# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > General and Miscellaneous Mapping >  Random sketches by Thomas

## ThomasR

Inktober is done (and lasted two month), that's why I'm starting this new thread. Sketching almost daily has been a wonderful experience, that's why I think I'll further it. The pace won't be the same but I'll try to update it often enough. Some sketches will end up in the finished map section after some make up, that's the case in this first batch.

Sketch 1 : an organic cavern drawn with a brush (heavily inspired by J.Edward's dungeons).


Sketch 2 : an underwater temple to work on my local top down skills (there's muuuuch room for progress). It'll be colored when I have some time.


Sketch 3 : back to basics ! I wanted a simple map, in my ballpark to blow of some steam (the knee has been hurting like hell for the past two days). I spent 1h on this one and have already started to give it a more pirate look, not with color but with a simple parchment background and only black and white on overlay layers. It'll end up in the finished maps section because I like it a lot  :Smile: 


Feel free to comment and critic, that's always welcome.

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## fol2dol

J'ai un petit faible pour le 2e mais les 3 sont excellents!
Bravo pour le 1er au pinceau!

_I have a soft spot for the 2nd one but all 3 are excellent!
Congratulations for the 1st one done with a brush!_

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## Ilanthar

Nice maps! The underwater thing isn't fully obvious on the second one, but it's only a matter of color, I think. And I like the general shape of the temple.
The coastal waves of the third one are very effective, and you master this style of map  :Smile: .

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## ChickPea

Lovely work on these, and looking forward to your next batch!  :Smile:

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## ThomasR

> J'ai un petit faible pour le 2e mais les 3 sont excellents!
> Bravo pour le 1er au pinceau!
> 
> _I have a soft spot for the 2nd one but all 3 are excellent!
> Congratulations for the 1st one done with a brush!_


Merci fol2dol  :Smile:  The brush is pretty funny to work with.




> Nice maps! The underwater thing isn't fully obvious on the second one, but it's only a matter of color, I think. And I like the general shape of the temple.
> The coastal waves of the third one are very effective, and you master this style of map .


Merci Julien  :Smile:  The underwater will be made more obvious with color indeed. I plan on using the same technique you're using with the glass roofs on your Guildcity district. Ant the third was a "promenade" indeed  :Very Happy: 




> Lovely work on these, and looking forward to your next batch!


Thanks CP ! The new batch is light but I hop it's tasty  :Smile: 

Sketch 1 with shades added with copics.


Sketch 4 : Another take at those organic dungeons "à la J.Edward" but with thinner lines. Bare and shaded with colics.
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I'd be grateful if some people would be kind enough to comment and critic the shaded versions. I'm learning with this so, do not hesitate to take me to school ... and I know tomorrow is sunday  :Smile:

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## damonjynx

The shading really adds punch and takes a good drawing up a level or two. Good job Thomas.

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## ThomasR

Thanks damonjynx  :Smile:  I'm cooking another cave map at the moment.

In the meantime, here comes ...

Sketch 5 : inspired by the works of Richard Whitters, I drew this simple black and white map keeping in mind I wanted a map for a novel. I wasn't satisfied by the zone between the rift at first but it gave me an idea and the sketch will soon become a finished parchment map drawn, of course, by Hattam Reyes the mad scrivener ! (he's a parchment maniac)


PS : BTW these dots are pretty handy when you have do draw regular stuff but they're 8itchin' hard to remove once you go digital.

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## Ilanthar

Nice! And thanks a lot for the link, I didn't knew him and his work is looking impressive.

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## ThomasR

The guy is art director at WotC, his twitter feed is a goldmine !

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## ThomasR

Here's Sketch 6, still playing with dungeon styles and using copics for shadows and a bit of color.


And a little pit sketching (not map related) as a bonus. I really need to work on stone textures unless you want lichen, I can do lichen.

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## Voolf

Nice sketches Thomas. The blue shade was bit misleading for me at the beginning. I thought i was looking at a river  :Very Happy: .
Love the pit, the texture is more like a wood than stone to me though.

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## - JO -

Nice... I would just say that the riddle in the water are too strong (maybe not in black, or with lower opacity ?)

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## ThomasR

> Nice sketches Thomas. The blue shade was bit misleading for me at the beginning. I thought i was looking at a river .
> Love the pit, the texture is more like a wood than stone to me though.


Thanks Rafal  :Smile:  When you're talking about the blue shade, you're not talking about the vibrant blue pond but the grey (cold 3 and 5 by copic) following the walls ? The "flowing" cavern was something I wanted, like a bowel of the earth. About the wood, you're right, I really gotta work on this  :Smile: 




> Nice... I would just say that the riddle in the water are too strong (maybe not in black, or with lower opacity ?)


Merci Joel. The problem with hand drawn pieces when you're not at ease with pencils is that you go for pens and it's all or nothing but I can, perhaps, see an alternative with dashed lines to give a less full impression. Thanks for pointing that out.

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## Josiah VE

These are really neat Thomas. I love these miscellaneous threads.  :Smile:

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## ThomasR

Thanks Josiah, it's a fun and productive project.

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## Elterio Delgard

Your ravines are great! Now I know how to draw them! Thanks alot!

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## ThomasR

Ravi d'avoir pu t'aider Elterio  :Smile: 

Here comes Sketch 7 :

It's not right yet but I feel I'm getting there. It's still a bit heavy with details in my eyes. I planned it as a cave at first but once shaded (poorly sometimes), it looks more like a canyon to me. I've started coloring it digitally and the black pit might become a lava or a tar pit.

  --  

As always, any comment or critic is welcome.

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## Ilanthar

Very interesting  :Smile: ! I think you're right about the many lines for details. It looks really good with the shading though (and I really like this bluish grey you chose). 
I wonder how it would look with the shading and a bit less secondary lines for the rocks.

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## ThomasR

Thanks Julien  :Smile:  I'll try to go easy on the detailing on the next one. The shading is a combination of copic cold grey 3 and 5.

In the meantime, Sketch 8 : Who said fooling around can't be useful ? Here's a custom gift wrapping paper for my best friends birthday presents (hut a photo for now, I'll edit with a scan later).

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## Greg

Now that's some awesome wrapping paper, Thomas, where can I buy some?  :Wink:

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## - JO -

best wrapping paper ever ! He'll never dare to open his present  :Very Happy:

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## Ilanthar

Fun & pretty!! It may become hard to find a present better than the wrapping paper, though  :Razz: !

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## ThomasR

> Now that's some awesome wrapping paper, Thomas, where can I buy some?


Thanks Greg, I'm sure you can do better  :Wink: 




> best wrapping paper ever ! He'll never dare to open his present


He'll regret it, there are some damn good comic books inside !




> Fun & pretty!! It may become hard to find a present better than the wrapping paper, though !


It's just a way to make an extra personal gift  :Wink: 

I'm a bit tired these days so, I've decided to take the back seat drawing wise and read instead (much catching up to do). It's just a little pause but in the meantime, I've been able to scan the package.

Behold Sketch 8 :



And I know the white lines are way too thick.

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## Blaidd Drwg

With wrapping like that, you could get away with giving people empty boxes  :Wink: 

What's on your to-read pile?

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## ThomasR

Thanks Brian  :Smile:  I've finished the "Cardinal's Blades" trilogy by french author Pierre Pevel and I just picked up my first Ursula K. LeGuin "The wizard of Earthsea". The next book is a mapping book : "Tahalla the city of eagles" by talented Guillaume Tavernier.

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## ThomasR

Sketch 9 : I ordered a bunch of copic multiliners and wanted to try them out, especially the 0.03 mm one. It brings sketching to a new level : The freedom of hand drawn work and the precision of digital (almost). I still gotta work on my dashed strains for the parchment (which means "I gotta study J.Edward's fantastic "coup de crayon" to learn how he achieves such magnificent strokes") but I'm pleased with the result. I scanned it at 600 dpi and I'm almost done turning it into a torn parchment by Hattam Reyes (I've still got sketch 5 to finish in that spirit). I tried to apply the tears and wears to the linework. Here's the 150 dpi version, just cleaned of it's dots.



As always, critics and comments are more than welcome.

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## Blaidd Drwg

Really, really beautiful. Looks like you have the same idea as me: "I gotta study J.Edward's fantastic "coup de crayon" to learn how he achieves such magnificent strokes"  :Wink: 

I saw some of Tavernier's work from that thread you made elsewhere. Brilliant stuff, that. It reminds me a lot of some Franco-Belgian comics I've seen. Particularly "Les Cités Obscures" by Schuiten & Peeters.

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## ThomasR

@ Blaidd : Yeah, Schuiten & Peeters love for cyclopean buildings is bottomless.

Ok, not really a sketch but it will be the canvass to the sketch and sure deserves its own post. A four pieces worn parchment drawn on A3 paper. Long but worth it (thanks copic 0.03 !). I just hope I did not overdo it.

Almost Sketch 10 :


Now the question is, what will I draw on it ... ?

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## Ilanthar

The funny thing is that at first, I didn't see a parchment but a great lake region, like in in the NW of Canada.

It's kinda torn, so, I'd say a treasure or a pirate map ; a map or a plan that has suffered a bit. And it could be fun to wonder what missing informations are in the holes  :Wink: .

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## Blaidd Drwg

> The funny thing is that at first, I didn't see a parchment but a great lake region, like in in the NW of Canada.


So did I! The tears are the map  :Wink:

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## ThomasR

> The funny thing is that at first, I didn't see a parchment but a great lake region, like in in the NW of Canada.
> 
> It's kinda torn, so, I'd say a treasure or a pirate map ; a map or a plan that has suffered a bit. And it could be fun to wonder what missing informations are in the holes .


Yeah, that's certainly because I do my coastal details like I do my wears on the parchments. I may need to change this. Usually I use sea squigglies to tell the two appart. I like the idea though. The background is destined to be used for my fourth Hattam Reyes map (my avatar in J.Edward's "The Ward of Chiezbehrg"). I guess I'll let the pencil run free and then do something with the forms. I'll take my time as I'd like to make a highly detailed map (the perks of working large). In the meantime, I scanned the parchment at 600 dpi, just in case I mess it up  :Smile: 

Here's the result before I shade the tears.





> So did I! The tears are the map


Yeah, it could be fun to draw them as scorched islands surrounded by rivers of lava. I might try this someday ...

PS : I hesitate between hating and loving J.Edward for giving me this torn parchment obsession with his awesome ones ...

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## ThomasR

And a bunch of tests of new drawing tools meant as a study for mountains and line width. I need to get those mountains !

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## MapMappingMapped

Sweet! I really like the one on the first image - the largest drawing there - it's spot on. What are you using for those brush-like lines? er.. a brush?  :Very Happy:  (from what i can see from the third page).
You're trying to get J.Edward style mountains, right?

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## Ilanthar

Wow, it's looking great! Especially the lighter versions.

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## ThomasR

> Sweet! I really like the one on the first image - the largest drawing there - it's spot on. What are you using for those brush-like lines? er.. a brush?  (from what i can see from the third page).
> You're trying to get J.Edward style mountains, right?


Thanks MMM, I'm using a Kuretake soft brush n°13 I recently bought. Great tool ! And I am TOTALLY (desperately ?) trying to replicate John's style ! I'd love to do the linework on my lite challenge entry (and a personal project) in this style.




> Wow, it's looking great! Especially the lighter versions.


Merci Julien  :Smile:  I'm not there yet but I'm at work.

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## ChickPea

I do like that pic with the chasm. It looks great!

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## kacey

These look great Thomas.

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## Voolf

Those are great Thom, especially the chasm.

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## arsheesh

What Chickpea and Voolf said.  Nice ink work.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

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## ThomasR

> I do like that pic with the chasm. It looks great!





> These look great Thomas.





> Those are great Thom, especially the chasm.





> What Chickpea and Voolf said. Nice ink work.
> 
> Cheers,
> -Arsheesh


Thanks all  :Smile:  About the chasm, I printed J.Edward's Divided Lands and tried to replicate the style. He has such a great way of shading things lately. I'm also trying to replicate his mountains style with bad results (I do quite nice cliffs by aiming for mountains chains ...)

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## Wired

You should really try to translate what you did with the mountains and chasm there into your digital works because they look really, _really_ good, Thomas.  :Smile:

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## ThomasR

Thanks Sebastian, I really feel I have to practice more though. They'll appear on my lite challenge map for sure, then, digital  :Wink:

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## jshoer

Looking good, Thomas!  :Smile:

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## ThomasR

> Looking good, Thomas!


Thanks Joseph, your thread is really great !

Here are some more mountains that you can see poorly used in my Bogia map :

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Two random sketches done with a soft brush :

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And finally, I bought a new sketchbook whose format is a bit odd and seized the occasion to try and master the brush a bit more. Drawn with a Kuretake soft brush n°13 over a pencil sketch.



Next : another style of mountains. Stay tuned !

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## ThomasR

While thinking about fonts and labels on my Lite Challenge map, I played a bit with J.Edward's lovely hand writing. As someone who's basically impaired when it comes to hand writing (give a pen to a poney, it'll write way better than me and it doesn't even have fingers) I really enjoyed mimicking this simple yet elegant and full of graphic possibilities lettering. Here are some results :

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## Ilanthar

Nice! I can see J.Edward's influence and it's way better than what a poney could do (they are cheating when no one is looking  :Wink: ).

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## ThomasR

Merci Julien  :Smile:

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## ThomasR

Hi folks,

Just a short post to say I put two torn parchment drawings free for personal use up to download here. If you ever use it, drop me a link to the result, I'd love to see it.

Cheers !

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## ThomasR

I've been posting some maps on Twitter and Instagram lately but hadn't taken the time to scan them properly. It is done, here they come, both at full size :

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Just two little unoriginal maps done to kill some time when at work (watching over pupils taking tests can be pretty boring).

EDIT : I almost forgot ! I've been pretty inspired by J.Edward's work on Instagram (seriously, if you're not following him, you're missing some treats) and wanted to try his pencil sketches. My forest isn't nearly as good as his and my mountains lack consistency (the problem with starting a sketch and going back at it sleep deprived ...) but I'm pretty satisfied with it nonetheless.

Attachment 110907

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## Gidde

The compass rose in the right-hand sketch is awesome! And the mountains don't look all that inconsistent to me  :Smile:  Certainly better than anything I've ever produced in pencil; the eraser is just too darn tempting.

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## Ilanthar

Lathiel is my favourite. Very cool those fantasies in the frame  :Wink:

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## MistyBeee

I really love Lathiel too, but maybe it's just because of the ink vs pencil ^^

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## Texas Jake

I like your mountains, Thomas

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## rdanhenry

I really like the border on Lathiel.

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## ChickPea

Lovely work on both of these.  :Smile:

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## ThomasR

Thanks a lot people  :Smile: 

I know I haven't been very active these last few month but I've been mapping. Large commissions that drive me crazy but allow me to try new stuff and sessions of doodling to blow off some steam or concentrate during work meetings and formations. I've posted some on social media, here they come.

Every comment is welcome, this thread is for my own selfish improvement  :Very Happy: 

A little layout test. As it came out good enough, this one will be end up in the finished map forum ... when I get some free time.


A new mountain style inspired by J.Edward (again) in a finished commission.


Some mountain tests doodles during meetings.
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My soft brush had dried up and I needed to reset the bristles correctly after some cleaning so, a little farm with a terra cotta roof (in my mind).


A little thank you for hitting 250 followers on Instagram (a long overdue Twitter one is in the making and it's a bit more complex).


And finally, a bunch of relief for a huge 27x40" map I'm doing at the moment. I gotta say, it's easy losing focus or motivation on such large pieces so, I guess I've learned my lesson and I'm gonna charge much more next time as a motivation  :Smile: 


More to come but I gotta work before I can go down to them.

Cheers folks ! And thanks for sharing your amazing maps, they inspire and motivate me  :Smile:

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## Abu Lafia

Sir Thomas, i admire your bravery to once again buckle your pen fearlessly and face the evil of neverending greenery... a true paragon!  :Very Happy:  

As i mentioned on twitter before, i absolutely love the sketches and it's great to see you experimenting with these fantastically detailed mountain ridges!  :Smile:  
Btw. I'd love to see the first map beeing fleshed out more. It has a wonderful landshape and the composition with the central ring looks mighty cool already.

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## - JO -

I LOVE your new moutains ! They're gorgeous !!!! Congratulations on practicing so hard ! I see the hard work pays !!!
And now, I can't wait to see your gigantic map !!! Allez, au boulot ! ;-)

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## J.Edward

I agree, the mountains look great. 
I just finished some large maps, so I feel your angst.
I like the choice for the 250.

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## Ilanthar

Already said it, but I'm totally fan of the third row of mountains tests...  :Surprised: 
And a spiky crater in the last set  :Wink: !

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## Kellerica

Oooh, such cool stuff hidden away in this thread I've missed! Looking great, thanks for sharing these. And I'll have to echo JO, those new mountains look absolutely fabulous!

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## ThomasR

> Sir Thomas, i admire your bravery to once again buckle your pen fearlessly and face the evil of neverending greenery... a true paragon!  
> 
> As i mentioned on twitter before, i absolutely love the sketches and it's great to see you experimenting with these fantastically detailed mountain ridges!  
> Btw. I'd love to see the first map beeing fleshed out more. It has a wonderful landshape and the composition with the central ring looks mighty cool already.


Yeah, someone's gotta show those ents they're not the bosses of us  :Wink:  I'm glad you like the mountains, Martin, coming from you, that means a lot ! I gotta work on that map and a handful of others I started but I lost my momentum and the end of the year has been exhausting mapwise and the beginning of 2019 will be alike. I'm eager to finish my current commissions hoping to find time for personal work.




> I LOVE your new moutains ! They're gorgeous !!!! Congratulations on practicing so hard ! I see the hard work pays !!!
> And now, I can't wait to see your gigantic map !!! Allez, au boulot ! ;-)


Merci Joël, glad you like them  :Smile:  The gigantic map will come but, the deadline has been moved from the end of January to "take your time dude, I like what I see" so, it'll come a bit later but will be even better  :Very Happy: 




> I agree, the mountains look great. 
> I just finished some large maps, so I feel your angst.
> I like the choice for the 250.


The fact that you like them while your their main source of inspiration is heartwarming  :Very Happy:  About the poster-size, I really think I won't do it again, it kinda takes the fun out of mapping unless you have tons of time. The next 250 (for twitter will be digital and more in my ball-park style wise.




> Already said it, but I'm totally fan of the third row of mountains tests... 
> And a spiky crater in the last set !


Merci Julien, I like that spiky crater too  :Smile: 





> Oooh, such cool stuff hidden away in this thread I've missed! Looking great, thanks for sharing these. And I'll have to echo JO, those new mountains look absolutely fabulous!


Thanks a lot Kell ! Glad you deem them worthy  :Smile:

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## ThomasR

Some more doodles.

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## Kellerica

I really like the compass and the border on the latter one!

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## Ilanthar

Way better than doodles!!
Love those mountains, and the land shape of the second map (very organic).

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## ThomasR

> I really like the compass and the border on the latter one!


Hehe, hatching can be a meditative state, try it  :Wink: 




> Way better than doodles!!
> Love those mountains, and the land shape of the second map (very organic).


Si t'en reveux, y'en ren'a  :Smile:  If you want more, get some ! (I'll have to use those mountains on a map soon due to many demands  :Smile: )
With this one, I was playing with shapes and I finally used it upside down.

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## ThomasR

Happy Easter to everyone, lets all pour some wine or beer for Ostara.
Heres a little personal offering for a bountyful  Spring in the form of a WIP.

Cheers !

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## Arimel

Happy Easter as well! I like the mountains as always and the Dragon in the egg in the top left is really neat! All in all it is egg-cellent, if you can excuse the pun!

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## ThomasR

Hi fellows,

I'll just drop the load here randomly as I've got a bunch of sketched stuff I have only posted on social media.

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Hop you like those unfinished bits.

Have a nice day !

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## Ilanthar

I'd say it's a good bunch  :Wink: !

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## ThomasR

Merci Julien  :Smile:  

Here comes another batch. The heat has been pretty tough this summer (and it is not finished yet) and this allowed for a bit more doodling as firing up the computer to draw for hours was unthinkable at times.

First, a piece drawn during the first heat wave of the summer based on the big dog constellation for etymological reasons :



Then a little art nouveau experiment :



And some watercolor experiments (with process using masking fluid) ...

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... to color this one :



As usual, any comment and critic is welcome, this is a "growing up" thread  :Smile: 

Cheers !

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## Ilanthar

Those water color experiments are very interesting (I have my palette "sleeping" in a drawer since a veeeerrry long time  :Wink: ).
And I'm obviously looking forward for that "Art Nouveau" map  :Wink: .

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## ThomasR

> Those water color experiments are very interesting (I have my palette "sleeping" in a drawer since a veeeerrry long time ).
> And I'm obviously looking forward for that "Art Nouveau" map .


Merci Julien  :Smile:  The Art Nouveau map style will be used at some point, that's for sure.

In the mean time, some more watercolor tests. Far from perfect but I learned a lot with this one and that's the point. Also, it's a Boredom Country map as it's been designed during work meetings. Hope you enjoy it.


Edit : Sorry for the ugly tablecloth  :Very Happy:

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## Pomb

This is cool ThomasR, I want to get on this water color train, it's really appealing.

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## ThomasR

> This is cool ThomasR, I want to get on this water color train, it's really appealing.


Thanks a lot for the cheering, Pomb, I need it for this kind of exercise as it frightens me a bit  :Smile: 

On another note, here's a little quick one I did for my wife. She teaches Literature and she's gonna have her pupils study excerpts of Robinson Crusoë. She needed a little map (11 x 20 cm) for the kids to place some labels so, I kept it simple but in character with the parchment and rhumbs. The coastline is not consistent with the knowledge of the era but is a contemporary Mercator projection (the reason is not to mess with the Geography teacher's work). It's only coastlines with rhumb lines placed randomly to differentiate land and sea. I couldn't resist having fun with the compass roses.

Here it is. Feel free to use it if you teach anything and need it.



Stay tuned for some poorly thought Mapvember maps in the next weeks.

Cheers !

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## Chashio

Ooh, nice things happening in this thread  :Smile:  I love that you're expanding with the watercolors and such!

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## Mouse

I am so sorry I've missed this thread before now, Thomas!

Gorgeous work all round, and now I find that I must have repped you recently in that recent Lite Challenge, because I can't rep you again now I've found this.

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## ThomasR

> Ooh, nice things happening in this thread  I love that you're expanding with the watercolors and such!


Thanks Kaitlin  :Smile:  I still have to dive more frankly into the traditional media world.




> I am so sorry I've missed this thread before now, Thomas!
> 
> Gorgeous work all round, and now I find that I must have repped you recently in that recent Lite Challenge, because I can't rep you again now I've found this.


Don't be sorry, Sue, it's just a thread to keep track of my doodles and come back to it sometimes. I'm just glad you liked it, thanks  :Smile:

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## ThomasR

Here's a map I drew on A3 cheap watercolor paper with only a 0.1 Windsor&Newton fineliner (just to test that brand - nice feel but the tip dries too quickly).

It started as a map for the Autumn challenge and the deadline went by while I was chipping at some commission work. I decided to finish it and go full traditional with it. I mean no digital at all, hence the minimalistic lettering but at least, I drew all the letters by myself trying to mimic Hector Grimaud's Art Nouveau's lettering for the title (The Archipelago of Autumn).

I plan on adding watercolors before the end of the year but as usual, I'm intimidated by the painting.

Here's the scanned B&W full size map. You can play with it if you fancy it.



Hope you like it.

Cheers !

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## ThomasR

Just a little rough waiting to become a poster because the sketch was too fun to draw.

Sketch-------Rough

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## rdanhenry

Unless you are using "sailor" as a verb, there should be a comma before it.

I really like the sketch compass rose. I hope the finished version of the poster will have the same pattern in the shadows.

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## ThomasR

> Unless you are using "sailor" as a verb, there should be a comma before it.
> 
> I really like the sketch compass rose. I hope the finished version of the poster will have the same pattern in the shadows.


Thanks for the catch, I'll change this. The final version will have a heavily rendered compass and I want to have the curved hatching pattern appear engraved. We'll see if I can do it right  :Smile:

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## Abu Lafia

Hey Thomas, long time no see!  :Smile:  I really dig the watercolour stuff you're sharing here.

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## ThomasR

> Hey Thomas, long time no see!  I really dig the watercolour stuff you're sharing here.


You're way too kind, I've got a lot of progress to make with watercolor. I plan on posting a finished map entirely hand made with watercolor by hte end of hte year, I hope I won't ruin it ... And I have a resolution for next year : taking a drawing/painting class  :Very Happy:

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## ThomasR

Phase one ... now, for once, I'll let it dry long enough not to mess the next step up.

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## Voolf

Your are rocking in this thread. Awesome experiments and you are getting better and better in watercolour. Go go Thom!

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## ThomasR

> Your are rocking in this thread. Awesome experiments and you are getting better and better in watercolour. Go go Thom!


Thanks a lot Rafal  :Smile:  But ... you might be speaking too quickly. Here's a picture of the finished version. The parchment color is too yellow for my state and my brushwork for the other colors is really sloppy (need to learn patience ... and learn how to paint without masks  :Very Happy: ). Anyway, it's done unless I try and add some more dirt near the tears. I'll scan it properly and try a digitally cleaned version as well as an untouched one. Here's the result. I do not hate it and, at least, it taught me some useful stuff (still gotta take some painting/drawing classes).



Critics are oh so welcome  :Smile:

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## arsheesh

Really cool stuff Thomas!  I always get inspired by looking at other artists sketches and these are wonderful.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

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## ThomasR

> Really cool stuff Thomas!  I always get inspired by looking at other artists sketches and these are wonderful.
> 
> Cheers,
> -Arsheesh


Thanks a lot Tad  :Smile:  I'm still hesitating on adding a bit more grit on the edges of the parchment ... might wanna let the week-end pass.

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## ThomasR

And another one (picture only for now, it's a tiny bit too large for my scanner). Still a lot of mistakes but I consider it an improvement from the previous ones (on some points ...). I've bought high quality paper (hear expensive) but I'm not ready to use it yet  :Very Happy: .



If anyone has tips (other than "use a finer brush", this map taught it to me  :Smile: ) I'll take it.

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## Arimel

Looks really good! Watercolor is something I hope I will get to eventually!

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## Ilanthar

I really like your shades of blue for the waters. And I'd say the obvious, you're improving you watercolor skills my friend.

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## ThomasR

> Looks really good! Watercolor is something I hope I will get to eventually!


Thanks  :Smile:  You should try it, it's fun !




> I really like your shades of blue for the waters. And I'd say the obvious, you're improving you watercolor skills my friend.


It is improving but I need guidance  :Very Happy:  Merci Julien and you're right, the effects on the blues are great, I just gotta learn what I'm doing  :Very Happy:

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## ThomasR

Hi folks,

To say the least, I am not as active on the forum as I would like these days. Anyways, here is a little something I did for social media. A client asked me to draw a once hidden part of a map I drew for her last year. Let's lift the veil  :Wink: 



Cheers !

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## Tiana

> Hi folks,
> 
> To say the least, I am not as active on the forum as I would like these days.


Didn't you like, just have kids or something? Life comes first, you do what you must. Thanks for sharing! Was that under snow?

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## ThomasR

> Didn't you like, just have kids or something? Life comes first, you do what you must. Thanks for sharing! Was that under snow?


Héhé, it's close and you're right, life has been pretty intense and cartography is still booming so I had to cut on social media time a bit.

The white part was some kind of fog of war. People from the world (players) don't know what happened in that part of the world and the client wanted this cleared for later in her campaign.

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## Wingshaw

That's a very cool little animation, very well done. Glad to see you've still got time to map.

Wingshaw

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## - JO -

An excellent way of unveiling a map ! Nice animation s

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## ThomasR

A little (advanced) WIP for a map that started planned for B&W, then with a parchment BG and will end up fully colored with bright colors ... The client wants sea themed stuff hence the tentacles and (fever induced) pattern for the border. The compass is supposed to be an actual object on top of the map magically lighting up the rhumb lines. Still needs some work though.

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## - JO -

The colours are going to be one hell of an addition to this already beautiful map! And I'm looking forward to seeing how you're going to solve this compass issue that lights up the navigation lines!

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## Voolf

Lovely compass and border. Very promising. It's good to decided to make it in colour  :Smile:

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## Mouse

I'm thinking the compass might look even better with a few ink lines to bind it in with the rest of the style?

Maybe its just me  :Wink: 

Otherwise a beautiful map  :Smile:

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## ThomasR

> The colours are going to be one hell of an addition to this already beautiful map! And I'm looking forward to seeing how you're going to solve this compass issue that lights up the navigation lines!


Thanks Joel  :Smile:  The commission has been put on hold for the moment but I'm confident I'll find a way.




> Lovely compass and border. Very promising. It's good to decided to make it in colour


Thanks Rafal and yes, I think it's a good idea.




> I'm thinking the compass might look even better with a few ink lines to bind it in with the rest of the style?
> 
> Maybe its just me 
> 
> Otherwise a beautiful map


You are perfectly right Sue, I've added a discreet lowered opacity outline and it solved the problem, thanks for that  :Smile: 

My apologies for the late responses everyone, the last weeks have been busy and stressful. I've barely roamed the forum taking part in no discussion due to a terrible lack of time. With the Covid crisis, I've been teaching from home with a 3 years old who wants her friends and needs a lot of attention to go through the day and a little guy named Basile who is 2 month old and lovely but needs a lot of attention too  :Very Happy: . My personal/couple/rest/quiet work/mapping time is from 9PM to 12pm when I'm not just exhausted these days. You see why I'm a ghost around here.

Still I've managed to draw a bit in these strange times and I've tried toned paper. I've wanted to try it for a long time as it allows to add highlights (contrary to white) and here are the results. The map with the big rose is a mock up of a compass for an upcoming commission (I'll post it in the next few days) that I thought I'd use for a study rather than throw away.

--------

I might try watercolor with this paper when time allows me to.

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts about those.

Cheers !

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## MistyBeee

Aww, strong white on parchment always look so special and magical... ^^
'love that giant compass, Thomas  :Wink:

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## ThomasR

Merci Beee  :Smile:  I designed the compass large and used it as a basis for a commissioned piece. working on toned paper is great but I still gotta use that technique on my favorite sepia backgrounds  :Smile:

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## thepinksalmon

I love the look you can get with white and black on a mid-toned paper. IMO, for this style a little goes a long way on the pure white. Maybe if you worked in some light hatching with the white pencil it would even out the effect some?

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## ThomasR

> I love the look you can get with white and black on a mid-toned paper. IMO, for this style a little goes a long way on the pure white. Maybe if you worked in some light hatching with the white pencil it would even out the effect some?


That's what I originally wanted to do but my pilot ballpoint pen was extra wonky and I've lend all my nibs to a co-worker that hasn't given them back yet so, I've shaken my white ink bottle for 15 minutes for nothing.

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## ThomasR

I'm shamefully absent from the forums these days as the Covid-19 measures have really messed up my mapping (and regular too) schedule but I'm still mapping and will soon be allowed to share some works. In the meantime, my best friend's birthday was a few days ago so, I drew a gift wrapping paper for him  :Smile: 



Cheers !

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## - JO -

As someone said on twitter : best gift wrap ever ! 
I hope he enjoyed the presents too !

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## ThomasR

> As someone said on twitter : best gift wrap ever ! 
> I hope he enjoyed the presents too !


Merci beaucoup Joël  :Smile:

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## Skaald

Hi Thomas ! I really liked your last maps so I put them in my inspiration folder and tried to mimic your style ! If you want to have a look, it's here : https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...225#post436225

It was a pleasure to make !

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## ThomasR

> Hi Thomas ! I really liked your last maps so I put them in my inspiration folder and tried to mimic your style ! If you want to have a look, it's here : https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...225#post436225
> 
> It was a pleasure to make !


Thanks Skaald ! It's a solid map ! Glad to have been of some inspiration. Cheers !

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