Exoltica, by l'Arpenteur

[l'Arpenteur]

Interesting... I actually read all the comments before looking at the map. High expectations, and mixed expectations. As a traditional artist myself, I'd say that your description of the rendering style doesn't quite match... it's not exactly a messy oil painting style... it's more like you drew and painted everything digitally, printed it with wet oil paint, dropped it upside down on the ground (or a carpet, or a floor covered in dry paint brushes) and danced on it, haha. But, accuracy of style description aside, I do like the effect more than not. It lends a more intense energy and dynamism to the whole piece than the base style gave it, which is quite fun on its own with its swirly blocks of finely rendered details and design all very much 'inside the lines' - the two effects are quite different but work together nicely on the whole. The vibrant rainbow of colors isn't necessarily what I would have chosen - their separate-ness, on the spectrum of hues and in unblended blocks and against the much more pulled-together border and ocean colors kind of... clashes... like some giant titan stepped on those horrid, squishy teletubby creations... and yet it also works perfectly for this piece. It is obvious, in every mark, detail and choice, that the artist enjoyed working on it. I think it's spectacular and I've already stowed it in my map inspiration folder for later perusal. Even though it's a messed up painting style and not a messy painting style... in places it actually reminds me of the first map I ever painted on canvas and very much makes me want to get back to the easel Well done!

Thank you for your critic! Well, you're right I did not described this rendering effect properly. In fact, I'd love trying my hands at creating a map without any linework, but just brushes. In reality, this is much more difficult to me as cartography in its genre requires to define and simplify... And reducde the information to basic things is really more conveniant through linework than through brushwork...
But as I really wanted to have a oil painting "finish", I figured messing with the final piece with some brush textures could lead to something interesting

[l'Arpenteur]

I have been on this thread several times now and marveled at the map and considered the brushwork. Its a very strong piece with a bold border, bold colours, bold text, and bold brushwork.

So its a bold piece with strong statements and that will always generate strong reactions in all directions.

If there is an issue then I think it is with our site. I can only see the map shrunk to fit the window or one click later and I see it 1:1 with each pixel in all its glory and I have the feeling that the artwork would be best viewed somewhere in between. Now this might be my setup here and looking at this today on a laptop and not a large one at that. Better to download this one and open it in a paint package and pick a better zoom level I think.

This. I just learned this fact by publishing this map. But in the end, I love it. It's nice to see one's artwork can make such vivid reactions and statement. It's interesting