So, over a year and a half on and I've done close to no work on this. I have, however been working on maps that will eventually make the completion of this one a lot easier.
Going back to December 2-years ago, I was trying to get this done to reach the deadline for the first Cartographers Awards, with the hopes of having something impressive to throw into the ring. The map itself was the result of stitching together the many different maps that I had worked on until then, tracing over the variously-scaled component parts to make a cohesive whole. So far so good. The main problem was that I hadn't completed all the regional maps needed to be able to finish off the Inner Sea map, though I decided to carry on.
Needless to say I was never able to finish it in time, and then I carried on working on the regional maps and never really got back to it. I did start working on it again last year, and realised that I had merged all the layers together (basically turning it into a JPG) after saving my work with no back-up, and that kind of put me off starting from scratch. In my experience when that happens I find the best thing is to stop, start something different and then come back to it with a fresh perspective.
I'm now working on the last region needed to finish off the base maps needed to complete this map (if anyone's interested its the top-left part of the map and is a pretty big region.
Once that's done I'm going to carry on working on this map, hopefully getting it ready for this year's Cartographer' Choice awards.
Here is the map so far, reduced from its original 400 dpi to a mere 125 to be able to upload it to the Guild. It's a big one
3 - Inner Sea labels.jpg
Too bad I can't rep again ... Anyway great looking map , it reminds me of the Medieterranean sea and I guess that was the inspiration too .
Have you thought of turning all of the elevation levels you created into a heightmap to turn it all into a possible 3d visualization?
i live right in the middle of the Mediterranean so it's a pretty big inspiration
yes I have though given that each level is a flat colour I'm not quite sure how i can do that. It really is something I'd like to explore as it would be a great way of getting more detail for stuff I've already createdHave you thought of turning all of the elevation levels you created into a heightmap to turn it all into a possible 3d visualization?
You can easily turn all the levels in levels of gray , then add a blur to fade steps and if u want more details you can postprocess in wilbur and PS.. then load it in gis or other softwares .
i live right in the middle of the Mediterranean so it's a pretty big inspiration
yes I have though given that each level is a flat colour I'm not quite sure how i can do that. It really is something I'd like to explore as it would be a great way of getting more detail for stuff I've already createdHave you thought of turning all of the elevation levels you created into a heightmap to turn it all into a possible 3d visualization?
This kind of thing makes me despair of ever producing anything worth looking at! It looks so professional - amazing work.
I don't know if I'll ever understand how you can find the discipline to keep going at this project, but my respect for that stamina is overwhelming. It's interesting seeing this world take shape. I think the coastlines here lack the elegance of your most recent work, but the elevation is as impressive as it has always been.
thanks!
the first year was rough, though once i got into a rhythm I find it comes naturally now. I try to get one a month made, mostly due to the the payouts I get on my patreon page, as patrons mostly expect one a month, though I am sometimes able to get more than this made
Not sure what you mean by the coastline though - it is after all the same coastline that's on all the other maps. Do you mean the shape of the coastline itself or the outline/stroke?