# Community Participation > Mapping Challenge Archive >  November/December 2015 Challenge: Mikscifonia

## xpian

Chashio and I have teamed up for this year's "Challenge a Guilder" challenge. It's exciting to be back in the challenge race, after having to skip many of these months due to other demands.

Here is the intriguing brief I was given, followed by a little clarification after I'd asked a few questions:

*Initial Description:*
"Greyscale or black & white, though color is okay if you want to go that route. 
Terrain and features drawn however you want except top down.
Setting is an island or a valley.
Scale of the setting is mostly similar to Ireland, occasionally larger than Brazil, and, once (due to extreme and extenuating circumstances which I will not detail here) smaller than a breadbox.
It is usually inhabited by things very normal and very peculiar, though it's often hard to tell which is which. There are sometimes monsters.
I don't have any particular labels in mind, so feel free to either leave it blank or have as much fun as possible to bring it to life."

*Supplemental Details:*
"Yes, free to make labels. Quirky, fun, witty, backwards, or long-winded with overall panache is more what I'm thinking of to provide a rich, descriptive personality to the setting.

You don't have to draw up monsters or creatures unless you want to. That was just a prompt to give you a feel for the setting. 

The setting changes size and shape (perhaps a good analogy would be the stock market?) and Ireland is the approximate norm where it balances out so that would work well, but you might consider having more than one scale on the map to illustrate that it changes, and perhaps even different types of scales.

An island would be great. 

If you think top-down would work better to illustrate and describe this setting, go for it, but ... meh. The immediate picture-ability of ISO, etc, often goes a long way. Do what you think best.

Color is fine.

￼Have fun with it and interpret as you like. 

Oh, there is one other thing I forgot to mention. Compasses that point north are pretty rare in this setting, or perhaps a better term is defunct. Due to the changeable nature of the size and shape of the landscape, compass-makers do most of their business with destination-based pieces. They've been trying to make a universal compass but there are certain issues with that conundrum that are tricky to circumvent and a good deal of problems have occurred in the past with black market devices... that I won't detail here."

Therefore, I present: *Mikscifonia*, the mysterious island of troublesome scale.

A coastal outline to start the process:
### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Chashio

Great start, xpian! I love the shapes in the landmass and the title is just right (kind of curious, did you pull inspiration from somewheres for that or ?). I'm really excited to see how you develop this.

----------


## ChickPea

Haha, if nothing else, this wins the most interesting brief!  :Very Happy: 

Looking forward to seeing this land that's occasionally larger than Brazil but also smaller than a breadbox.

----------


## xpian

The name is based on a word in Esperanto. No, I don't speak it...just used Google Translate. :-)

----------


## Chashio

> The name is based on a word in Esperanto. No, I don't speak it...just used Google Translate. :-)


Haha! Very nice.

----------


## xpian

Update.

Laying down some basic mountain ranges.
Putting in some rivers.
Cleaned up lots of the lines.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## arsheesh

Off to a great start xpian.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

----------


## xpian

Update.

Started filling in details on those mountains at the bottom.
Apple Pencil rules.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Ilanthar

You really have your own way to do good mountains. It's looking good so far.

----------


## Chashio

Those mountains look really nice.

----------


## Bogie

Nice mountains, now get some other details on there.

----------


## ChickPea

Echoing the comments about the mountains. They look fantastic! I love how you give the feeling of texture to them, and they'll look amazing when coloured. Looking forward to the next update.

----------


## xpian

Update.

Filling in some of the bigger mountains.
Mountains are fun to draw, and put me in a meditative state.
But it's time to start fleshing out some of the other aspects of the map.
Don't want to spend all of my remaining time on mountains--just showing how they come together.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## arsheesh

That's quite a bit of detail going on there!  I really brings the mountains to life though.  I'm really liking where this is going.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

----------


## xpian

Update.

Adding in basic color and texture for sea and land.
Creating a big desert in the rain shadow of the "southern" mountains.
Experimenting with "grasslands" look that takes advantage of color (I've been doing a lot of pure line-art BW maps lately).
Experimenting with a border treatment...there's one version on one side and a similar but smaller-scale version on the other.
Happy to hear all comments on what is working/not working.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Chashio

For me, I think I like the smaller border best. I'm not sure just by looking at it if I should interpret the southeast region as low grassy hills or forested, but it's a neat look. The colors look nice so far... maybe check that they will work as well in greyscale. That desert is wonderful  :Smile:

----------


## xpian

Update.

Trying out some highlight and shadow on the mountains at the bottom.
Also shading in some of the desert.
Adding in some coniferous forests in the upper reaches -- outlines that need to be filled in.
Plopped down a big, high-altitude glacier in the upper region between the tall mountain ranges.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## snodsy

Man your linework is just amazing, love the Mountains and the drifting sands. Great job!

----------


## xpian

Update.

This a new view, delving into one of the alternate sizes of the island, as described in the Challenge brief from Chashio.
This is a much smaller version of the island, with sea cliffs around much of it that are a few hundred feet high.
This version is just getting started. Lots more detail and color to come. There will be buildings, perhaps a fort, lighthouse, and manor house, as well as gardens and pastureland with trees here and there.
The little harbor is just big enough for a few ships.
There's a big volcano dominating one end of the island...though "big" is relative at this scale. It's actually smaller than most of the mountains you see on the larger version of the island on the previous map.
I'm considering doing an animated GIF or something like that which will alternate between the larger island and the smaller.
At this stage there are multiple theories as to why the island appears at such radically different sizes. Will it be explained, eventually?!

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## ChickPea

This is really interesting and I can't wait to see it all come together. Cliffs and volcano look great.

----------


## xpian

Update.

More work detailing cliffs.
Converted some cliffs into slopes.
Lots more work on the volcano...should probably stop that now.
So much more left to do on both maps.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## tainotim

Awesome work Xpian! This looks like a huge undertaking, I really hope you will have time to finish it. Either during or after the challenge. 

Your mountain style is as always exceptional  :Smile: 

Cheers,
Tainotim

----------


## xpian

Update.

The brief of this challenge from Chashio calls for an unusual, non-standard kind of compass.
There are three directions in the custom, hand-drawn compass you see here:
Spinward, Windward, and Driftward
The smaller version of the island will have the same compass, but set to different directions.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## J.Edward

This is looking really good Chris. The compass looks good and is a good adaptation of Chashio's request.
You're doing really well with that request, which didn't sound like an easy one.
The mountains look really good and that desert is brilliant.  :Very Happy: 
The volcano in the other map is also very cool. This will be fun to watch develop.

----------


## Chashio

This is looking fabulous! I am enjoying all of your interpretations.  :Smile:

----------


## ChickPea

Looking fantastic! Really enjoying these updates.  :Smile:

----------


## snodsy

Looks awesome, love the compass idea. keep it coming!

----------


## xpian

Update.

Experimented with some different ways of doing forests...
And then settled on coloring in the forests that I'd already started.
More forests to come.
Experimenting with tonality of the grassy areas.
Added a title line and put the border all the way around.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Ilanthar

Your linework is really excellent xpian. Not so fan about the colors (most notably the greens). A bit bright to my taste I think.

----------


## Tom

Wonderful lineart Xpian, i could stare to those tiny dots for hours lol, the desert is mesmerizing! as Ilanthar stated above, I would like to see a bit more saturation of colors, anyway great job so far!!!

----------


## Diamond

This is pretty cool so far.  I'm interested to see how you're going to integrate everything into one map.

----------


## xpian

Update.

Filled out more of the lower desert. Starting a higher, colder desert that will be more steppe-like.
Filled in lots of details here and there, including the grayish mountain base color.
Feeling OK about a rolling grassy look.
Working some waves into the ocean.
Small details on some cliffs in map B.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## xpian

Update.

Working on Site Icons for the larger scale map. Combination of isometric/symbolic...it's feeling interesting so far.
Created a plan of paths and buildings for the smaller scale map.
There are a couple of large manor houses with castle-like features, and a ruined castle on an island reached by bridge.
There's a smallish "town" on the road from the main house to the lighthouse on the lower coast.
There's a strange collection of occupied shipwrecks near the lighthouse, the result of bizarre weather that occasionally tosses large ships all the way up the 200' high cliffs.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## ChickPea

I love the general weirdness behind this map and the way you casually mention weather that tosses ships 200' like it's no biggie!! :O

It's looking great and I can't wait to see the final version.

----------


## xpian

Update.

Added some snowy terrain at the top end of the big continent, and working out other terrain looks. Mapping out where to add new forests. Working on making the ocean look better.
Added more walls and details to buildings on the smaller map, as well as some roads and elevation stuff.
Making a more interesting ocean on the smaller map.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## ChickPea

Love how you've done the hills & forests on the bigger continent. They look fantastic. I'm absolutely loving what you're doing here!  :Smile:

----------


## Ilanthar

The ocean is original indeed. It works very well, but not so much at small size (imho).

Oh, and like Diamond, I'm looking forward to see how you'll put them together  :Smile: !

----------


## xpian

Update.

Started adding place names to the large map.
Shaded some more mountains.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## arsheesh

Lovely job on the line-work of this piece xpian, those mountains look great!  Out of curiosity, what's the name of the font you are using for the tokens?  I really dig it.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

----------


## xpian

The icons themselves, I just drew them pixel-by-pixel with the Pencil on the iPad Pro in ProCreate.

The main typeface I'm using throughout the map is Brioso Pro, which has a nice look and comes in many weights and styles.

----------


## snodsy

Beautiful work xpian, love how you did your forests.  

A couple comments on the type - I think the Sea Labels are a little large compared to the rest of the labels. I think the compass is a little large or black maybe tone it down a tad?

Also one of the rules in typography is not to letterspace upper and lower case letter too much. I don't think you have here, but you are at, what I would consider, the maximum that you would want to letterspace. All caps and small caps can be letterspaced as much as you like. Beautiful job.

----------


## xpian

@snodsy - 
Thanks for the feedback!
I'll keep adjusting the size of the labels until they look right. Luckily, I use Styles in Photoshop to control them, so they're easy to change all at once.
I also think the compass might be a little large...I've been wondering exactly how I want to handle it.
Interesting note about the letterspacing...I'll look into that. Thanks for the advice.

----------


## xpian

Update.

Finished putting shading and highlights on all the mountains.
Finished putting text labels on sites, and adjusted some text sizes and positions.
Working on filling in more forests and ground texture, but now switching primary focus to smaller map.
Starting to fill in coloring on smaller map...will add shrubberies and better ground coloring, as well as more ink details to buildings and such.
Will add key and labels to small map, and scale to both maps.
Whipped up an animated GIF to show the maps stacked on top of each other and one fading into the other.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Abu Lafia

Man, the .gif is the icing on the cake of two awesome maps!  :Smile:  I absolutely admire your line(dot-)work and could drool over it for hours. Keep up the great work!

----------


## xpian

@Abu Lafia - thanks!

I forgot to mention that you can now see that the volcano in the smaller map lines up with the volcanic caldera lake in the larger map.

----------


## xpian

Update.

Getting more detail and shading on the smaller map.
Getting a Key, with locations of interest, on the smaller map, as well as creating a scale for both maps.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Chashio

This is absolutely fabulous work xpian. I'm sorry I couldn't complete your challenge.

----------


## xpian

@chashio - It happens, I know. Life is demanding. I do hope you got some good skill practice out of it! Better luck next challenge.

----------


## xpian

Final Update.

Added all the stuffs.
Specifically, some forest on the bigger island.
Also tons of shading on the smaller island. Shadows galore. And lots more details.
Created another animated transition GIF.


### Latest WIP ###

----------


## snodsy

Really nice finish, love the elements you added especially Skull Keeps Ruins, nice job, love the animated gif and the compass moving.

----------

