October 2015 Challenge: The Island in the Sea

[Chick]

A true windrose, using the Aristotle names for the winds ...

### Latest WIP ###
IslandInTheSea 09.jpg

[Chick]

### Latest WIP ###
IslandInTheSea 10.jpg

Comments and critique welcome!

[ChickPea]

I think this map looks fantastic. It's got that elegant simplicity that takes a huge amount of work to achieve.

Only slight nitpick I have is with the decorative elements on the outside border, as I don't feel they always 'merge' as well as they might. For instance, at the top left of the image, on the outside border running down the left hand side (just across from the cartouche) I feel the curve of the ornament could be blended a little better with the border line. The ornament seems to sit on top of the border line in some places, and takes a chunk out of it in others.

There's also a small grey line running across where the borders meet at the top left. Is that deliberate?

These are minor quibbles though. I can't find anything to nitpick on the map itself. It's beautiful.

[Abu Lafia]

A fantastic looking map Chick, very neat! Great job, doing the labelling for the zillion places.

[Chick]

I had actually made the corners a little "off" deliberately, so they weren't all identical, to give it a little more hand-drawn feel, but apparently that is distracting. So ...

### Latest WIP ###
IslandInTheSea 11.jpg

[Chick]

I think this map looks fantastic. It's got that elegant simplicity that takes a huge amount of work to achieve.

Only slight nitpick I have is with the decorative elements on the outside border, as I don't feel they always 'merge' as well as they might. For instance, at the top left of the image, on the outside border running down the left hand side (just across from the cartouche) I feel the curve of the ornament could be blended a little better with the border line. The ornament seems to sit on top of the border line in some places, and takes a chunk out of it in others.

There's also a small grey line running across where the borders meet at the top left. Is that deliberate?

These are minor quibbles though. I can't find anything to nitpick on the map itself. It's beautiful.

A fantastic looking map Chick, very neat! Great job, doing the labelling for the zillion places.

Thank you both for the compliments and the suggestions! Always welcome

[snodsy]

WOW! This is truely awesome!!!!! Your maps just keeps getting better and better. I'd love to get this one framed.

Couple comments. I think the Compass Rose's text is a little large and overpower the compass rose itself. You also might want to put somewhere credit for the illustrations? Not crazy about the outer border blocky-ness, kind of makes it heavy and takes away from the subtle beauty of the rest of the map. Don't mind the floral corners, just the block. Great job. I'll rep if I can.

[J.Edward]

Really solid work here Chick.
You might try for a slightly darker back texture. The background looks blown out - like being over exposed.
I sort of agree with Snodsy on the compass. My thought would be to enlarge the compass some and decrease the size of text a bit.
Another suggestion for visual weight - take the boat by the compass and switch it with the smaller boat down by the mile scale.
Then if you increase the size of the compass the visual weight will balance better.

edit - another option for visual weight and flow would be to move the compass to the bottom right corner, still enlarge it but shift the boats around.
IslandInTheSea 11.jpg

[Chick]

WOW! This is truely awesome!!!!! Your maps just keeps getting better and better. I'd love to get this one framed.

Couple comments. I think the Compass Rose's text is a little large and overpower the compass rose itself. You also might want to put somewhere credit for the illustrations? Not crazy about the outer border blocky-ness, kind of makes it heavy and takes away from the subtle beauty of the rest of the map. Don't mind the floral corners, just the block. Great job. I'll rep if I can.

Really solid work here Chick.
You might try for a slightly darker back texture. The background looks blown out - like being over exposed.
I sort of agree with Snodsy on the compass. My thought would be to enlarge the compass some and decrease the size of text a bit.
Another suggestion for visual weight - take the boat by the compass and switch it with the smaller boat down by the mile scale.
Then if you increase the size of the compass the visual weight will balance better.

edit - another option for visual weight and flow would be to move the compass to the bottom right corner, still enlarge it but shift the boats around.

Thank you both for the praise, and for the ideas! Both of you are too generous with your comments, but it really makes my day brighter!

[Chick]

I've tried to incorporate some of the ideas people have suggested, including a slightly darker parchment, less heavy frame, and shifting the windrose and ships around a bit for better balance. It always seems like the map itself takes X time, then the nits and picks and tweaks and tones take 2X more -- I'm really learning to hate frames

### Latest WIP ###
IslandInTheSea 14.jpg