Hand drawn maps

[rdanhenry]

Surely, those are the fabled Stained Lands, where the gods themselves did battle and shed their blood!

[Impractical Cartographer]

Referring to the red ink spill incident.
I went for a walk, took a day off and...

wh1b.jpg

I changed my pens for a nibs Besides, I got offended by the red ink, so I decided not to use it for now.

And the most difficult thing in hand-draw seems to me to be the right choice of the materials. Sometimes the ink does not soak into the paper and smears all over the sheet. I'm replacing the paper and I'm changing the ink. Then sometimes the eraser erases the ink. So I'm changing the erazer (or ink).
Then, when everything goes well, alcoholic markers melt the ink. And so on.

I already have a whole list of things that shouldn't be combined when drawing.

[krahel]

Immaculate work IMO. I'd love to hear more about your process.

[MistyBeee]

Aww, this new version looks amazing, IC ! Who needs red ink when black can be so great ?

The good materials are definitely, definitely hard to find. Mine is very minimal, and because I was unable to find the perfect waterproof/bleedproof/eraserproof ink for the paper I prefer and use the most, I ended with accepting a compromise and now draw almost only with archival fineliners. I try again from time to time, because the quill on paper is such a great feeling, but even if I managed to find inks relatively adapted to my paper, and drying enough to be safe with an eraser (most of the time... >_>), their weak point is when I'm about to add watercolor. Oops ^^

[Caenwyr]

Ok, I'd like to ask you something else.

What do you think about using fantastic or ancient script on maps? Or even an ancient and extinct language? Is atmosphere or readability more important?
Do the next Dragon Mountains really have to be named in English/French/other language? Maybe it's better to use runes? Cuneiform? A forgotten alphabet?

I did an experiment with a foreign alphabet (one that I invented myself) a while back, and while many people liked the alien atmosphere it lent to the map, the most popular remark I got, was that they'd've liked to be able to read it too

[Impractical Cartographer]

Thanks for all your answers. Your comments give me a lot to think about.
But now...
I have an idea that I'd like to realize.
A map of a fantastic world, looking as it was drawn by a cartographer living in that fantastic world.
Not a modern artist. Not an all-knowing creator.

Just a map that could be created and sold in that world.

map-idea.jpg

What do you think of that idea? Any of you have tried this before? You know and can give some examples of such maps? Exept Thorin's map ftrom The Hobbit, of course,

[Falconius]

I'm sure many people have thought of doing something like that. It is actually pretty difficult though. I think there was even a challenge that sort of paralleled that idea here a year or two ago "map like a monster" (or something to that effect) where the challenge was to map the area from the perspective of the denizen living there like orcs or whatever. There are two things to consider, the first is what s the most important information these people are after, for instance in a lot of old maps it was just place names and the order they come in and the relative direction they were in, and of course rivers which were either navigable or represented serious obstruction to travel, but they didn't care so much about distances or exact geographic locations, sort of like subway maps. This most clearly demonstrated by how often the maps conformed to the page to the page making Britain into a rectangle-ish shape for instance. The second consideration is that people making the maps wanted to do the best job they could the most professional manner they could.

[Ilanthar]

This version of the Old World is looking awesome, already.

As for your question... I'm kinda working on a commission that follow this idea. And it's quite a challenge .

[Impractical Cartographer]

Sometimes fantasy maps cause me a ludonarrative dissonance. Especially those that look like satellite images

Work in progress.

wh3.jpg

I'm drawing this map for practice. But I'm thinking of preparing something bigger in the future.
Some kind of practical map. Maybe map of stagecoach routes - with stops, inns, travel times, etc. A map that gamers could normally use while playing. without any ludonarrative dissonance

[Styescape]

I searched my RPG stuff for any maps meeting your criteria and just found one, coming from a fanproject for the german rpg "Das Schwarze Auge": Windhag

It seems the designer had ideas similiar to yours. Your styles/concepts are fairly close.