Map of the Igualian Isles - 2012/2023 Comparison
The Igualian Isles has long aided and abetted the buccaneers of the Etasia Ocean.
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But of course, I can see a difference. In fact, there's a multitude of differences.Originally Posted by The Elderly Cartographer
What do you think? Can you see a difference? Please say, yes...
On the whole, your artistic prowess has become magnified, considerably. That said, you continue to rein in your willingness to explore your imagination in your cartographic renderings. Plus, too, the limited comparison on display above is akin to you robbing yourself. And should you not be served a platter of lashes, for not scanning or photographic your work to a higher resolution?
If all that you want is a pauper's, "Yes," then at the end of the day, what is it that you will have gained? Verily, little more than you had before you pleaded for a response in the affirmative. Thus, allow me, if you will, the pleasure of pouring out a bucket of words, in honor of you disturbing my slumber, as you have.
Now, what should I say, about what it is that you have foisted upon my eyes, summoning me as you have with it?
1. What is this? Hand drawn maps? To draw by hand is a crowning glory of any cartographer brave enough to undertake the artistic risks that associate themselves with such adventures in mapping form. Abandon this path to your own eternal shame!
2. You're proud of that skull, I'd wager - as you should be. Behold! For it towers above the viewscape of this newer map, this cartographic Johnny-come-lately. What a nice visual gem staked atop a wooden something or other. Is that a flag? A pennant? It's a banner of some sort, and a decidedly oversized one, at that. Are you sure that you wouldn't rather just obscure the entirety of the Igualian Isles with it? What in the hell were you thinking? Some strange brew of artistic madness must be taking hold of you. Indeed, it must be, for that would undoubtedly account for your wholesale lack of detail on that flagpole of yours. How is it that you can draw a skeleton, but you can't carve artistic wood?
3. You really should consider investing in a better set of artistic tools. Else, how will I ever be able to make out with precision the lettering of your place names? I'm not as young as I once was, you kn ow - and neither are my eyes! Take pity upon an old man, that I might more easily distinguish your U from your V. Is it Pua Huamoga? I can't be certain. Is that Pua Daluk in the Southwest? Pah!
4. Gray, gray, and more gray. Clearly, the artistic gods of color have forsaken thee. What artistic blasphemy have you committed, for these very same gods to have abandoned you so? Color can be difficult, but gray can be hard on the eyes. I know for a fact that you can work with color. So, what gives? For I have trekked to Yani, the capital of San Vey. And if I can ask? Are you deathly afraid of crafting your cartographic handiworks with the clarity and strong contrast of black and white, it nothing else? Even your mad mixture of black, white, and gray is better than this seeming addiction to the visual evils of the color gray. I feel my visual senses beginning to dull, already. This I lay the blame for squarely at your feet, for I have not been bitten while traipsing through Wolfwere Wood.
5. Ships upon the waters, even sea monsters, enjoying their reflections in the water. Nice visual touches, to be certain. Eye-pleasing visual flourishes, for sure. Yet, is your bag of visual tricks empty, already? Or are you hoarding your skills and your talents away from the eyes of men? Madness, I say!
6. Trying to compare such meager visual portions is to starve the eyes of those attempting such comparisons. You know that your mountains are better. In this, there is no dispute. Yet, have you not even practiced drawing population centers in all of the years that lay between then and now? You should be flogged mightily for your shortcomings, where this is concerned. Yet, we both know the truth, you and I, that you are sandbagging, here. For I have sen the coat of arms of Terramalus (or is that Terramaius?), which persuades me beyond doubt that you are capable of imbuing your maps with detail worth seeing, if you are so inclined, and this demonstrated talent extends past the crafting of terrain details into a map. For have you not charted the Caves of Mombia Dragilis? Did you not have a hand in the building of Montmarrow Castle? The angry East Wind is my witness!
8. Now, at least, you attempt to play with waves, and to bedeck the waters of the sea with sailing routes. It's a shame that all of the forests have been chopped down in the intervening years. What fool allowed such to happen in the artistic realms? Fortunately for you, no one is likely to even notice, eh? Talk about an artistic backslider!
9. Your edging of your land masses has improved, but you won't be walking away with any prizes for it, today. At least, not with what is on display here.
10. Your vertical handiwork with escarpments is more pronounced, but God forbid that you practice the art of deliberate geographic exaggeration more than you seem to be comfortable with. Why such complacency? Do you fear allowing your artistic tools to fly freely across the canvas below? Why so?
A man has to stop somewhere, and so this is where I shall depart you. A final word I visit upon you is this - Your maps should be strewn with details, everywhere the eye looks. Drown the eye in them. Assail us at every turn with them. The objective isn't perfection, but rather, the unleashing of your imagination on a grand and glorious scale. If you will not share the full wonders of your cartographic dreamings, then tell me, 'O Elderly Cartographer, how will we ever be able to gape in wide wonder at them?
