Best of 2015 : the year in review

[snodsy]

Great Idea ChickPea this will be fun to follow. Here are my answers. Hopefully the links work.

1. The Western United States was probably the map I am most proud of. It had a lot of elements I had to work on; mountains, forest, valley, canyon and had so many elements. Got lots of good feedback, especially helpful was Ilanthar comments that helped me solve some transition issues.

http://www.cartographersguild.com/al...chmentid=77986

2. So much talent here it's hard to pick just a few, but the WIP maps by J.Edwards are so inspiring and helpful to see the progression of maps such as SAGEMOUND and his current Challenge as well as anything else he does. Sapiento's POINTS OF LIGHT & HYBORIA, Sarithus CLICHEA, Dain's TANAEPHIS, and Taintotim's CITY OF HILLS were inspirational as well.

http://www.cartographersguild.com/at...5&d=1427994513
http://www.cartographersguild.com/at...3&d=1432040504
http://www.cartographersguild.com/at...9&d=1449696141


3. My best mapping memory this year would be giving my daughter the map I did of her trip to Italy, with her journal postings included.
This has been my first full year doing maps, and I've just learned so much from the members here. Whether is was a way to draw buildings (thanks Larb for Town & Village Tutorial), to basic Forests by WIRED, and all of Djekspeks Fantasy-Maps step by step tutorials. Looking back to the beginning of the year, I can really see the skills I've learned here.

[ChickPea]

Thanks for all the comments, everyone. It's fantastic to know that people are getting so much out of being a part of the Guild, whether it's acquiring commissions or learning new skills, or simply having fun with maps. We've got such a great community here! I'm tweeting everyone's choices to the world.

...but just because I can't remember wich maps were published in this year.. is there in the site a way to see pictures by their published date?

Unfortunately, I don't think there is. We only came up with the idea for this thread a couple of weeks back and there wasn't really time to organise anything. However, if it goes down well (and people seem to like it?) then we'll work towards something bigger and better for next year.

[Diamond]

...is there in the site a way to see pictures by their published date?

What I did was just scan through the Finished Maps threads, looking for ones that jogged my memory. Time consuming, but the best we've got right now.

[Pixie]

The idea with this post is cool! It's fun to write a little retrospective piece on ourselves and also to read on everyone else. And it's awesome for a non-artist hobbyist like myself to see my name mentioned (thank you AzurePlanet! ).

Now, as for the answers.

1.
All my maps concern the world of Maward, so what I am really proud of is how this imaginary world is evolving in my mind and how it unravells in many unfinished maps and series of note taking drafts. Yet, this year I was driven to get a couple of maps done from start to end (by the amazing amount of creativity and positive vibes within this community). I am really pround of both of them, The Abi Valley and An accurate map of Kane and it's very hard to make a choice - since I'm supposed to share only one, I will go with Kane (because the population distribution, in the case of the Abi Valley, is due for revision).

Kane_1720_FINAL(small).jpg


2. This was J.Edward's year! There are a lot of great maps made this year, a great deal of them inspiring, really, and from so many members, but not only J.Edward produced great looking maps he was also often original and a prolific artist. For me, his ESB Overview map is a wonder worth staring at and the most original and accomplished map shared at the guild this year.


3. Lastly, my year... Well, Maward is coming along, I managed to produce a couple of maps I am trully satisfied with and I have so much stuff half done in my laptop - it's exciting. On top of all that, with a huge help from Azelor (he should take much more credit than me, with all honesty), we are close to devise a system to better predict the climates of earth-like imaginary planets. And that IS VERY EXCITING!

[ChickPea]

Thanks for your answers, Pixie, you made some great choices. I love that map of Kane, and want to try something similar myself soon. It's great to hear your projects are progressing and - most importantly - you're full of enthusiasm about them! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next year.

Anyone else want to share their picks of the year? It's too bad we can't generate thumbnails in date order right now. If you're trying to find something and you know the artist, you can go into the Finished Map folder and, at the very top, there's a link to Finished Map thumbnails and you can select by the artists's initial. Unfortunately there's no way to sort by date, but it's a lot of fun to scroll through old maps there.