Yera_Novel Map

[XCali]

I'm finding it difficult to explain what I mean about line work or black and white ink maps.

This is one I did a few minutes ago. Its very crude and very simple. The basic differences are:

• There are far fewer lines per square inch than in your map. White space separates the elements and makes them easier to identify.
• The lines are different weights for different purposes - the thick one being the road, a thinner one for the coast etc.
• There is a lot of commonly accepted symbology going on. By that I mean the coast is echoed by fainter broken lines that grow outward from it, and the forests are little more than woolly blobs with sticks for trunks, yet both these things are instantly recognisable for what they are.

I've never done an ink map before, so this is my first one too, and I hope it helps to try and explain what I was trying to say about the development of your own ink map

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EDIT: btw - I'm not saying that you should draw like I do - just suggesting that you might like to consider leaving more space, giving more thought to line thickness, and using less detail in areas that are currently a bit crowded with detail - forest patches rather than single trees, for instance... etc

Don't get me wrong, I get what you are saying and were my trees just normal trees, I wouldn't mind for a moment to represent them the way you did. But, the fact of the matter is, every single tree depicted on the latest line art version is a special kind of tree. I spend a lot of time in the second half of my book making clear that there are these out of the ordinary trees. And that makes it even more difficult to leave extra white space, because now I need to add even more forests that consist of normal trees. Quite a conundrum if you ask me.



EDIT: For argument's sake, I do have a question. Okay, the way my trees work and a certain element that my continent is a continent of a lot of mountains and big mountains. I am wondering about the amount of lines. Because, if I can't remove any of the bigger trees(all are placed with purpose) and I can't remove even a single mountain. And I already tried to minimise the amount of lines I used on them. Then I beg the question, how? How can I use less lines if the trees and mountains already shown need to stay? (For arguments sake. I am pondering good heartedly about this one. Though for the moment, with the paramatres I have given, I can't yet perceive an answer. )

Edit 2: Text make mood and intent hard to read. So, this is mine with this. Happy to brainstorm with you (I think you are awesome.) though I am baffled at the challenge of my particular conundrum. Hehe.