Haven't Landed on a Name Yet

[kozzie]

I've been touch and go the last few five years as I'm getting into cartography. Mainly thinking about what I want to do and how to do it and looking for the time. I've always been excited about maps and always wanted to do my own. Still thinking about the style of forests and mountains I want to do and will hopefully work on them more this weekend. I lay out my thoughts in Photoshop Elements to see how it would look and then I put pencil to paper. It will be inked in the end.

Idea One.jpg

[JoshStolarz]

As somebody who tends to overthink things to the point I never start...I celebrate you putting pencil to paper! It’s amazing how much you can learn and figure out just from doing. Looks like you’re off to a good start too. I like your jagged coastlines ��.

- Josh

[kozzie]

Added coastlines this morning as well as some mountains. Leaving space around them for map markers I will add later. Still thinking about how I want to do my forests. I've already settled on how I'll do settlements markers.

-Kozz

Map Progress 2.jpg

[kozzie]

Added some more. I like keeping the single trees compared to the big bush style groups. I keep going back and forth about adding more to thicken the areas up but I'm weary of cluttering up the map.

Phase Three.jpg

[Caenwyr]

I like your style! The single trees are a nice departure from what you usually see on this forum, although some have definitely used it to great effect in the past. Yours look equally great!

Your mountains are a bit on the minimalist side, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Your rivers all seem to connect the right way (which is no easy feat, especially for new cartographers!), and your city icons are just wonderful!

If I had to name something that you could improve (and I'm hard-pressed to find anything) it's the fact that your coastlines look as if they're viewed from above, while your mountains and your city icons seem to be viewed from the side. The trick is in drawing your coastlines as if they're squeezed together vertically. I can't say if I get them right all the time, so it's definitely not super easy, and your map looks great even with the top-down coastlines. But if you want to go the extra mile and draw everything from the same viewing angle, you can either eyeball it (which is what I do nowadays) or use the following trick I invented to get the hang of those "side-view coastlines":

1. first create an image where you sketch in the rough shape of the landmasses;
2. Then go ahead and stretch the entire image vertically to, say, 200% (keeping the horizontal scale at 100%);
3. Next create a second layer and drew the coastlines in more detail as if you are viewing them from above;
4. Finally rescale the image to its original dimensions (this would mean scaling down the vertical axis to 50% and keeping the horizontal axis at 100%).

Of course this only works with digital maps, but you get the idea: if you do it that way, you'll end up with coastlines that are squeezed together vertically, while they still follow the same general shape you designed initially. If you then work in your mountains, your icons and your rivers (for which you could do the same exercise if you want them to fit the viewing angle perfectly!), your viewing angle will pretty much match up all over the image!

And here's a rant if you want to go completely overboard with it:

A viewing angle often used in maps, games and technical drawings is the one resulting from the isometric projection. The basic idea is that all 3 of the axes of the object (in this case your map) are foreshortened the same amount, which allows you to just rotate a shape without it ever looking out of place compared to the rest of your composition. You can see the benefits in that! There's a whole bunch of theoretic jibber jabber about the isometric projection, but the only thing you need to know for your coastlines to look perfectly isometric is this: instead of scaling up the vertical dimension 200% as in my earlier example, scale them up exactly 173.19%. Then draw the coastlines (and the rivers if you will), and then rescale the vertical axis down to 57.74% (instead of 50%) to get to the original size again. The long and short of it is, 57.74% is the tangent of 30 degrees, and 30 degrees are all over the place in the isometric projection. Heck, by doing this you could even lay an isometric grid underneath to help you sketch in your different terrain elements and they will all fit perfectly!

That said, the fact that the viewing angle for your coastlines and the other elements don't exactly line up is only a minor issue, and seriously, I've seen plenty of maps that get away with it no problem! So don't feel bad about this map, as it is really a beauty in the making. But if you decide to ever do a digital map, this is definitely worth considering, as it only takes a minute or so, and often to great effect.

[kozzie]

Thank you, Caenwyr.

I've always loved maps and in my exploration I found city icons that I just flat out fell in love with in Abraham Ortelius' "Lutzenburgensis Ducatus Veriss" map of Luxembourg. His river connections are all over the place . The minimalism on the smaller towns was really represented well and the larger cities were a little more elegant. This map is on 11x14" and I will likely recreate it on 18x24" at some point. I also plan to map out towns, cities and points of interest. Some places I seemed to have not left enough room for naming so that will be remembered for the next one.

I've started and erased numerous times on my mountain details. I start and then I'm unsure and erase and then the cycle begins again. Still working on what exactly I like. They will get more detail the more I practice. This is really my first full map I am going to finish as most things over the last half decade have been sketches and ideas.

I plot out a lot of my ideas in Photoshop Elements. I will definitely give the vertical stretch process a try for a visual and try it out on paper to get a feel for it manually.

[kozzie]

Wanted to get some names down before I drew myself too much into a corner...already did in some spots. Looking forward to finishing this one so I can use what I learned for the next.

Map Progress 3.jpg

-Kozz

[kozzie]

It's filling in. I'm finding that "dad time" after everyone goes to bed and before everyone wakes up is the best time to get things done. I've been looking at examples and trying different things for the mountain details and I just find myself doing the same old sketch, erase, repeat. What do you all think of this kind of detail in the close-up mountain view?

Also included the overall view. I did a very basic border and will add detail later and I also did a basic compass rose that I'll try to fancy up at some point. It just doesn't "fit" right now.

-Kozz

Progress 4.jpgProgress 5.jpg

[kozzie]

Added detail to the mountains and hills. I really like how it turned out. Also added some more trees to thicken up some areas, names and some other smaller towns. I'm really liking how my first map is turning out.

Progress.jpg

[kozzie]

For grins I put it in Photoshop and added some color. Thanks, JoshStolarz, I used your free paper textures from your signature. I used a Blue 3399cc layer and set the layer as hue over the 17-Color paper texture and really like how the water turned out. Maybe one day I'll do a map in digital form...

Progress with Color Test.jpg