# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Town/City Mapping >  45-Degree Japanese City Map

## The Elderly Cartographer

One of my current projects is a Japanese-style city map. It took me a while to pick a map style; I tried floor plan, and overhead with 45-degree elements, but settled on bird's eye view map/illustration.
Helpful criticism is welcome.





Some inspiration from random sources:

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## eViLe_eAgLe

Looks good so far. If you need any other references, here are two from my most recent trip to Japan, of Kanazawa Castle.

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## Redrobes

Nice map. I also like your wood sword and blaster.

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## The Elderly Cartographer

Thank you, eViLe_eAgLe.
Those are some good shots, I will definitely use those.
I love dioramas like that, I could stare at them forever. A map is worth a thousand words, and a diorama is worth ten-thousand.  :Smile: 


Thank you, Redrobes.
I am glad you like them!


Sincerely,
       Josiah Yarbrough

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## Josiah VE

Hey! Another Josiah. I don't run into those very often  :Smile:  
I love your perspective work. I was just listening to a podcast about Japanese history, so it is interesting to see a Japan-inspired map.
I'm looking forward to seeing this progress

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## The Elderly Cartographer

Thank you, Josiah VE.
Apparently, it is a name for the brave and the few!  :Very Happy: 

I will be posting the latest progress, presently.

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## The Elderly Cartographer

Hello everyone.
Here is the latest progress. I have added some multi-levels and walls, which seems to be common in Japanese cities. And a market-like strip in the right side.
I am playing with the idea of fading out the details toward the back of the city, on account that it might be to minute to draw/see.



Sincerely,
      Josiah Yarbrough

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## Tiana

I love it, it's a great sketch with a very attractive energy to it.

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## The Elderly Cartographer

Thanks, Tiana!  :Smile:

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## The Elderly Cartographer

Hello, again.
This is the latest, and probably the last, progress post.
From here, I will add a title-box and clean up the lines and such.




What do yall think about having the title-box larger and in the background?
Something like this:

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## Tiana

I like that concept for a title box.

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## The Elderly Cartographer

Here it is, the final piece.

Any suggestions before I finalize it?

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## Adfor

Superb! I love how the larger buildings are elevated upon pyramid style structures, and your pencil work is great! Are you going to color this beauty?

Cheers!

IR

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## Tiana

I like the addition of the flag.

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## The Elderly Cartographer

Thank you, Adfor.
I borrowed the idea of the elevated palaces, from the reference images of the Himeji Castle. It seem most of the Japanese castles were on tall brick foundations.
Like this one:


As for coloring, I probably should. I fear it because my color pencil skills are lacking, and it takes me too long when using GIMP.  :Very Happy: 
It seems, leastwise to me, that the most attractive and engaging maps are normally colored. So that should be my next goal... wish my luck!

Tiana,
Originally, I was going to merge the flag and the title-box. But the flag would have to be huge to fit the text in, plus it would obscure the design of the flag. So I separated them.

Sincerely,
         Josiah

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## The Elderly Cartographer

Finita!
Here is the color and grey-scaled versions of my map. Technically, colorizing it wasn't near so hard, as I thought. I did learn that, I had to spray a fixative on it, otherwise the color pencils worked like a blender and smeared the graphite.





Thank all of you for your co-operation, encouragement, and suggestions.

And thank you, Tiana, for the reputation. I just saw the notification a few days ago.  :Smile: 

Sincerely,
     Josiah Yarbrough

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