Greyfield to Waterstone (WIP(?))

[ace.lo]

Hello all, medium-ish-term lurker, first time poster!

This is my first map done with real conscious cartography thoughts, and I'd appreciate more eyes and maybe some feedback?

greyfieldtowaterstone7.jpg

Things I've fussed with most recently:
-typing the labels (they look harsh, but this looks kinda cutesy, but it sorta fits the overall, but I'm not sure I want it to...)
-labeling geographic landmarks, and/or more towns
-more/less detail on the mountains
-fancier/less abstract icons for the cities

For potential clarification, I drafted this while thinking of a story I'm crawling along on, and the area is the overall travel of the main character. Purple routes are main trips, dots within mark days of travel.

Overall, I'm not sure it needs more, and not sure it doesn't. Thoughts?

Thanks for reading/looking/posting!

[Robulous]

I guess this is what we'd call a "naive style" but it's a good start I like the coastline that looks pretty convincing.

Not sure what the white lines on the right are, are they contour lines? Having both drawn mountains and heavy contours can be confusing.

"Lans" instead of lands, is that deliberate...?

[Josiah VE]

Welcome to the guild!

Good for a first map! It's probably better than my first maps..
To me the whole thing seems a little bit messy, which I think typing out the names would help a little bit. You could just try cleaning everything up a bit.

Check out the tutorials section as always, and Fantastic Maps for lots of inspiration! Keep it up I say, persist and you will improve!
Hope to see you around.

[ace.lo]

Thanks, both of you!

I'm feeling the messiness, but sort of struggling to do something about it. I feel like right now it sort of leans into what Robulous called the "naive style" in a way that isn't beautiful but is kinda cute, and things between that and a really polished map look awkward to my eye?

I did try typing labels and kind of hate them. Is it the font? It is because not enough stuff is labeled? I agree that everything could be cleaned up, but I don't really know how to go about it. More contrast? More details on the mountains?

greyfieldtowaterstone6.jpg

The white lines are part of the conceit of the fantasy setting -- they're unstable borders, basically areas that don't consistently border anything. I'm thinking maybe label that.

The "Lans" is deliberate. I've been playing with the transition or tension between literal/representative names and abstract/phonetic names in the setting and language (the main character's first language/culture is extremely literal, and he mostly interacts in a much less literal language)

[Elterio Delgard]

Hello AceJo!

I agree that the map needs some cleaning. However, be careful with détails for you are not certain of every détails in your book project. Keep yourself some fluidity. Same will go with your style. I am no expert, but I will share my experience. Me too I am maping for a book project. I started several years ago and my map changed alot, which is normal. However, now I am at the point where some change may impact heavily on my story line, especially because of the distances. So it is always good to progress in same time in your map making and in your novel. I often did alot of maping, then alot of writting, then alot of maping and vice versa. Now I see that my book does not decide everything on my map, and sometimes even my map will make me decide certain things for my book. Work them both and they will influence each other.

For the quality of the drawing, I am pretty sure you will improve your style as your rewrite your book. I like to say that cartography for a novel is a constent redrawing journey. Me as well I am still working on it. If you go on my profile, i have an album where I show 6 versions of my kastosian map, It took me many years, around 8, but that was because I was selftaught (which gave me a unique style but has greatly limited me more than it's Worth) I joined here in order to rediscover the art of cartography. You on the other hand, are Lucky! I am confident that you will be a great cartographer.

[Josiah VE]

I agree, it is kind of cute actually! It's something I like about it. And in that way the drawn labeling works better. I think with the text you've got there it is much to big.

If you're trying for a more polished map at one point you just have to say it's finished, and maybe start from scratch and to another version of it.

Anyway, maybe this cute style is just what you're going for.