*** January 2018 Challenge: Fill in the Blanks ***

[Diamond]

A new year, and a dozen challenges ahead of us! This one comes to us courtesy of Chashio who, in this thread suggested:

I had this idea years ago and just remembered it and it was suggested that I post it, so....

Basically everyone starts with the base document... it's blank except for the labels... you have to interpret the map from the label names and draw everything in.

And that's just what we're gonna do. Below are two documents that are completely void of everything but a bunch of labels. There is both a regular JPEG image and a PNG (with a blank background). There are only a couple of rules:

1. You MUST keep and use ALL of the labels on the document. And by labels, I mean the words, not the font.
2. Every label must be in or very close to its starting position.

But here's the fun part: you can resize the labels. You can orient them in different directions if you need to - diagonals, warp, etc. How you do it is completely up to you. If you're using PS or GIMP, you can grab the whole label and change it up. If you're going to print out the document and hand-draw a map, print two copies so you can cut up the labels from one and paste them over to the other in different orientations.

But wait! There's more. You can re-size the entire document if you want. You can completely disregard the font choice I used (which is Roman Antique if anyone's interested) and substitute your own, as long as the new labels follow the two rules above. You can add MORE labels (you just can't delete any of the ones already there). Except for the labels which pretty clearly state what they're marking (seas and mountains), what the others represent is entirely up to you. Your map can be of any genre and be created using any medium.

Just bear in mind that at the end of the month, anyone should be able to take that original base document, lay it on top of your map (taking possible resizing of the document into account of course) and have the two sets of labels match up.

And that's it. Many thanks to Chashio for the idea, and for Mouse and ladiestorm for providing many of the names.

This contest will end on or around the 31st of January, at or around 9PM Pacific Time. I will endeavor to end it on time this month. After that will be three (3) days of voting.

PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO FOLLOW THE USUAL CHALLENGE ENTRY RULES IN ADDITION TO THOSE LISTED ABOVE. THESE ARE:

1) Title your thread: January 2018 Challenge: <<your title would go here>>
2) Use the ### Latest WIP ### tag before EVERY work-in-progress pic you post. I cannot stress this enough. If you do not make use of the tag your entry may not be visible when it comes time to vote. There is a one-click WIP button right up there in the toolbar above the text box when you post. This will be your only warning.

Good luck everyone, and as usual if you have any questions, ask away.

[Mouse]

Oh I love it! Just looking at them I can see that the coastline is going to be a case of join the dots... or should that be join the spaces - between the place names and the ocean names!

[Greg]

I remember seeing this in the suggestions and thinking it was such a cool idea! I'll definitely give it a shot if I can find the time!

[Straf]

This looks quite interesting. I might try to have a go at it.

[DanielHasenbos]

I'm definitely going to try and join this month, this challenge sounds like so much fun!

[GreatWhiteNorth]

Wow this is perfect! I started a map yesterday evening that matches up nearly identically with these labels!

[ChickPea]

I'd love to give this a bash, and I hope I have time.

[loydb]

Great idea!

[Ilanthar]

By ChickPea
I'd love to give this a bash, and I hope I have time.

My thoughts, exactly.

[Falconius]

Where did the labels come from? The Great Silt Sea is from Darksun, but the other stuff some of it also looks familiar.