# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Town/City Mapping >  Vin Taerynth (WIP)

## Adfor

This is an elaboration of a finished project called the Tavenyar Peninsula. (https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=44051) The project was for the April 2019 challenge to map a pirate theme.

I decided I wanted to create the ancient city of elves as part of an ongoing project to elaborate on my world building project like I've never done it before! I figured with Tavenyar Peninsula solidly in place, I could work up the 2 other cities, Vin Taerynth & Patangli, so those are going to be my focus for awhile, seeings as this is my personal world.



Going to tackle the top portion as it will mostly be trees, and maybe a small suburb.

Critiques always welcome!

Cheers!

IR

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## MistyBeee

Already so promising ! This one will be a pleasure to follow  :Smile: 
I really love the design of the bridge & tower, and your cliffs are perfect. 
It's interesting to see you work with color direcly. Most of us separate linework & coloring steps.

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## Adfor

> Already so promising ! This one will be a pleasure to follow 
> I really love the design of the bridge & tower, and your cliffs are perfect. 
> It's interesting to see you work with color direcly. Most of us separate linework & coloring steps.


Thank you, Beee! I'm glad you like it so far.  :Smile: 
I'm going for an elegant style of architecture, being an elven city. I wanted to get a couple of things down to get a feel for how I wanted them to look, being that most of the building are going to follow that style.
I work with color directly because most of the time I just can't stand to see it without color, so I break down and add them in as I go.  :Razz:

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## Adfor

Got some time yesterday to throw down a little hamlet, probably more houses to come above the river, also started to sketch out the walls, more of that to come!



Cheers!

IR

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## Adfor

Greetings from the rain forests of Pennsylvania!

It's been a long while since I've posted an update on this here city, quite a busy fellow I've been recently.



Now that I have walls and major roads sketched in, I think I'm going to finish with shading on the north region, and then focus on the dock area in the SW portion.

I'd love to know your thoughts on the layout!

Cheers!

IR

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## ThomasR

If it ends up half as good as the first one you did in that style, it'll be awesome. You are courageous to do it in such an unforgiving way, kudos for that !

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## Adfor

> If it ends up half as good as the first one you did in that style, it'll be awesome. You are courageous to do it in such an unforgiving way, kudos for that !


I certainly appreciate the kind kudos! It's progressing slowly, but it's because I'm trying to take great care for the layout.

I'm hoping for a better result than Cuttler's Cove, but that time crunch really brought out the best in my ability, so we'll see!

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## Adfor

Hello fellow cartographers!

Been awhile since I've posted an update, so here goes!



Working on framing in the rivers and lake portion so I can work at the title and get the water colored, let me know what you think!

PS, scanned that a bit too large, lesser DPI next time.  :Razz: 

Cheers!

IR

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## Tenia

Hi Adfor, I love this, I particularly like that you allowed us to zoom into your art, so it is absolutely not too large in my opinion

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## Adfor

Thanks for the rep and motivating words, Tenia! I'll have to keep that in mind, there are going to be many more fine details to peruse going forward, can't wait to get it finished!

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## Adfor

Howdy folks!



Not a huge update, but I got the ships I wanted in place; a swan based ship, and what will be the largest trireme in the elve's fleet, used to police the waters of the lake (still unnamed) that the city sits upon. Now on to finishing the docks, and getting the title in place.

Cheers!

IR

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## Adfor

Salutations!

### Latest WIP ###


Got the title and water colored in! Now on to the fun part, the actual city.  :Very Happy: 

Cheers!

IR

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## vxzf

i like the coloring, it's have a dreamy feeling and it's look really good  :Smile:

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## XCali

Great stuff so far! This is coming along nicely.  :Smile: 

On feedback, I would say give some shadows to the docks to get it to look more like the perspective of the rest of the map. I know its posts is giving a bit of that feeling, but I feel just a bit more added would sell it more. 

Anyway, good job and keep it up, this is going to be a real nice map.  :Wink:

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## Adfor

> i like the coloring, it's have a dreamy feeling and it's look really good


I appreciate the kind words! I mainly use Verethin colored pencils for my coloring.




> Great stuff so far! This is coming along nicely. 
> 
> On feedback, I would say give some shadows to the docks to get it to look more like the perspective of the rest of the map. I know its posts is giving a bit of that feeling, but I feel just a bit more added would sell it more. 
> 
> Anyway, good job and keep it up, this is going to be a real nice map.


I definitely plan on it! I hadn't thought about it for some reason before I posted my update, I'll be sure to make it happen once I finish a portion of a little side project I got started on (will post later  :Wink: ).

Thank you for the motivating kindness, Omri!

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## Lyandra

I like looking at your WIPs. It's really nice to see the way you work. The colours are lovely and I truly admire your patience. I also like that these are drawn in a sketchbook, almost as if some cartographer made them during their journeys.

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## The Lazy One

That's very interesting! The journal blends well!

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## delgondahntelius

Amazing building details. I love the look. Great job and keep up the good work.

Del

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## arsheesh

This is looking great so far.  You've got quite a charming style.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

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## Adfor

> I like looking at your WIPs. It's really nice to see the way you work. The colours are lovely and I truly admire your patience. I also like that these are drawn in a sketchbook, almost as if some cartographer made them during their journeys.


To hear that someone enjoys seeing my work progress is huge for me, very grateful! Patience is putting it lightly, it can be super intensive work just to get a handful of buildings put down sometimes, but being in a 5x7 sketchbook makes it much less daunting.  :Smile: 




> That's very interesting! The journal blends well!


Thank you, Lazy One!




> Amazing building details. I love the look. Great job and keep up the good work.
> 
> Del


Thanks for the motivating words, Delgon! I've put this one down for awhile, and after all of the comments I might have to pick it back up again.  :Smile: 




> This is looking great so far.  You've got quite a charming style.
> 
> Cheers,
> -Arsheesh


It means a lot to hear you say so, Arsheesh!

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## Adfor

Happy holidays everyone!

It's been far too long since I've worked on this little gem and finally mustered up the courage to take it off the back burner.



I wanted to create a bit more variance of colors so I decided on golden tops for the labeled building, with splashes of different colors here and there, also got a bit fancier with some of the bigger buildings to help break up the status quo.

I'll post a scanned picture later, no access to a scanner currently.

Let me know what you think!

Cheers!

IR

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## arsheesh

This is incredibly charming.  The linework is so fanciful and fun.  I particularly like the look of the turrets on that castle.  Looking forward to seeing the finished map.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

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## Adfor

> This is incredibly charming.  The linework is so fanciful and fun.  I particularly like the look of the turrets on that castle.  Looking forward to seeing the finished map.
> 
> Cheers,
> -Arsheesh


Arsheesh you've been a constant supporter since I made my way here, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you for it, thank you so kindly!

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## Azélor

I like the style, it's unique and very fantasy-ish.

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## Adfor

> I like the style, it's unique and very fantasy-ish.


Much appreciated! It was not my intent to be unique, though definitely my intent to be fantasy-ish. I thank you for the lovely indulgence, Azélor!

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## Adfor

3 months since I updated this, yikes!

With all this time on my hands being off work due to current hubbub and such, I got a spark under my behind to get back on this, and progress as been made. Huzzah!



The cherry blossom park was very fun to make, I wanted to go for a vertical garden covered building, but just decided to go with a druid-like monument to fit the bit.

I'd love to know any thoughts or critiques!

IR

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## Eowyn Cwper

These details are absolutely CUTE! I want to hug all of these little buildings aaaaaaaaaaah. ç_ç

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## Yrda

The style is adorable!  :Smile: 
The colors look special, too - very delicate, nice!

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## Adfor

> These details are absolutely CUTE! I want to hug all of these little buildings aaaaaaaaaaah. ç_ç


Your glee makes me happy! Thanks for the admiration, and sorry for the belated reply.




> The style is adorable! 
> The colors look special, too - very delicate, nice!


Hey thanks! I didn't intend for the soft tone of color, but it surely turned out that way, I'm glad you find it pleasing to behold.  :Smile: 

Just a quick update with some more elaborate buildings added. Had a bout of artist's block for awhile, so inevitably other hobbies took over, but I've been feeling inspired as of late...



Those reading this, I hope you are well.

IR

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## Adfor

Speaking of inspired, I think I've gotten more done this week than I have in the past 6 months!

### Latest WIP ###


There's a tree with a face now, he's going to be some kind of fey connection, probably just annoys market-goers and passersby for a bit of fun flavor.

I'm starting to get giddy because this is getting over the hill so to speak, and will continue to be my focus until it's finished, me thinks.

IR

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## Adfor

Hello all,

The excitement has really set in, and with that, unintentional haste, which has caused for some issues here and there, buy nothing noticable. I also had my sepia liner take a dive to the trash can after it started leaking ink all over my hands. Looks like I'll have to order more backups.  :Smile: 

Despite my efforts to work from top left to bottom right, the way the city developed naturally called for the longstanding idea for a floral arrangement to come into play, which in turn allowed for the bottom section and walls to be completed. I wanted to represent a collage of plants from my homeland of the Laurel Highlands, on display from top to bottom are: cattail, white oak, water lily, and trillium. Also got my moniker set in, finally.

Edit: Forgot about the observatory! It was pretty rough to sketch out, and even looks a bit wonky to me (thanks liner on its last leg), but alas, the project must go on.





I'd love to hear any thoughts!

IR

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## Adfor

Hey there, I've been rather busy making progress on this one, and figured I'd stop to throw an update.

### Latest WIP ###


Finished up the outer wall, and some more residences. Also finished one larger building towards the top, a vault named Kaladün's Dias, more often refered to as the Five Tower Diamond, or the Golden Tower. The other, which isn't inked yet, is going to be another inn of sorts, no name yet. Hope you like it.

IR

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## Adfor

Yo!

I've finished the city itself, yay! All that is left is to finish shadowing, which I kind of left half finished as I was progressing because the smudging is always an issue. Also need to create the compass rose, and finish labeling roads/landmarks, and then this will be whisked off to the finished section.



IR

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## Tiana

The results are delightful.

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## Adfor

> The results are delightful.


Thank you Tiana, much appreciated.  :Smile:

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