October 2018 Challenge: The Nine Towers of Edemora

[Gidde]

Thanks Shall Teclex & MistyBeee!

No update from last night; all I got done was more color into the border. Tonight I'm hoping to finish that and actually make some progress on the map itself. I'm starting to get nervous about time; busy week ahead.

[Weery]

Great job so far in getting a lot of the features in, feels very natural, too. Nice border as well btw.

[Gidde]

Thanks Weery!

Today was Calligraphy Day lol ... I'm going to number the towers in the actual map, so that I can do my comfiest style with the geography (not enough time to try new styles on top of the rest). So the only calligraphy left to do is that numbering. Posting before and after so you can see the difference between the awful penciled lettering (didn't trust myself to freehand it yet) and what it looks like done with actual calligraphy pens.

Been going back and forth about the compass rose. I have a neat knotwork rose I've been doodling on during meetings. Finally decided that with such a busy border, simpler would be better for the rose so I committed with ink.

Now the only real dilemma I have left is forests. Should I do the simple blobs I have on the volcano island, or the more full forest I have on the main island, do you think?

[Falconius]

Calligraphy and inking are my nemesisii, It's so hard to keep it clean and crisp and avoid the ink absorbing and spreading in unexpected ways.... or to avoid smearing it accidentally. Nicely done. The letter style you used is nice and clean and easy to read, I like it.

[JsinOwl]

Yeah, that style is perfect for a fantasy map.

[ChickPea]

About the forest, I think either style would work, though my personal preference is for the style you have on the mainland. I just like that kind of forest better, though the other type would work perfectly well too.

[Greg]

This is looking real nice Gidde! I wouldn't go near that border with inks myself, or it'd end up as a messy splodge haha!

[Gidde]

@ChickPea: Thanks! I'd been leaning that way myself, so that makes the decision much easier!

@Greg / @JsinOwl: Thanks gentlemen! I'm actually considering posting a tips/tricks with dip pens & ink on how to avoid splotches, etc. Would that be helpful, do you think? There's bunches of stuff about it on the web, but not much of it is specific to mapping.

[JsinOwl]

Absolutely I'd be interested. I think I might even have an old dip pen somewhere.

[Straf]

This is simply marvellous