City of Kingkel

[MistyBeee]

As requested a few days ago, here is some WIP pictures about one of my current commission : the City of Kingkel for Laura Mair.

Kingkel is an important city in Aetherin, a continent that was cartographied by DanielHasenbos here :o)

The city needed to show two distinct areas : the "old town" North of the river, with several poor areas, medieval look, twisted streets, two ranges of old fortifications, etc., and the "new town", South of the river, which is a much modern city with wider and more organized streets and better fortifications.
Streets are slightly oversized (a common trick on Renaissance city maps !) to allow street names later.

I was about to post a cleaner version but had a thought that maybe you would be interested to see the communication with the client too, that includes notes, colored areas defining upcoming drawings (mosty fields, villages and forests), and WIP inserts & text still under discussion. Colored buildings in town are all "special" buildings that can become hospitals, palaces, temples, etc. according to the wishes of the client.

So, as you can see, there is already many work done on the lineart, and I'm now focusing on the countryside areas.
The map is done with Photoshop only, using my beloved Cintiq pro 16 :o)

Kingkel_WIP01_by_MistyBeee.jpg

Some of you saw a very small sampler of a colored version of this map : I colored only a very small part of the city to help my client see where I'm going. I'm not sure if I'll keep color exactly like this later, but it's a first idea though, so here is the current stage + the colored sampler :

Kingkel_WIP02_by_MistyBeee.jpg

Hope you'll enjoy !

[ThomasR]

That is really stunning ! Your work rivals Francesca Baerald's ! Your client is a lucky one.

[Ilanthar]

Wow... That's letting me dreamy, tbh. This is fantastic. Count me among your fans!

[Azélor]

Very nice!

[DanielHasenbos]

Man, this city is truly amazing! It's very nice to see an overview after all the snippets you've shared on instagram. And it's nice to know we worked on the same project (:

[Arkidemis]

I still don't think I've caught up with how much detail you have jammed into the map. Are each and everyone of those buildings drawn individually? It looks spectacular, quickly becoming a fan of you maps since you joined.

[MistyBeee]

I'm super glad to see you appreciate ! :o)

And yes, _each and everyone buildings drawn individually_. To be 100% honest, I must confess two small exceptions : some of the simplest wells are replicate and a very few boats too, I think... but I'm pretty sure I'll redraw them later, since both are annoying me a little and I'm just one of the worst perfectionnist in the world.

Also forgot to tell it's an A3 map and the current preview is around 33% of the real size :o)

[J.Edward]

I'm eager to see this develop.

And I love the full logo in your signature.
That expresses my feelings for map making very well.

[Wingshaw]

This looks phenomenal! This is the first time I've seen your work, but you can definitely now call me an admirer

And as John said, the picture in your signature is very cool.

Welcome to the Guild and please post more of your stuff

Wingshaw

[kacey]

Really magnificent, it seems we all have a new idol to live up to, even you’re instagram page is full of whimsy and you are now officially my very favourite fantasy cartographer in the world...