Lands of Britannia (Ultima IV)

[MistyBeee]

The map itself is spectacular as always, but the corner illustrations knock the piece out of the park. That castle, holy motherf****** heavens! If you'll excuse me, I'm going to stuff my own maps into a shredder, they do not deserve to occupy the same universe as yours...

No, but seriously, this is top-notch, B. I expect no less from you, and yet you still always manage to impress me! The rhumb lines are maybe a little too strong for my taste, but that is kind of a minor nitpick. Always a pleasure to gawk at your work!

Thanks to another commission I had, I'm not afraid anymore with perspective drawing : this castle is probably the first I really enjoyed to draw. Easy and fun. And the other ornaments were a good occasion to practice pure digital painting, visit museums and explore my own house for reference pics. I literally... put my hand on this map
I agree with you regarding the rhumb lines though, but it's partly an effect of the resizing : they're not as strong on the high res version.

Thats awesome! A beautiful nap and imaginative border - oh, and I'd spotted it on your insta! Didn't disappoint.
And now I want to draw a border.

Thanks MMM ! This border was both hell and heaven, but at the end I'm happy with it. Hope the next one I'll draw in that vein will be easier though !

I just commented on DA, but I'll say it again...
This is a gorgeous piece of work.
My favorite location is Vesper, cared for by the Beee. ;P
Every part, every element is so well crafted.

I'm so glad you love it, J. !
Hehe, you're right : this is definitely my corner of the map ^_^

Brilliant and beautiful map, Beee !
The map is a jewel, and the frame and illustrations are the jewelry box .

Aww, don't make me blush !

Ahhhh so happy to finally see the finished piece! It's GORGEOUS of course. The corner illustrations are simply decadent to behold, and I love the treatment of the locations--like the map's being peeled away for a close up. And the banners!! You are not of this world, Beee. Excuse me whilst I retrieve my jaw from the floor.

Aww, thanks Liz' ! The town illustrations were an happy accident (hey Bob !). They were supposed to be smaller but I wasn't happy at all and redrew them bigger : the previous version hadn't this feeling of two maps superposed. It's definitely something I'll explore in future work ^^

Simply wonderful. It brought back some memories for me as well. Wow, it's been a while since I visited that world.

Thanks Jax ! I'm always happy when I have good feedbacks from those who know the universe

Yeah, this map is fabulous.

Thanks so much, Larb ! ^^

I know that world! I was there in the mid 90's. Dawning of a genre. There will never be another game and moment in time like UO. Great job Misty! Did you ever play that game?

Thanks Galendae !
Sadly no, I never played it : video games were not allowed at home when I was a young bee ^^. But I watched what I could find as playthrough, read the game book, read the fandom wiki and got a lot of information from my client as well.
But someone spotted an error coming from Ultima V... uh...

Simply astonishing, the level of careful detail blows me away, Beee. I seem to lack the linguistics to be able to properly describe how I feel about this piece, just stunning!

Thanks a lot, Adfor ! I must say I had the best, best client ever : no deadline, and 100% free to decide for the concept, aesthetic, details... who could ask more ?

[Voolf]

What a beauty Bee. You never disappoint. The castle is splendid. I always have difficult time starting this kind of perspective buildings and so i often give up on those. You whole border ornaments are exquisite with perfect muted colours and shading. Love it
Btw, I always wanted to ask, do you draw the border every time or do you use some kind of patterns? I mean the most edgy part of it. Also do you draw all the miniatures from head, or make sketchup line projection?

[QED42]

Another amazing map of the MistyBee production line!

[ThomasR]

The map is beyond epic but the many ornaments you've added ... they really bring the whole to a really different level of awesomeness ! The paintely style of some elements really reminds me of your watercolors so, nice style transition and I finally realized why I love your rivers so much : they make me think of rosebush or blackberry branches. The nickname "Mistress of maps" is already taken, what would you think of "Goddess of maps" ?

PS : kudos for the calligraphy, something tells me it's not a font (if it is, would you care to share ?)

[arsheesh]

Simply outstanding. Every element in this piece has been crafted with love and care. The border illustrations are exquisite, and the way you have subtly incorporated your own avitar symbol within it is quite clever. This is a map that I will be pouring over for days to come. Thanks for sharing it, and for inspiring us with such a gem.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[MistyBeee]

What a beauty Bee. You never disappoint. The castle is splendid. I always have difficult time starting this kind of perspective buildings and so i often give up on those. You whole border ornaments are exquisite with perfect muted colours and shading. Love it
Btw, I always wanted to ask, do you draw the border every time or do you use some kind of patterns? I mean the most edgy part of it. Also do you draw all the miniatures from head, or make sketchup line projection?

Thanks Voolf !
As told earlier, I got immunized to perspective-fear when I worked on my DarkSouls map : everything looks easy after this hell ^^

I always draw the borders specifically for each map, as I don't like to reuse old patterns. However I don't draw the complete interlacing by hand : I just draw a short section of it which I replicate, and then draw the corners to make sure the interlacing is perfect and unique. However, I often paint the complete light & shading by hand, so it adds some variety in case it's visible the interlacing itself is replicate ^^. By the way, I often try various styles & patterns for a border, and especially for the interlacing. The designs I finally don't keep for a specific map are saved in a file I consult when I need an idea : sometimes, a design which didn't fit a specific map finds a room in another one and saves some time

Regarding the perspective... it's all by hand (or head, if you prefer ^^), both for the 3-points perspective castle & pseudo-isometric miniatures. I don't even know how to use sketchup and am too lazy to learn

Another amazing map of the MistyBee production line!

At your service, sir !

The map is beyond epic but the many ornaments you've added ... they really bring the whole to a really different level of awesomeness ! The paintely style of some elements really reminds me of your watercolors so, nice style transition and I finally realized why I love your rivers so much : they make me think of rosebush or blackberry branches. The nickname "Mistress of maps" is already taken, what would you think of "Goddess of maps" ?

PS : kudos for the calligraphy, something tells me it's not a font (if it is, would you care to share ?)

Well, the least I could say is I would be really happy if I can have some kind of harmony between my maps and watercolors ! Hehe, blackberry branches rivers ? I love that comparison a lot ! But I won't choose my own nickname : I'll probably remain the tiny bee forever in my head, so I let you decide for the rest

For the calligraphy... it's... half a font ? The title is Teutonic n°4, and the labels are that good old IM Fell, but I edited them both and added by hand the calligraphic elements to create the unique typography

Simply outstanding. Every element in this piece has been crafted with love and care. The border illustrations are exquisite, and the way you have subtly incorporated your own avitar symbol within it is quite clever. This is a map that I will be pouring over for days to come. Thanks for sharing it, and for inspiring us with such a gem.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

Thanks so much, Arsheesh !
By the way, there's two coat of arms on the map (if we exclude the 8 virtues), and both are non-related to the lore itself. The top right one with the bee is obviously mine, but the bottom left one was designed for the client, from what he loves : redwood pine with celtic inspired roots, and... running shoes lace ^^

[Voolf]

Thank you veru much for answer. I have no head for border patterns. Always waste hours just to think about some border and never can progress with something original. I lack imagination here.
Your isometric buildings as well as side illustrations of are top-notch art. As Thomas said, you are the Goddess of Maps

[Lars]

Fragglerock me that's beautiful! Both the map itself and the decorations are superb. I love the little depictions of the towns--they all are so nice and cozy--and that sea serpent in the west looks way too pleased with himself. The castle is awesome and strikes a good balance between a pure fairytale look and a more functional, defensive design.

I'm guessing the it should be 'Three Principles' and not 'Tree Principles' in the upper right corner, but the fact that there are tree branches connecting the shields makes me unsure.

[MistyBeee]

Thank you veru much for answer. I have no head for border patterns. Always waste hours just to think about some border and never can progress with something original. I lack imagination here.
Your isometric buildings as well as side illustrations of are top-notch art. As Thomas said, you are the Goddess of Maps

Borders are not easy. Sometime I got the concept easily, sometimes it actually take hours, if not days, to find the idea and adapt it to the map. But it's a part of the process, and it tends to become slightly easier with time. I think. Or... I hope

Fragglerock me that's beautiful! Both the map itself and the decorations are superb. I love the little depictions of the towns--they all are so nice and cozy--and that sea serpent in the west looks way too pleased with himself. The castle is awesome and strikes a good balance between a pure fairytale look and a more functional, defensive design.

I'm guessing the it should be 'Three Principles' and not 'Tree Principles' in the upper right corner, but the fact that there are tree branches connecting the shields makes me unsure.

Haha, my sea monsters are always unable to do their job correctly : no way to draw anything scary or even just serious. Tsss...!
And... ugh... why, why am I always unable to write "three" correctly ? It's definitely a mistake, even if it's... a fun one, for the title of the virtues & principles tree

[- JO -]

A marvel!
First, the map is simply fantastic in detail, with a very special atmosphere! The fact of finding known names in a completely different context contributes well to building this atmosphere! It's a good job.
And then there's the border! What a job! This is excellent, as these elements add content to the map!
And finally, well, well.... obviously, I can't say anything negative either because there's a castle! And how simply beautiful it is!!!!!
I dream of making a 3D model of it, because it is so beautiful and detailed!

Well done...