The withered Lands of Markand - C.A.S. inspired regional map

[Abu Lafia]

The Withered Lands of Markand.jpg
Lately, i like to listen to the stories of Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique Cycle while mapping. Here is a pen on paper piece inspired by these stories. Colours and labels made in Gimp.
Hope you enjoy it!
Cheers,
AL

[kacey]

I'm you're biggest fan, can you do anything wrong? I was actually thinking of doing a very similar colour scheme on my unnamed regional wip, and you've just given me even more inspiration to draw from.

Edit - I tried to rep you, but I'm not allowed just yet, so you know the sentiment is there.

[Chris Lewis]

What a beautiful work of art, Abu. I particularly love the angle in which the map is set and how you left the border off the top and left portions of the map, letting the land mass run all the way to the edges. It really works in a most excellent fashion. You are truly a GIMP pro! Looking forward to learning more from your works. Would love to give you some rep as well but need to spread it around I guess.

[ThomasR]

I see you finally dove into the green sea The map is wonderful ! I won't talk about your ever magnificent mountains, the texturing of the land is simple yet works perfectly and I think you do not need to fear the forest anymore, you tackled your beast with a real swagger ! Oh and the border is great too !

Only really tiny nitpick, I'd have put the text on a parchment ornament and I guess something like a compass would have been a nice feature. Last thing, the ocean lacks texturing in my opinion. Compared to the wonders you achieved on the land mass, it seems rushed.

And I'll come back to rep it

[J.Edward]

Looks awesome Abu.
I am quite fond of Smith's work as well.
I ended up buying the 5 volume Collected Fantasies, which is awesome.

I always enjoy your mountains, but the sand and forests here look splendid.
Well done sir, well done.

[Chashio]

That is a beauty, Abu. I would rep you, but I just did elsewhere.

[Wired]

Oh, wonderful composition!

[Mouse]

Beautiful. Beautiful mountains, beautiful colours, beautiful composition... just beautiful

[snodsy]

Cannt rep you yet, but this is an awesome map, love your line work, and textural approach, nice job, I'll come back to rep you! Love to see more from you!

[Abu Lafia]

I'm you're biggest fan, can you do anything wrong? I was actually thinking of doing a very similar colour scheme on my unnamed regional wip, and you've just given me even more inspiration to draw from.

Edit - I tried to rep you, but I'm not allowed just yet, so you know the sentiment is there.

Aw, thank you so much Kacey! Be assured that your wip's have always been a great source of inspiration for me (not only colour wise), so i'm really glad it appeals to you.

What a beautiful work of art, Abu. I particularly love the angle in which the map is set and how you left the border off the top and left portions of the map, letting the land mass run all the way to the edges. It really works in a most excellent fashion. You are truly a GIMP pro! Looking forward to learning more from your works. Would love to give you some rep as well but need to spread it around I guess.

Thanks a lot Chris, i'm experimenting for some time now with this angle and have to say it's the piece i'm the most satisfied with so far. The main part of it was the hand drawing with pen and regarding this, i feel like i'm still "in den Kinderschuhen" (in children's boots) and there's so much to learn from you and others.

I see you finally dove into the green sea The map is wonderful ! I won't talk about your ever magnificent mountains, the texturing of the land is simple yet works perfectly and I think you do not need to fear the forest anymore, you tackled your beast with a real swagger ! Oh and the border is great too !

Only really tiny nitpick, I'd have put the text on a parchment ornament and I guess something like a compass would have been a nice feature. Last thing, the ocean lacks texturing in my opinion. Compared to the wonders you achieved on the land mass, it seems rushed.

And I'll come back to rep it

Haha yes, battle by battle my nemesis is driven back! XD Thanks a lot for the feedback Thomas. The ocean has no own texturing. It's just a plain blueish layer set to multiply above the background parchment. I thought about doing some dotted drawing of the coastal waters too, but feared to mess it all up. I also come more and more to the point to think that not every map needs a compass, especially after my pc crashed just after i finished my last (pretty cool one actually...sniff). I think even more so with iso perspective maps, since for them the compass has to be "iso" too (and there are some absolutely magnificent examples of it!) but in my view this type of compass alters the character of the whole composition and so it really needs to fit in. In this case i thought it wouldn't fit, although i'm really looking forward to do an iso map with a respective compass one day...

Looks awesome Abu.
I am quite fond of Smith's work as well.
I ended up buying the 5 volume Collected Fantasies, which is awesome.

I always enjoy your mountains, but the sand and forests here look splendid.
Well done sir, well done.

Thank you John! Your work is such a great source of inspiration when drawing these types of maps. I have no copy of Smith's books yet, but the 5 volume collection is already on my wish list. Gladly his works are mostly in the public domain,so i can look up some of his rather distinguished vocabulary to translate it while listening. XD I felt my maps look sometimes a bit too empty besides the mountains and forests and this is another step to tie these elements more to the landscape by adding more "filling" details.

That is a beauty, Abu. I would rep you, but I just did elsewhere.

Thanks Chashio, much appreciated! :-)

Oh, wonderful composition!

Thank you Wired, i'm glad you like it!

Beautiful. Beautiful mountains, beautiful colours, beautiful composition... just beautiful

Many, many, many ... just many thanks Mouse! :-D

Cannt rep you yet, but this is an awesome map, love your line work, and textural approach, nice job, I'll come back to rep you! Love to see more from you!

Thanks a lot snodsy, greatly appreciated! I try my best to share more maps in the future, but i think i'll never reach your unbelievable level of high-class-map output. XD


... i knew there'd be problems with too many smileys! §BD