Against All Flags

[ThomasR]

I had seen those on pinterest and did not realized they were yours (pourtant, l'abeille est un bon indice ...). I love their stern atmosphere !

[MistyBeee]

Very good Mistybee! I absolutely love both of them, and I think they are excellent in their own ways. Inspirational work!
Cheers,
Tainotim

Thanks for the kind words, Tim !!

Beautiful as always, B, both of these. I think you can tell that the second one is a bit older, it doesn't quite have the elegance of your more recent work in terms of the lineart, but it's a cute little map even so. I always enjoy seeing your work.

Thanks Kell ! I love to think I progressed a lot those last years, and it's always fun to look back

Excellent map! I really appreciate the effort to make all the cities to look different!

Thanks Laz' ! Hehe, the author provided the description of every city and I can confirm every single one has its own specificity, culture, inspiration...! I gasped when reading some of them, and spent a couple of hours in my bed, asking to myself "damn, how will I draw that" ? But the answer is always the same : sit and draw

Excellent maps!

Thanks a lot Sapiento !

Hey, that was fast! I didn't have to wait long.
Awesome maps, the first one in particular (I would punch this vandal who disrespect the maps & flags, though ).

At your service !
Haha, you can't imagine how I hate that guy too ! I think damaging the cartouche was the hardest part of the whole project

The kind of map that pushes me to read the book ! Great work !

That's an amazing compliment ! Thanks Jo

[MistyBeee]

So many good French Cartographers, is it something in the water?

Aaaah, that's the question. In the water, the air, the ground... we're still investigating !

Wonderful work Beee, I enjoy the city illustrations a lot!
Edit: oh and congratz for winning the "X-mas Challenge"...and a happy new year and all that

Hey, thanks Abu, and happy New Year too !!

Very cool Beee
I love seeing the two maps together. Being able to zoom in. Love it.
Your progress is visible and fun to see.
You have, at the same time, grown stronger and yet softer and more subtle.
edit - must spread rep. be back.

Hehe, thanks J. ! Isn't it a pleasure to be able to see the progress ? I'm not easily proud of myself and I still have a lot of rooms to improve, but well... it's already better

I had seen those on pinterest and did not realized they were yours (pourtant, l'abeille est un bon indice ...). I love their stern atmosphere !

Stern atmosphere. Yup. It's an official map commisssioned for the EMPIRE (I imagine it in capital lettering, just like the Death speaking in Pratchett ^^), so it needed some kind of official look.
I never knew how my maps always end on Pinterest, as I never posted any of the there, but I'm surprised if you saw the Against all Flags there. The author asked me to keep the map secret until the release of the book, just one week ago, so I never posted it, and I'm pretty sure he didn't either
The mysteries of the Interned, without a doubt !

[Naima]

I love the maps, especially the first, it clearly gives a warm feeling of an old book , when you pause, chill and check the map while reading it.
Btw how you make this nice stripes around coastlines? or shadowing of the mountains? Looks like a printed effect .

[Eilathen]

As all the others already said: wonderful maps! I'm a bit sad that the older map is not in a better resolution, as i'd love to zoom in as well. I love the overall flavor of them and as others said, i really dig those city-icons. A real nice touch!

[DanielHasenbos]

Your maps are excellent, as always, so no surprise there. What stands out to me is how you've done the labels with the white blocks behind them. It's such a clever idea that makes the map text stand out clearly against the beautiful background. I must try that myself sometime!

[MistyBeee]

I love the maps, especially the first, it clearly gives a warm feeling of an old book , when you pause, chill and check the map while reading it.
Btw how you make this nice stripes around coastlines? or shadowing of the mountains? Looks like a printed effect .

I'm glad you love them, Naima !
The stripes are the only thing (with labels of course !) which are not hand made. I used here a Photoshop plugin called Engraver, which is a huge time-saver when it's about drawing ripples along a coastline, but has to be used with caution since it can give a very artificial look.
The mountains shadowing is totally freehand : just a basic hatching + a slight shadow to give more relief

As all the others already said: wonderful maps! I'm a bit sad that the older map is not in a better resolution, as i'd love to zoom in as well. I love the overall flavor of them and as others said, i really dig those city-icons. A real nice touch!

Thanks Eilathen ! Those cities are really popular and I'm always happy when I have the opportunity to draw more of them ^^

Your maps are excellent, as always, so no surprise there. What stands out to me is how you've done the labels with the white blocks behind them. It's such a clever idea that makes the map text stand out clearly against the beautiful background. I must try that myself sometime!

Thanks a lot, Dan !
Glad you love the countries banners. I tend to use them more recently, especially on black/white maps, are they solve the common problem of the labels readability. They're great... util you spot a spelling mistake and have to redraw the thing

[Slylok]

These are a joy to behold. I really like how you did the cities in the first map.

[MistyBeee]

These are a joy to behold. I really like how you did the cities in the first map.

Thanks a lot for the kind words, Slylok ! Always happy to see the success of those cities ^^

[Jaxilon]

Do you actually draw these at 5 x 7 size or do you create them larger and then shrink down? Just curious about your workflow, since working in digital one never knows. These are the kind of maps you want to see in the front of the books you read nicely done once again.