Seven Cities Sub-continent from Malazan Book of the Fallen

[joshuabbutler]

Hi All,

I finally (mostly) finished my first map for the Seven Cities sub-continent from the Malazan Series from Steven Erikson. I had been trying to develop my mapping skills for maybe three years, but I finally found a style and process that works for me.

Here is what I started with 3 years ago:
seven-cities-drawing.jpg

Since then, I've been trying out tutorials from Fantasticmaps.com and here on the Cartographer's guild. I think the biggest breakthrough was to get an iPad to use on my daily subway commutes. This allowed me to spend concentrated time drawing the framework and filling in mountains and forests. I used Affinity Photo on the iPad and on my Macbook. I think because I used the iPad I felt that it couldn't be poster size, so I rendered in around letter/A4 size. I hope to redraw later so that it can be printed poster size.

Here is the results:
seven-cities-joshuab-butler.jpg

So, I'm posting this as a final maps because this stage is done. And I want to work on an Empire of Lether maps from the Malazan series. But in the future, I want to add more definition for water and a whole lot of other things.

Thanks for looking,
Josh

[Domino44]

Awesome work Josh! Your first map is also really nice, it's also really cool to see how far you've come. Welcome to the Guild it is definitely an awesome place to build your skills at mapping.

[joshuabbutler]

Awesome work Josh! Your first map is also really nice, it's also really cool to see how far you've come. Welcome to the Guild it is definitely an awesome place to build your skills at mapping.

Thanks Domino44 for the comments

It was a long time coming, but it is really encouraging to get to this stage. I’m new to the forum, so I probably should have put in another thread.

[Kellerica]

Very nice! I'm instantly reminded of our main man Ilanthar's work, and that's not a bad inspiration to have. I like the tone and the subtle shading on the mountains.

The one thing that stands out to me is the labeling, that I think could still use some work. I'd personally avoid curving the city labels, and I'd highly recommend setting up different parameters for the labels that are on the ocean rather than on the land. For instance the stroke used looks fine against the landmass color, but is too dominant on top of the ocean color, and most likely not really needed there at all.

Apart from the labeling hiccups, it's a fine first map. Some rep headed your way, once again welcome to the Guild!

[Diamond]

Very nice! I'm instantly reminded of our main man Ilanthar's work, and that's not a bad inspiration to have. I like the tone and the subtle shading on the mountains.

The one thing that stands out to me is the labeling, that I think could still use some work. I'd personally avoid curving the city labels, and I'd highly recommend setting up different parameters for the labels that are on the ocean rather than on the land. For instance the stroke used looks fine against the landmass color, but is too dominant on top of the ocean color, and most likely not really needed there at all.

Apart from the labeling hiccups, it's a fine first map. Some rep headed your way, once again welcome to the Guild!

On point. ^^^

That's pretty much what I was gonna say.

[Wired]

Very nice, and welcome to the Guild!

[MistyBeee]

Hehe, Kellerica see something from Ilanthar, I see something from DanielMaps... but in any case it's a success and a very good map for every details : good colors, effective linework, and I love this border as well.
Welcome to the Guild, Joshua, and have some rep !

[joshuabbutler]

Hi Everyone. Thanks so much for your comments! It's much appreciated. It took a while just to find a style and technique I was comfortable with, but now I'm moving forward. Great feedback on the labels. And, I'd like to explore the ocean a little more.

Thanks again!

[ThomasR]

Wonderful map and welcome !

[Ilanthar]

Nice map indeed! I don't often see maps of this universe that I like. This is clearly one of the exceptions .