November/December Lite Challenge Entry : Perintethibar

[jbgibson]

OK, the only way I'll do this is by just diving in. The WIPs are likely to be wholly different versions at first, as I work out how to get the right effect. What I'm shooting for is the style of US Civil War maps such as these at the David Rumsey Map Collection.

The world is the geofiction one I participate in, Aurora. My nation there, Sam'thuma, draws on Earth's India for inspiration. This blankness on the first version will become partly jungle. I'll explain other peculiarities of the surroundings as I go.

I can see already with these pens I might ought to cover this amount of territory on a larger sheet of paper, else I won't be able to get variation in line weight. Too, the water is going to look better lined in blue ink, as well as colored in.

### LATEST WIP ###
Perintethibar.jpg

[ravells]

Great choice of style! You are going to have to find a pen with a very thin italic nib if you want to reproduce the lettering though.

[Nebula]

I really like the style, it really does remind me of the old civil war maps. (Being a sort of a war buffy) I'm really anticipating your finished product!

[jbgibson]

Ravs- ja, tiny nib, or else just draw it on a whoppin' big sheet of paper :-).

So at a bigger size like this I can manage the lettering, albeit my penmanship is still rusty. And my the .1, .3, .5, .7 mm pens give a little lineweight distinction - not that I made good use of it <shrug>. The town name stinks - I didn't leave enough room & it shows.

Sam'thuman standards are looser than ours - we'll say this unimportant crossroads town was done by an apprentice cartographer - yeah, that's it :-).

ChH is a chai house - both tea and some manner of food in an enclosed building. Just Ch would be a chai bar, with perhaps only a bench under trees, or a few convenient logs to sit on. The terminal is an airship mast - the Sam'thumans use tip-up airship masts - that's the little square-and-line symbol. After trying several building blobs, I decided drawing fine-line squares works best with these pens, then coloring in the blocks. I left a few unfilled to show how I did that.

The little number-symbol isn't an actual building outline, it's a church/ temple/ worship place -- many Sam'thumans worship one of a plethora of deities whose names are numbers. Many towns and cities in fact are numbered instead of named, in honor of the locally-prevalent god.

I'm still working out how I'll do tree symbols.

This is only a part of the full sheet I plan to present - this was 8.5"x11" ; I guess I'll need four to six times that much paper to get the effect I want.

### LATEST WIP ###
Perintethibar2.jpg

[ravells]

Ravs- ja, tiny nib, or else just draw it on a whoppin' big sheet of paper :-).

Absolutely! On another map I'm drawing with handwritten labels, I'm using the same nib for bold and light text by writing the bold text smaller and the light text larger and then reducing the size after scanning it. Unfortunately in this comp, that's not allowed, though. I would like to get to the stage where I print out a very light outline of the map, draw in all the labels at once and then just scan them in, getting it done in one shot.

[gwiley]

Nice use of labeling - you use a clear style that works well. The overall balance appeals to me also. I am challenged when it comes to text on a map - so I appreciate your work and skill with pen. You've added in basic scale and direction - just right for the style you are working.
Regards, Gary

[jbgibson]

Thanks, Gary. I used to have a fair calligraphic hand, mumble decades ago ;-)...

Give me your thoughts folks - I'm waffling between the solid banks of forest on the west and distinct outlined stands of trees like on the east, with some sort of symbolic representation of predominant tree types. Sam'thuma is seriously swathed in tree cover, so they care about what species are present.

### LATEST WIP ###

Perintethibar3.jpg

I wouldn't mind making the colors flat, as though printed like on the example Civil War maps, instead of scribbly shaded in. Unfortunately, I've been using non-permanent black ink .... watercolor pencils ? Not a good idea now.

[Lukc]

I would kind of go with the full tree cover, it looks more consistent ... however, the outlines might also work, but I'd make the edges thinner. There, enough zwei-centy for you?

I always love it when I realise I'd like to add something water-based to water-soluble inks ... nothing like *thinking* you've used permanent ink and going for that first wash ...

[gwiley]

Interesting question - consider the relation between habitation and landscape - sharp hard lines or black objects used for human additions. Thus, to my mind, the landscape should be lighter - more vague - background. I would pick the west forest design and keep it throughout the map - the idea being it will be the textured base for the detailed habitations and roads that overlay it. Your river is lightly colored so I would stay with a lightly colored forest area. Especially because you plan to use a good deal of labeling.

Personally, I would avoid single depictions of tree type - they are over size in relation to symbols. And, perhaps, will draw attention away from the focus. Finally, the question we all must ask ourselves: does it add any important information to what I am trying to communicate? Meaning, the emphasis in your map is on habitation pattrens more than setting.

Regards, Gary

Could you use old fashioned colored pencils (broad point)?

[jbgibson]

Yup, Gary -- this seems to be working best with ballpoint green trees and stippling, overlaid with the same generic colored pencils I filled the water with. I tried the trees with the pencil on the W side of this version - looks maybe too muddy to me. Point taken about the lightness being better to avoid competition with the labels - Guess I'll go back and put some labels across that more vague pencil-only section and see how it looks. For now though:

### LATEST WIP ###

Perintethibar5.jpg

Things I feel still need work - if I'm working on this at 2X or 4X 'life size', the marsh symbols are too small, and the dotted casing on the main roads is too close to the solid side. Anybody see other things I can improve?

I need to remember: First the main black linework, then light pencil guidelines for labels, then ink the labels, then erase the guidelines, and lastly fill the forest. I had to be careful not to take out too much green when I removed the guidelines on this try <shrug>.... guess I'll get the layer idea better in mind as I rework this over and again :-).

I've almost made the river too narrow to justify a ferry...

The athletic field next to the airship terminal is annotated for the sports played there - in this case both Triplet and Football (soccer). The terminal is annotated to indicate it does have wireless service - telegraph and telephone service is scanty in backcountry Sam'thuma; radios are rare enough to warrant noting their availability on a map. The little swallowtail flag indicates a public-governance building; both National and Principality flags in Sam'thuma are swallowtailed instead of rectangular.