# Community Participation > Mapping Challenge Archive >  Mar / April '18 Lite Challenge: The Fantastic Island of Guildia

## nopkin

Hello friends,

I'm pretty much done with the inking, so here's my entry for the challenge. It's called Guildia and it represents the most awesome online community I've even been a part of. By far!

Since this is my largest map to date, I wanted to include most of the people I have interacted with one way or another recently, and then some more.  :Very Happy:  The list was even longer, but upon hitting the 60 labels mark, I thought it's time to stop.  :Very Happy:  The names are unchanged for the most part, hopefully I haven't misspelled anything...

As the paper is nearly A2 in size, I will wait with the scanning and painful stitching until the end. Till then, pictures taken with my phone will have to do. Please forgive the poor quality...

### Latest WIP ###



Questions, comments, suggestions, critiques? I'd love to hear them. Thanks!

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## MapMappingMapped

Promising start! Its amazing how fitting some names can be on a map!
And you don't know how fitting ancient pillars are with me *dreamy look*

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## kacey

This looks great so far!

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## Greason Wolfe

Oh that's nice. I have a cave.  :Smile:  sometimes I wish I did live a cave and other times I feel as if I live in a cave. I most certainly crawled out of a cave! Haha!

Great to see you jumping in on this nopkin. Now if I can just get my entry back on track. Been totally "blah" the last few days.

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## Ottehcnor

I get a lake! That's pretty neat. Ditto on the amazing number of names here that are fitting for a map.

This map is very well done, nopkin. I look forward to seeing the final product!

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## Tonquani

This looks brilliant Nopkin! Good luck with all the scanning...

Can't wait to see the finished product!  :Smile:

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## Bogie

Excellent work Nopkin!  Welcome to the Challenge!
Who knows what strange things can be found in the Bogie Mountains.  For years parents have been threatening their misbehaving children that they will be left on Bogie Mountain if they don't straighten out.  :Wink:

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## Mouse

Ooooo!  I got me a whole treehouse to myself!  :Very Happy: 

Thank you very much  :Very Happy: 

Ahem... Looking good, Nopkin  :Smile:

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## Falconius

Greg's tower was an excellent idea!  I got a whole city to myself.  Pretty nifty.

This is being hand done I take it?  Very clean penmanship so far.  I'm envious.

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## rdanhenry

Today, the R. in R. Dan Henry stands for "river"!

I think Mouse's Treehouse is my favorite piece, though Greg's Tower looks cool, too.

Color next?

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## nopkin

A billion thanks for all the nice comments, everyone!  :Smile: 




> Now if I can just get my entry back on track. Been totally "blah" the last few days.


C'mon, Wolf, get out of that "blah" cave!  :Very Happy:  You have some really nice progress and there's still time, so looking forward to the final version.




> Greg's tower was an excellent idea!  I got a whole city to myself.  Pretty nifty.
> 
> This is being hand done I take it?  Very clean penmanship so far.  I'm envious.


Yes, it's all hand made, thanks! I planned to include more avatars one way or another - and maybe will still do it - but Greg's tower was so easy to integrate into the map that I had to do it right away.




> Today, the R. in R. Dan Henry stands for "river"!
> 
> I think Mouse's Treehouse is my favorite piece, though Greg's Tower looks cool, too.
> 
> Color next?


 :Very Happy:  Fixed. It reads R.DanHenry now  :Very Happy:  Still got to work on the cartouche, ink the compass rose and then it's ready for watercolor.

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## Straf

Wow nice work nopkin. I get a lake. Is it full of ţuica?  :Wink:

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## nopkin

> Wow nice work nopkin. I get a lake. Is it full of ţuica?


LooooL... I don't think so... I'm afraid the three girls around your lake would move away because of the stench  :Very Happy:

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## Greg

Oooh, this is looking very nice Nopkin!

...plus, I have a tower, and tower's are always cool.  :Wink:

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## MistyBeee

The Misty Mountains : the place to be when you're a Beee !  :Smile: 
Feeling honored, Nopkin ! No doubt I'll move there and place my beehives in a vale !

And great start for this map : I love the coastline and the border, and I envy your writing : always difficult on a traditional map.

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## Voolf

Really nice looking illustrations nopkin, great start !

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## nopkin

Thanks, guys! Here's a quick update, before I leave for the Easter break. Inked the compass rose and did the lettering for the cartouche. Watercoloring next week.

### Latest WIP ###

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## aeshnidae

Ooh, I love all the different ships! (I've been on a bit of ship kick lately...which has mostly involved ogling other people's ship drawings.) I'm happy to see that one of them is approaching my island!  :Very Happy: 

This is gorgeous; I'm especially impressed with the calligraphy.

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## Ilanthar

Impressive! I love the icons and I'm also a jealous about your calligraphy.

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## Greason Wolfe

I was just thinking...should it be Cave or Den? Either way this looks to be coming along nicely.

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## MapMappingMapped

Wow! What calligraphy :O

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## Neyasha

Oh, another map in ink! I love it and I'm very looking forward to the watercolors. Your map icons are amazing!
And I got my own lake! Yay!  :Smile:

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## Southern Crane

Really enjoying the hand drawn elements here! Looking awesome

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## Diamond

This is AH MAZE ING.  You must have the steady hands of a Terminator to be able to lay down ink like that.  It's really gorgeous.

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## nopkin

Just a quick thanks to everyone for your nice comments and very kind words. It’s really great to hear that you like it. I’ll be back on Tuesday and can’t wait to start with the watercoloring.

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## Straf

Top notch work on this nopkin. Paste fericit.

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## Bogie

Looking forward to seeing it colored!

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## ThomasR

Decorations, lettering, calligraphy, cartography and icons ... is there no limit to your talent ? The map looks fantastic and I'm really a fan of your icons. And thanks for the mention  :Wink:

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## Tenia

Ouch, another fantastic map from this challenge ! Great icons and I have my river !

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## nopkin

Thanks a lot, everyone! I am humbled by your kind comments...  :Neutral:  I appreciate each and every one of them; they help immensely and keep me motivated to push forward. Thank you!

Here's some progress on the watercoloring front. Again, please forgive the low quality.

### Latest WIP ###

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## Greason Wolfe

Oh! That coloring adds soooo much to this. Great work nopkin.

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## nopkin

> Oh! That coloring adds soooo much to this. Great work nopkin.


Wow, that was quick...  :Very Happy:  Thanks, glad you like it.




> I was just thinking...should it be Cave or Den? Either way this looks to be coming along nicely.


And I think I forgot to reply to this one. Yeah, I think it would have made more sense for it to be a den. Hopefully a cave will suit you too, I don't know how to depict a den...  :Very Happy:

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## Straf

This is just map porn now nopkin. Absolutely beautiful. Foarte frumosa, foarte mult!

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## Greason Wolfe

Cave, den, hole in the ground. Its all good to me, gives me a place to hide.  :Very Happy:

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## ThomasR

WOW ! That's absolutely gorgeous and the compass is a nice touch for this challenge  :Smile:

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## Bogie

Fantastic update, the coloring adds so much goodness.

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## Ilanthar

Yup, the compass is a very good idea!
And those splendid water colors are reminiscent of Lingon's work, well done!

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## aeshnidae

Oooh, what beautiful coloring!

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## nopkin

> Foarte frumosa, foarte mult!


 :Smile:  Thanks! I've been meaning to ask for a while, have you ever been to Romania, or do you have Romanian friends?




> Cave, den, hole in the ground. Its all good to me, gives me a place to hide.


Perfect  :Very Happy: 




> WOW ! That's absolutely gorgeous and the compass is a nice touch for this challenge


Thanks! Good catch.  :Very Happy:  I was wondering whether anyone would notice. By the way, do you know the story of that compass rose, like who did it, was it there from the beginning etc.?




> Fantastic update, the coloring adds so much goodness.


Thanks, Bogie!




> Yup, the compass is a very good idea!
> And those splendid water colors are reminiscent of Lingon's work, well done!


Thank you! I have some of his maps in my inspiration board and I did study the Cradle before starting the coloring. The idea for the water not going all the way to the border came from one of Mike Schley's dungeon maps.




> Oooh, what beautiful coloring!


Thanks, glad you like it.  :Smile:

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## MistyBeee

Yey, it looks awesome with the color, Nopkin !!
(Aww... I'm just totally in love with the title calligraphy...!).

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## Mouse

OMG!

That is just gorgeous!

You've definitely got the watercolour technique all stitched up  :Smile:

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## nopkin

Scanning and stitching went way faster than expected, thanks to Photoshop's Photomerge plugin, which did a perfect job automatically, so here it is, the final version (more or less - I might do some digital adjustments later).

### Winner ###



Please let me know what you think, what you like, what you don't like, how could I improve, what can I do better on the next one... Your feedback and encouragement is invaluable. Thanks!  :Very Happy:

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## kacey

Oh I love it! Gorgeous water as always. I really like that you added some more browns in this one and the hint of red in the compass, its really great... and thanks for the light house its an honour to be included in such a fine map.

Edit... Tried to add rep but it wouldnt let me, so just know that the sentiment is there.

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## ThomasR

It is splendid ! Also, thanks for the photomerge info. Until now, I did all my stitchings with tiny little transformations, automating the process will allow for more large maps.

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## Straf

I think this should be in the dictionary next to 'superlative' as an example. It's a stunningly beautiful piece of work.

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## Ilanthar

It is indeed a "Fantastic Island"  :Smile: !

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## MapMappingMapped

Wow! This map is spectacular!

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## Greason Wolfe

Have to agree with the others, this looks great. I am so Not looking forward to voting because I am gonna feel bad if I don't vote for everyone. Definitely gonna have to hit everyone that I can with my rep twig.  :Smile:

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## nopkin

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Much appreciated.




> I am so Not looking forward to voting because I am gonna feel bad if I don't vote for everyone. Definitely gonna have to hit everyone that I can with my rep twig.


Totally agree on that, I was looking at the thumbnails today and was thinking that it's going to be really really tough. Awesome maps out there, each in its own way.

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## Neyasha

I already liked the map in black and white, but now it is stunningly beautiful! I love how the water looks really watery.

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## Bogie

Absolutely Fantabulous!  Looks great!

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## aeshnidae

Beautiful! This makes me want to learn how to paint for real (rather than digitally, although I want to work on that, too).

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## nopkin

Just wanted to take this opportunity before the thread closes to thank again everyone for your encouragement and support along the way. This map is dedicated to all of you.

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## Mouse

That's a very beautiful colour scheme you have there.  

Well painted  :Smile:

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