16th Century Styled Eastern Netherlands [Historical]

[Will Phillips]

Hey guildmates,

It's been a looong time since I've contributed things. I need to rectify that.

While I continue to tinker with my dieselpunk-fantasy Hexingtide world map(s), I've taken a turn in the last few years towards historical interests in the "Golden Age of Cartography" with works by such luminaries as Mercator, Ortelius, Speed, Munster, etc, combined a growing interest in the Dutch Revolt (the late 16th century - early 17th century conflict against Habsburg Spain that would result in an independent Dutch Republic).

So, to represent a crossroads of those two interests, I'm attempting a map of the eastern Netherlands in the late 16th century style of the cartographers of that period.

And to make it even more frustrating for me, I'm eventually going to try this by hand to get the right effect.

But! I'm starting with a digital master reference and synthesizing the locations of coasts, rivers, and landmarks from 6-10 different historical maps from the period to compile everything first before using pencils and then pens to put everything on three 10x14 sheets.

Here's where I stand after my first evening of the cross-referencing and making judgement calls and best guesses about locations. I've got the basic reference of landforms, rivers, and political boundries along with the grid I have plotted on the paper and some rudamentry ornamental elements.

Next step: plotting cities and towns, and then geographical features like bogs and hills.

EasternLC-WIP-01-Linework.jpg

[Tenia]

Looks good, go on !

[Naima]

I think it should be Belgica Orientalis in Latin.

[Will Phillips]

I think it should be Belgica Orientalis in Latin.

Ack! Thanks for the help with the Latin!

[Will Phillips]

Okay, more work on the digital reference. I've went and updated some of the coastlines and rivers to better match the historical sources. Then, I've plotted moors, hills, and woodlands to where they were located on the historical maps.

Later tonight, I'm going to try and cross reference a c. 1540s map from Sebastian Munster of roughly the same area for my cities and towns. I think he's got a nice distribution of them: enough to document the major towns, but not so dense as to make the map unweildy and hard to read.

EasternLC-WIP-02-Geography.jpg

[Will Phillips]

I've now added fifty+ of the most significant cities in the eastern Netherlands and Germand border region. I tell you, the research and comparison work referenccing multiple maps to vet this list and then placing the labels (somehat) accurately was very tedious. But they are there now... at least digitally. I am NOT looking forward to doing this by hand with pen!

I think adding too many more would only make the map overly dense, even though the majority of historical maps would likely add at least double what I've got here... easily.

Tomorrow: Start to filter and decide on language and terminology (e.g. humanist Latin vs German) and maybe do some sketching of the border and title ornamentation.

Would be great if I could start to move to paper this weekend.

EasternLC-WIP-02-LabelsPlaced.jpg

[Will Phillips]

Some more updates from this afternoon.

I've decided on final labels and language - will be going with Latin versus German or French.

So here's the revised labels there:

EasternLC-WIP-04-RevisedLabels.jpg

[Will Phillips]

And then I spent some time trying to get a handle on the late 16th-early 17th century ornamentations before I take things to paper. Still not happy, but I think the basic bones may be good enough digitally for me to work it out via sketching it out on paper.

EasternLC-WIP-06-Test-Frame.jpg

Will start inking the map itself tonight or tomorrow and see if I can get the frame finished up next week.

[QED42]

Wow the change between this post and the previous one is a massive jump forward. Your map is starting to look really awesome!

[Will Phillips]

Okay guys, here's a pretty substantial update. I've not been updating the thread because all my work over the last ten days has been with ink and paper, and now the full map has been inked by hand.

This is the scanned composite of three sheets roughly put together in Photoshop.

I feel I've learned A LOT from down a multi-sheet map - and all by hand, as all my experience so far has been digital projects.

1. If you're using multiple sheets, line and tape them up together, then draw your grid. I did my grids seperately on each individual page, and there are slight variances from page to page.

2. Lettering is a bitch. Wow!

3. Be careful about pressure and angle of your pens. Don't push too hard, and when you see signs of wear, get a new one.

4. Measure, measure, measure... then draw. And think about the implications of your measurements. I thought the top and bottom areas for corner ornamentation were going to be the same, but they weren't: the top had more vertical height which effected the layout. I had to adjust on the fly.

EasternLC-Map-Composite-Grayscale.gif

Now that the inking is done and I have a digital composite, I'm moving on to researching historical coloring patterns and palettes. I'll try my hand at watercolors or an ink wash next week - when I get back from a long Labor Day vacation.