Hstorical Map of Japan (1603)

[UnstableMapEnthusiast]

Hey all.

I've never posted a WIP thread before, but since this is my first large scale map in a long time (and in a different style than what I'm used to), I thought I'd give it a shot.

Here's the progress, thus far:
jp_map_2.jpg

(Musashi Province in the process of being stippled)

A basic legend would be:

• Blue - Territories of the Ainu
• Violet - Tozama Daimyo
• Green - Fudai Daimyo
• Red - Shinpan Territories
• Black - Bakufu held territories

Now let's list out the issues I can see:

- The first and biggest issue, is that the black and violet look pretty similar on coffee-aged paper, unfortunately. The difference is more evident under different lightings, but in general, I can't use violet anymore. This is a pity, because the list of colours that are available to me is already quite limited (Black, Red, Green, Blue, Brown which far more akin to black, and violet). I'm using Sakura microns.

- The second issue, is the lack of details. I wanted to make a provincial and historical map from the beginning, but as I was demarcating the provinces in the pencil stage, I was worried that marking cities and harbours would make the map too crowded. Of course, historically, maps would have as much detail crammed in as was humanly possible, but I backed out of doing that. What I'm now left with, is a map that neither shows details, nor much in the way of historical context (i.e. I wanted to mark the locations of important battles, or talk about which clan/daimyo owned which province).

- I messed up the third leaf of the Tokugawa Mon (which is going to be the compass rose, eventually).

As for the positives, I'm liking how the stippling in some of the areas is turning out. Do I necessarily recommend making an entire map out of just stippling? .... No, but I do like the aesthetic of it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! Any and all instances of brutal honesty shall be richly rewarded.

Regards,
UME (formerly UGE).