The Duchies of Afenland, Brand, and Erdenland

[Edward II of Kenland]

Hello everyone, this a continuation of the completed regional maps of the Kingdom of Kenland. These are the duchies of Brand, Afenland, and Erdenland. I have taken the constructive criticisms/suggestions from my last post to heart! Any and all additional criticisms on how I can improve are welcomed! As a note the charges for the coat of arms are from Wappenwiki.

Afenland.jpg

Brand.jpg

Erdenland.jpg

[Bindusara]

(what's follow is only my opinion)
I've got difficulties with these maps : when seeing it, i'm unable reading it at first glance. Villages/Town are all the same size, except one or two cities. But I can't see where are theses major cities : I see roads, many roads, everywhere, linking small villages, and big roads, but in a different color, that we see less than the small one. You've done a big job, but with too many information on the same visual level

In fact, i had the same feeling last week when seeing a XVIIIth century map of Vendée (a part of France) in a museum, where all the farms could be found : too many information, not enough hierachy in this information. I know that ancient maps where like this. It can be a choice.

I think one of the main point for improving is making your brown dots smaller, and the "light blue road" more visible.
You could also increase the size of font for important cities or villages.

[TheRedEpic]

I absolutely love these maps. As a cartographer who is pretty sloppy myself, I always respect other cartographers that can clearly portray masses of information clearly and concisely. The colors are great, and it gives me a nice old-world feel I would like to see you beat it up a bit, but I know that's not your style. Im a sucker for your heraldry, medieval figures, and true to period border designs, something that is rarely done well. Bravo my friend!

[Arimel]

Everything as TheRedEpic said but I would also like to add that the descriptions are really fun as well "repyutatioun for stubbourness". Just great and it clearly proves that the person making this map has had a run in with members of the Duchy of Brand before!
Quick comment on your scale though. To me it seems too small. The larger towns seem to be directly with each other or across a small river. I would have thought that this would create too much competition between them and would probably double or quadruple the scale bar. However, I could just be over estimating the population sizes of the average settlements there.
Really nice overall though and it is impressive to fit so many details and drawings into a single map!

[Bretton]

You're doing an otustanding work here. I just wanted to say I love your maps, the mix between how they're meticulously done and how you deal with aesthetics and ornament. And above all, the exhaustive approach you've taken.

[Marc Moureau]

Very convincing use of the medieval style.

Good job !

[the_man]

I like this style and you've done a good job with the description but i would make the grass more dark.

Can i have the font name please ?

[Ilanthar]

Impressive work!
Easy to read, very informative and a great "authentic" style.

[Edward II of Kenland]

To Bindusara:
Thank you so much for your thoughtful critiques! I am thankful for your understanding as to my chosen style as well. I would definitely agree with you that I could do more to make my towns stand out more, however I felt in order to stick with the older style I wouldn’t do that. I did at one point have smaller dirt roads, but unfortunately due to the size of my project, of which these maps are a very small part of it, it would take me a hundred hours to redo all of the roads in a new style. I do agree though that I could make the towns stand out more. Again, thank you for the critiques, it means something when someone takes time to try and make someone’s work better.

To TheRedEpic:
Thank you very much for the kind compliments! I used the Codex Manasse as inspiration as well as the Maciejowski bible and another 13th c. illustration of the Romance of Alexander! I also want to say that I like your work as well, and it’s always nice to get compliments from the people who do great work as well!

To Arimel:
Thank you Arimel! I imagined the descriptions to have been written by a monk somewhere. I based him a little bit on the 13th c. chronicler Matthew Paris as he had snarky opinions as well. It’s a fun way to add character into a map! About the scale: my small villages probably have about 25-45 households, so averaging about 187 people per settlement, whereas my large villages are from 50-100 households. Anything bigger I classify as a town. I used opendomesday.org as a resource and figured I could roughly double each settlement from the domesday book as the population from 1066-1250ish nearly doubled as my world is around the 2nd half of the 13th century. Given this, is it okay? I can of course just change the average settlement size in my notes still! Thank you for helping with this! Thank you so much for the wonderful comments and critiques! I hope to give you compliments on your future maps!

To Bretton:
Thank you so much! I have more planned in this style coming as a part of my Kenland project!

To Marc Moureau:
Thank you Marc! I tried my best to incorporate the medieval as much as I could! If only I knew how to work with Tempura paints and vellum!

To: The_man
Thank you for the critique! I think I agree with you! I will probably go back and darken it a smidge so it contrasts better! Thanks!
For the towns and villages and the title I used the Vinque font. For the body of the description text I used the Clairvaux font as I felt it mimicked the very close kerning style of manuscripts better! Thank you!

To Ilanthar:
Thank you Ilanthar! I tried my darndest to make it medieval!

[MistyBeee]

A very cool collection, Edward ! I always enjoy your authentic colors for this maps. Very immersive ^^