapes and the linework and just seeing where your imagination wanders in those moments. Whether meetings or assemblies, or whatever, I hope you have many more moments of boredom to produce these wonderful inked creations.

[Diamond]

Beautiful work. The only critique I have is that maybe the oceans are too 'busy' with that second coastline/tidal ring.

[arsheesh]

Very nice! thomrey!

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Elterio Delgard]

Beau travail! J'aime les cartes faites à la main! Disons que ton littoral et tes vagues me font repenser mon approche sur comment les faires. On dirait des traits vites faits et pourtant dans l'ensemble ça donne quand même un beau résultat. Peut-être que le simple fait le beau parfois?

[Caenwyr]

This is just awesome. You did all this on just 3.5 hours? Crazy!

But I guess what you say is true: sometimes real pen-and-paper work takes less time than digital work, simply because the attitude is different. What is inked, stays inked, so you kinda go with the tiny imperfections instead of trying to smooth all of them out. I once was taught (during an otherwise useless self management class) that in order to be economical with your efforts, it's good to know that around 80% of the job is done with just 20% of the effort. The other 20% of the job - the finishing touches if you will - suck up the remaining 80% of your time. Accepting a certain level of crudeness buys you a LOT of time to spend on more pressing matters, and when it comes to this map, this "crudeness" lends it an air of magnificent authenticity. As if it was actually drawn by some cartographer from a distant land, which makes it both more tangible and fascinating.

So yeah, a big win on this one, I'd say!

[ThomasR]

@ Josiah : Thanks man ! A colored version is on the way, a preview at the end of the post.
@ GLS : Wow, thanks for these kind words ! I'll sure try some more, hoping the style won't always be the same.
@ Diamond : I can see what you mean. I usually use white for the tides and, unfortunately, white on white doesn't work. I thought for a second to use craft paper and poscas but I'll try it next time.
@ Arsheesh : Thanks a lot !
@ Elterio : le simple faisant le beau, on dirait un titre de tableau du XVIIème, c'est charmant ! Pour les vagues, j'ai commencé en m'appliquant puis j'ai laissé trembloter mon poignet et c'est vrai que le résultat est pas trop mal. En réalité c'était pour préparer le poignet aux détails de la côte qui doivent être chaotique donc ...
@ Caenwyr : That's very nice of you ! I do tend to better myself in the lifework department but I come short cold and shade wise. As I said on one of your thread I really envy your shading skills (any tutorial on your schedule ? )

Here's the first splatter of color :

Contrées de l'ennui 1.jpg

[Jayharchitect]

I love it! The first splatter of color is probably good enough in my mind!

Curious what made you go with such a scratchy lettering for the title? The rest has a crisp linework, I was just wondering!

[ThomasR]

@ Jayharchitect : Lettering ain't muy strongest suit. If you gave a pen to a poney and asked him to write something, he'd probably do a better work than me and ponies do not even have got fingers so ... I tried something quick just to finish the map before the end of the reunion.

Here's a colored version. I might do one last version with shades but it would be more to practice than to better it as it pleases me like this (maybe also redo the lettering).

I know it's the finished map section so, sorry if it turns into a WIP somehow.

Contrées de l'ennui 1couleur.jpg