# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > General and Miscellaneous Mapping >  Six maps open for critics and comments :)

## Elterio Delgard

Thanks for those who have commented my maps so far, actually it gave me the following idea, to post six of my maps in order so you can:
1-see the general shape of my continent.
2-see if I have things that would need to be changed.
3-give you a little introduction of my plans with those maps.

**Oh and these are not the latest versions**

----------


## Josiah VE

Very, VERY cool. I will take a closer look later, but I think what would be nice for ease of viewing is if you merged the images together.
Great stuff!

----------


## Elterio Delgard

I already have things changed, and other things I WILL change (thanks for those commented my previous maps).
-First of all the map to the north east has a river that divides in two and rejoins later on, that is not normal I believe but I will keep it for some reasons. However, it happens on other maps and there I will remove the split and joining again.
-I was already told that some of my lakes and rivers split in an unnatural way (you may see it on the north west or also one in the North east with a star right between the lake and the mountains) I will be working on it on my actual redrawing.
A friend of mine told me that my swamps have sometimes to many akward rivers in them, I admit that often with swamps I just put rivers to make it look like wet and humid. I think my biggest mistake was on the center north map where you have a swamp surrounded by mountains with a lake that looks like a mutant octopus X.x
-Now, concerning the two looooooong mountains chains that are pretty much dividing in an akward way the South west map... I suppose it really does not look natural does it? 
-Still on the South west map, I know there is like a swirl with mountains where the two long chains diverge the most, even in my story it is not a normal geographical feature. Was made by the Dark Emperor.

Whew... As a summary, I guess I must work on :
1-Having a more logical hydrography
2-Not overdoing the rivers in swamp

----------


## Elterio Delgard

> Very, VERY cool. I will take a closer look later, but I think what would be nice for ease of viewing is if you merged the images together.
> Great stuff!


Oula... Not so good on comps sadly  :Question:  Also I think therewould be some inequalities because of the scanning. Will try though.

----------


## J.Edward

One problem I had was in determining where was water and where was land.
Looking at the larger image of six it's a bit easier to tell. But when I click on one image and see it, it's harder to tell.
Some detail to denote water would be helpful.
Overall, I like the land shapes. It looks good.  :Smile:

----------


## Elterio Delgard

> One problem I had was in determining where was water and where was land.
> Looking at the larger image of six it's a bit easier to tell. But when I click on one image and see it, it's harder to tell.
> Some detail to denote water would be helpful.
> Overall, I like the land shapes. It looks good.


Great thanks! Already working on that.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Okay here it is, and merged. I put some notes to on what I should change and what I should add.

----------


## Josiah VE

Yeah, the merged is much better!

It's amazing how giant it is, you have some serious dedication! Are you going to label anything eventually?

A lot of the notes I think would be fine to leave how they are..

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Thanks Josiah!

For the labeling eh... hehehe... x.X That is hardest part for me but I DID label two of my maps.

----------


## Josiah VE

What do you find hard about labeling?

I like the labeling you got there, adds an extra level of depth. 
What crazy names!  :Wink:

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Thanks!

The hard part is to be able to have a different labeling system with each society, same goes with giving names to the characters.  For exemple, the Kastosian map is just random names. The Assionian Empire, I did a little bit of linguistic (Areth means land, earth). For the Ustringald Republic, I forgot... For the Nalohosians, I took name of cities in England and changed them a bit. 
I want people to notice that the labeling changes with the civilization.

Oh, and for your info, my 3x2 map is but half of it. Right now it's 4x3, but the image is 15Mb so I cannot post it.

----------


## Josiah VE

> Thanks!
> 
> The hard part is to be able to have a different labeling system with each society, same goes with giving names to the characters.  For exemple, the Kastosian map is just random names. The Assionian Empire, I did a little bit of linguistic (Areth means land, earth). For the Ustringald Republic, I forgot... For the Nalohosians, I took name of cities in England and changed them a bit. 
> I want people to notice that the labeling changes with the civilization.
> 
> Oh, and for your info, my 3x2 map is but half of it. Right now it's 4x3, but the image is 15Mb so I cannot post it.


Interesting! In future maps I'd like to put more into my names.

If you export the images as a JPG you can tone down the quality and it cuts the size a lot.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

It was 15Mb with JPG and it's 8,5Mb with GIF

----------


## johnvanvliet

a gif is the 1980's 8 bit indexed format 
with ONLY 255 tones and 1 tone as the alpha indexed tone 
it is small in KiB. 
 well images needed to be in the 1980's and 90's when  using dial up at 1 k /sec on average 

a jpg is a 3 layer 8 bits per layer and there for 66% bigger before the lzm gif or lousy jpg compression

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Well now this is my whole world so far. I have already redrawn four of them and ... well the fifth one if giving me a headache...

----------


## Elterio Delgard

More precisely, this is the map I am redrawing.

I have a hard time justifying such big lakes, and also why some rivers come from so far into them. I tryed to add some mountains, make some dépressions and ARGH! At least now I know it was made by the melting of an Ice cap, but that brings me but a few step further only from the start point.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Oh and! If anyone thinks I should have more diversity in geographical features, don't hesitate to point it out and I am quite open also for critics concerning my drawing style.

----------


## Josiah VE

I'm still in awe at the sheer size of this, it's truly epic.

It must take a lot of determination to do those forests like that.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

> I'm still in awe at the sheer size of this, it's truly epic.
> 
> It must take a lot of determination to do those forests like that.


Having to draw  on several pages helps me to avoid squareness to a certain extent. As for the forests, aye, they are quite boring after a while. But the mountains too require alot of time.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Well, here is the map I am redrawing for the fifth time 
It is the first time I post a work in progress.

----------


## Josiah VE

That's a lot of mountains...  :Very Happy:

----------


## Elterio Delgard

> That's a lot of mountains...


By the smiley I guess you like it? Well I don't! THE PICTURE IS UPSIDE DOWN  Gah... I forgot that when I post or send a picture from my Ipad it's always upside down....

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Well, I have my huge lakes now, or the Kastosian version of the Great Lakes of Canada lol.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Sorry again for the turned picture. Will change that later when I have time. I would like to know though what you think of my drawing style, if you think I should change something or add some détails and all.
Don't worry, I am already thinking of doing another version of my world once this one is done (yes I am a madman x.x). Sooner or later I will be starting two new threads. 
1-Espaltorado: I have four maps of another continent that I will be working on soon (still have not finished the first version though)
2-Eyassendil Sea: Will be a smaller part of my evozen continent but I will be going in depth, talking of demography, of the different civilizations and their ideology and religious beliefs. Will also have alot of description on my main Empire, the Empire of Kastos of which I will be describing their history, their technology, their glory and bad behaviour as well. So far I have not talked really about my story so if you are interested stay alert for new posts from me  :Very Happy: .

----------


## Elterio Delgard

So here is an update and a correction of the flipped photo.... Still not done but almost. You will see on the left a newer version I decided to remake (you may have seen it also on the thread about coastlines). I opted for, with the right one which will be the newest version once done, to have more free space for it was too clustered.

----------


## ladiestorm

Wow!!!  This is impressive!  This is a truly inspiring map you're working on!  I like the lines, the contours.

Black and white maps are always hard for me, because I have a hard time distinguishing between land and water.  Are you possibly planning on adding textures so it's less confusing?  Or perhaps you are planning on coloring this map?  Some of the shading is a little too dark for me... but that's just my personal opinion.  I tend to have a problem with high contrasts... it does wonky stuff to my eyesight  :Very Happy:

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Well I am thinking about adding another colour, a dark grey or mid grey. Will allow me to work on the shadows. Concerning texture, I am hoping to find ways to improve it indeed. It is still unfinished, still have to put the ccities, roads, names and all.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Okay, for the second colour, funny enough, the scanner did it on it's own and I actually like it XD At least ONE THING the scanner did well this time (or me scanning...) Some of my sheets were not 100% right angle so when I put them togheter, well.... I know I managed it quite well with my previous maps, but the paper was more thick (and lower quality). Another reason was that I had to cut the margin with scisors because the paper I use now, though being of good quality, is bigger. So sometimes I may have an uneven cut that the scanner picked up, explaining the angle. At least I have taken measurements when redrawing them so the map in itself is still 100% the same size, but now the outer margin. (Go back to my first post where i have 6 seperate maps, you will see I have a space of 1cm between the edge of the sheet and the map).

Now, whaat mostly changed alot is that where I have a bunch of peninsulas I added some civilizations. Planning to have something similar to Mayans and the Aztecs with pyramids. I also worked more on the two mountain chains that occupîed most of my thread "Planning an ecosystem". and just above that map, I worked alot on giving it more free space and less cluttered in the middle. The coastline really adds to the shape when looking from a zoom out perspective (though on my third map on the top I have forgoten an area...)

Oh, and before I go posting the image (in two parts like last time) Yes there will be a sheet missing at bottom right (I thought I lost the older version so I started redrawing a map of another continent instead of redrawing the last part of the Northern Evozen continent) Anyways, it was just the tip of a peninsula and did not have much. Now let me break that BIG picture in two...

Because of my awesome, wonderful, innate talent at scanning... I KNOW there are some... abstract art... I mean, YES there ARE places where the seperation shows that some rivers are broken. They are NOT (except for one that I will correct...). geeesh I hate computers and it is, I believe, the main reason I stick on maping on paper...-_-

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Grrrrrr.... stupid computers... Hard to REMERGE everything... And then it was too big, even in two! Had to split it in six!

----------


## Elterio Delgard

and here is the South eastern map. Since it's smaller, it will appear in chat WAY bigger.

----------


## Ilanthar

Such a big project, I like it a lot and the shape of the land is very appealing! One thing about your coastlines, I personnally think it would be better if you inverse the two lines : a large one for the proper coastline and a thinner one for the off coast line. Just my 2 cents.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Sigh. Yeah I already have an idea in mind on how to do coastlines. If only it was not SO BIG of a project D: Oh well, I was already planning to make another version sooner or later. Will be working more on my style, maybe adding a second colour like a pale grey or a dark Brown, will be adding some necessary stuffs like the scale, the name of the map, the star gizmo thing with the 4 directions.

However I doubt I will be working on another version soon because I have to write more.  :Razz:

----------


## Ilanthar

:Very Happy: , yes, I was indeed thinking of future maps! I know how you feel, I tend to throw myself in big maps or series... And I generally need some time before I got an itch to redo them or do another large map set  :Wink: .

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Okay! I am about to redraw my whole continent and will be planning to expand it further and, hopefully, to have a whole continent.
Now, what I will be working really hard on my coming version:
1-Having a scale, names, and a description (like what the name of the cartographer and the date it was made and for who)
2-COASTLINES!! Yessss! After many tears that washed my face during my moments of despair and.New .. What? Not interested in soap operas? Ah.. Okay... Well, I will be improving ONCE again my style! Thank you all for all the comments and tips!
3-Boarders and roads. I don't know yet how I will do it, but I plan on showing national and regional borders, and also cultural ones.
4-New geographical features: Ravines, plateaus, and more textures hopefully (so far for swamps I have a new idea)

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Well, here is a small update. Thanks for all the remarks and critics you gave me so far!


What I have changed so far: the swamps, the coastline.

----------


## - JO -

Your project is huge... and so it makes it very interesting !

I like a lot your drawing... reminds me of the old Midle Earth map ! It shows that it doesn't need to be "charged" to be beautiful and efficient !

I'm looking forward to see the whole map !!!

(i might have skiped a post, but this continent is attached to a story ?)

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Thanks! Yes it is part of a book I am writting, but it was discussed in another thread called Kastosian history. (don't remember where it is though...). Right now, as you must have also noticed, I am working also on having a globe map (why is GIS so hard to learn?!!!).

About being charged... I will add alot of details still, but not for the look. I like to infuse a map with information, like a juicy fruit. The problem is I end up having to have different copies of the map in order to have all the info (a political map with the name of the cities, a physical map with the name of the regions and landscapes, and probably another one for commerce and culture...)

----------


## - JO -

It's a whole project, then... very complete ! 
A lot of work, but I'll enjoy fellowing your work as it goes on !

----------


## Elterio Delgard

> It's a whole project, then... very complete ! 
> A lot of work, but I'll enjoy fellowing your work as it goes on !


Why thanks! However, with my work it may take a while before I can update my stuff.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Well, here is an update. The forests are done, the rivers are all in place, all that is left is to layout the borders, the roads and the rest of the towns and settlements.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Just to say that I will be posting in the coming days another map, the area just west of the previous map I posted. Need to finish the forests. still need to figure out how to draw the roads and all but will get on it eventualy.
Ah well, here is an update anyways.

----------


## Chashio

From what I can see in the photo, this looks to be shaping into a beautiful map, Elterio.  :Smile:

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Well! Here is a scanned update of my main map, the Kastosian map as I like to call it. I added the roads but I don't think I will be able to add by hand some borders, will have to do it on the computer, a little bit to cramped with details for that in certain areas...

----------


## davedowd

Two words: hand cramp!

LOL it looks great though!  I wish I could hand draw like that.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Thanks! Yes, it does take much time to draw the trees and the mountains.

----------


## Eld

A very beautiful map, one of the best handdrawn maps I've seen so far. At first sight I thought the mountains were done with a computer brush as they look very similar. That you're able to do that by hand is impressive.
I wonder if you only mapped the biggest roads as there are rather few of them and even big cities aren't connected, which seems unlogical. What's that chain of triangles connecting the mainland with the island in the southeast?

----------


## Elterio Delgard

The chain of triangles are sharp stones coming out of the water. In that world of mine you have them every here and there.

As for the roads, I am only drawing the main roads, otherwise you would lots of roads and also keep in mind that if I draw some roads that are important enough to appear on the map, they will also require lots of work to keep in good condition. You can't just make a cobblestone road and leave it like that :/. But thanks for your comments Eld!

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Greetings! Been a while I know, but I have been nothing if not iddle. Well, truth be told, there were times of no activity from my part. But that is but some trivial detail. Most importantly, I am almost done with my third version of the Northern Continent of Evozen.
Those are photos from my Ipad so don't expect good resolution. Anyways,here goes.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Now this is the part I need to be working on. By connecting my sheets together, it  made me realise one thing... Drawing at the junction area between two maps is crucial but hard. However, I cannot go on drawing without a whole picture in my head of the continent, otherwise I am bound to make some unlogical features. Now... Here is a picture of such a junction I am talking of. 


I am thinking of having some grassy plains, and maybe some grassland covering much of the region. My thinking might be wrong, but having some big mountain chain to the east, and the coast being far to the west would make it weird to have some dense woodlands unless there are some big rivers. Taking also in account that winds will be coming from the west with rain clouds to give some showers on the moutain tops, the source of water will therefore not be from lakes but from the east. I therefore have a blank spot (for now).

----------


## Pixie

Hi there. Great work you've done here, and quite ambitious. Congrats and have some rep!

Concerning your "blank spot". It all comes down to latitude, really:
- If close to the equator, then you will definitely have to include some rivers as that area seems to be large enough to sustain its own convective centers, meaning it will rain and a lot and you will have tropical forest (think Amazon basin or Congo Basin). 
- Further north (or south) but before the tropics (roughly 23º N/S) it will be savannah, without significant rivers (since it's away from the coasts and shielded by mountains on both east and west). 
- Close to the tropics and poleward, that will surely be a desert, a hot and dry desert, be it sandy or rocky.
- Above that, forest - sparse, trees are deciduous and adapted to dry spells, then grassland, then forest - mixed, then forest conifers only, then tundra, then permament ice.

Looking at where it lies in the overall map, and assuming north is up, I'd go for the equatorial or tropical choices, depending on where you want your deserts.

Bottom line is... what's the latitude scale?

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Mmmmm... I would have to study again the latitude scale before I give you an answer. However, I did have a thread last year on how to plan the climate.
Here is the link
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=34151

That was the second version of the world map, so of course there are some differences. One thing I am planning to have the desert at the bottom of that page, so it's above the the tropics, but close enough. Actually, I was not far off then with my calculation then. It would be logical to have a grassy plain with some small woodlands every here and there.

I might have to reopen that other thread then, if its more about climate now it should go over there.

Oh and thanks for the reputation!

----------


## damonjynx

Awesome job mate. I think your thoughts re plains would work well and look right, even if it may not be geographically correct.

Have some rep for your lovely line work.

----------


## madrileen

That's absolutely amazing! How long did this take you?

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Thanks everyone! I have been working on this version since last year, but not intensively because work takes much of my energy.
Damonjynx, what corrections should I bring to make it more geographically correct?

----------


## Elterio Delgard

If I look at my thread on climates, I posted a picture with some ntoes on it about possible wind directions and heights of mountains and where the clouds would pour out their water on the earth...
https://www.cartographersguild.com/a...0&d=1463951114

Now, concerning latitude... time to get a ruler out and measure it with some maps... Right now my biggest regret is to have thrown away my world atlas book...

----------


## AaronSchmidt

Reminds me of Washington State/British Columbia geography. We have the ocean to the west and a chain of mountains to the East. The wind blows in from the sea can't all get past the mountains so dumps most of the water on the west side of the mountains. So Western Washington is green and full of lakes and rivers but Eastern Washington is dry (comparably). We are a bit North so the overall temperature is moderate. Lots of evergreens/conifers/mix.

 :Smile:

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Mmmmm it does fit with what I was told on the thread of climates I have... Plains or forests... Thanks Aaron! Will do more thinking before taking a decision!

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Okay! Long time no see and its been 3 months. Well, I was not iddle!

I am up to 33 pages so far for my continent. Here is a small update on the northern part. I will post the southern part after protecting it under my copyrights but this one already is. Its not the best resolution for a picture, its only a ipad mini haha!
I am pretty satisfied of the general shape, I have avoided geometrical shapes.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Oh and do note I am not finished so if you see empty space here and there, or rivers abruptly ending instead of crossing on the other sheet, that's totally normal.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Little update on the southern part of the continent. I still need to post the center hahahaha!

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Well, here are some photos, not good resolution but at least you will be able to see the whole of my continent.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Now... DON'T LAUGH!!! But before moving on the 26th of August, I scanned all the pages! Only to discover they didn't upload on my usb key, AND THAT I ALSO FORGOT ONE PAGE AT HOME! x.X which is why you have an empty page...
Here is another inage, modified with paint, so I could put more emphasis on the rivers.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Mmmm... I need to work on:
1-Climates.
2-Sea and wind currents.
3-Distributing vegetation
4-finishing drawing of course.
5-Ugh... Figure out the size of the planet and what I should do about the poles... This will be tricky.
6-Establishing a grid, like the lattitudes and such

So far, since 1cm=50 miles, my continent, from top to bottom, is 11315miles, where as in comparison, we have 7305 miles from the top of Norway to the bottom of Africa.

Now thats a little problematic cause it means my continent of evozen is huge, maybe too huge. Well, I guess I could always have a planet bigger than Earth... Or I could just tiny icy poles but that woud be weird... Urgh.... Any suggestions on that one? 
5.1: Should I avoid having a bigger planet?
5.2: Is it good or not to aim at having a planet of the same size in order to stay credible, at least in appearance.
5.3: Should I squeeze maybe the center?

----------


## Chashio

That's impressive seeing them all together like that.

----------


## ThomasR

THIS-IS-BRUTAL ! (and sorry for the capitals) Impressive job !

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Thanks both of you. Anyone knows enough in natural science to share some knowledge on what would happen if a planet didn't have any north pole or atlantic pole? Also, erm... I am planning soon to update this thread with the equator, I have fixed it. Next step will be like I said in the previous post of mine.

----------


## Mouse

Very impressive map collection.  I've simply no idea how you work them out in your head to be able to draw one thing on lots of different pieces of paper like that and make it work so well.  I always have to have everything on the same sheet so that I can see the whole of it at a glance.

Onto the science question...

By no poles do you mean no magnetic poles?

I'm not a qualified scientist of any kind (unless you count Biology A level), but I think you might be in a spot of bother with no electromagnetic field in a real planet, since on Earth at least I remember a documentary explaining how its the only thing deflecting the solar rays sufficiently to keep the atmosphere from being eroded away into space - by solar ray bombardment.   The same documentary suggested that Mars's very weak field (due to the planet being smaller and cooling a lot faster than the Earth - the core solidifying sooner than ours and the electromagnetic field consequently failing) may be why it has only a very thin atmosphere today.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Mmmm maybe I didn't use the correct words.

In french we call them: Pole nord, pole sud.

Its the ice cap you have at the top north and bottom south.

----------


## Mouse

Oh, so you are talking about the ice, not the electromagnetic field?

The ice at the Earth's poles stabilises the oceanic/atmospheric temperature, keeping them a lot cooler than they would otherwise be (that's another memory snippet from another documentary).  Without the ice at the poles the atmosphere and oceans would be much hotter and much less stable.

You could say they are a bit like the ice cubes keeping our drink cool  :Wink:

----------


## Azélor

> Or I could just tiny icy poles but that woud be weird... Urgh.... Any suggestions on that one?


Poles on Earth did not always had ice. There was a time when pine forests covered Antarctica. 
Ice is not mandatory at the poles. 




> 5.1: Should I avoid having a bigger planet?


No but you should be aware that a larger planet means higher gravity and possibly other things.
You could avoid the problem by changing the density of the planet by having less dense material inside. But I'm not sure what you can change. 

Maybe you could adjust the scale a little and pretend the continent is smaller? America is about 9500 miles from top to bottom. Not sure why you still use that old imperial system...




> Anyone knows enough in natural science to share some knowledge on what  would happen if a planet didn't have any north pole or atlantic pole?


I presume you mean no ice at the poles? A few things:

It changes the region's albedo, or the quantity of light reflected back to space. More is absorbed and the difference in temperatures is smaller with the middle latitudes. 
Summers become warmer and winter also a little I think. But the effect is less because it's dark in winter anyway. 
This smaller difference in temperature result in a weakening of the jet stream and mess with the weather pattern between the tropics and the polar circle. 
Impact of climate might be much smaller tough. Expect to have to have more extreme weather such as flooding and drought. Because weather systems tend to jam over large region for a longer period of time. 

No ice at poles also mean no cold water input in these regions. 
The biggest impact will be Newfoundland climate... I mean general water circulation pattern. Cold water tends to be heavier and saltier if I recall correctly.
It play a role but it is poorly understood. 

Lastly, trading will be possible in these region. Very useful.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Okay thanks alot Azelor! 

1: I will have a bigger planet if I can find a way to lower the gravity so its still on the same level as on Earth. For that, I will need someone's insight. Or I could be lazy and... MAGIC! But ain't fun...
2: I prefer having the ice in order to keep a certain balance in the temperature of the sea. Water currents will be important in my world. 

Mmmm... Now rotation wise and all, I will need to be careful. If bigger, then the rotation cycle and the seasons will be longer, unless the speed makes up for it but then it will cause more gravity and not just that... Think about those studying the sky when sailing across the ocean... If it moves faster... Mmmm....

----------


## Azélor

> Mmmm... Now rotation wise and all, I will need to be careful. If bigger,  then the rotation cycle and the seasons will be longer, unless the  speed makes up for it but then it will cause more gravity and not just  that... Think about those studying the sky when sailing across the  ocean... If it moves faster... Mmmm..


It's not related to size. Jupiter is the fastest rotating planet despite being the biggest.  day only last 10 hours. 
Venus on the contrary can barely make 1 rotation in a Venusian year.

----------


## Ilanthar

Nice! It's really cool to see this combined. And pretty huge (I think I never did more than 6 or 8 A4 sheets).

----------


## Arawn

I'm new to this thread but from what I've seen I must say I am really impressed by your map! I really love how it has a very realistic feel to it! I wonder if you are planning to add some colour. From a purely stilistic point of view I am wondering how you will add place names? Would you write them yourself or rather print them? This is a question I struggle with, as writing tends to be a bit messy. 

Greetings
Arawn

----------


## Elterio Delgard

> I'm new to this thread but from what I've seen I must say I am really impressed by your map! I really love how it has a very realistic feel to it! I wonder if you are planning to add some colour. From a purely stilistic point of view I am wondering how you will add place names? Would you write them yourself or rather print them? This is a question I struggle with, as writing tends to be a bit messy. 
> 
> Greetings
> Arawn


Sorry for the delay, lately I am really busy with my master at university... Read read read read... Anyways.

To answer your question, I thought many times of adding some colours, may it be for some shading or texture or for borders. The problem is this is a style I made for a civilization in a novel project of mine. The main goal is to be accurate, not artistic though looking good is also a plus. Also, if I add colours, I will need to find the correct pens. All of it is hand made, the only exceptions is the writting you will find early in the posts of this thread. Besides that, hand made. Many times I tried to get my hand on some precise pigment but to no avail.

----------


## FORGE

Amazing job on this MASSIVE continent of yours! It's good to see that hand-drawing is still alive and well! Looking forward to seeing the end result!  :Smile:

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Here is a big update. It really big so I am not able to put it all together as before.

I deleted the images so to make more space. oh... I guess I cannot entirely delete something without having iit move in the editing history... shame on me -_-

----------


## Elterio Delgard

sorry for REPOSTING the first layer, I managed to find a way to post them all at once. I suggest you zoom out to 90% or even 75%, otherwise you will have a chaotic map. Sorry,

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Argh... Please don't tell me there is a limit of images, after which you only have links ...Phew, I managed to repair it by editing and saving without making a single change to the text. I don't get it but as long as it works!
.... Please tell me if you only see the bottom half and if the upper half is but a cluster of links....

----------


## zhar2

Looking great!!! cant wait to see it coloured. you may want to do a quick threshold filter to sharpen it up, for example, see below.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Awwww.... I so don't want to repost all the maps one by one again, took me lots of time and got even timed out for inactivity x.X...
As for the colours, I will clean the map so don't worry, but I will not add colours. I wish to avoid as much as possible editing it on the computer. But yeah, you can tell I manipulated those papers alot.

Whew... I hate to admit it, but I am already working on another continent... this weekend I will start the thread of Espaltorado continent...

----------


## Azélor

That is alot of work you have put into this. It looks great but there are big empty spaces. There is nothing wrong with that, Im just wondering if you will add something later. 

Also, the coastline in the north west look much thicker than the rest of the map.

Pour éviter le problème de connexion expirée, il faut cocher la case "remember me" qui se trouve sous la ligne du mot de passe. Il fait  le faire avant de se connecter et il faut le refaire si tu efface l'historique (cookie ou cache, je ne sais lequel).

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Azelor you are right with the empty spaces, I will be working on them. The map is not finished at all. As for the coastline, probably something I will have to edit on the computer.

There is a massive mountain range which goes from north to bottom south. Its not natural and its meant not to be. I would like to know what you guys and girls and things (if you are androids  :Cool:  ). I tried to shape some peculiar landscapes by having what will be called the Earth's Skeleton (the mountain range I am talking off).

Right now I also have two questions...
1-For me the north is mostly done, but are there things you would add or recommend be to add?
2-For the south, what would you like to see?

----------


## Elterio Delgard

On this page I employed the ,ll, symbol for the savanah, but should I also use it for grasslands? And if so... Should I also use it as a texture to fill in vast empty spaces?

----------


## Azélor

The Spine of the world. 
Since the map are not finished, it's hard to tell what is missing but it would be good to indicate the different biomes. 
You will probably need a legend, some indication for latitudes.

Now that I look at it from my computer, not my phone, I notice that all the coastlines are thick. It's alright but when you have a lot of details packed in a small area (like fjords), that is what makes it look thicker I think. 

Grassland/savanna: a savanna would be a mix of trees and grass, so yes you should use the same symbols. 
Whether you fill all the gaps or not is up to you. It can be good or bad if you overdo it. 
Chickpea posted an interesting article about filling empty spaces: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/...-blank-spaces/

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Thanks Azelor! Yeah, spine is much more appropriate and descriptive. Skeleton may just be akward and misleading.  Thanks also for the link concerning the article.

Well, the Kastosians are not explorers and the style I use will be theirs in the novels I will write. Mmmmm... Even though this map is more exterior to the book as it isn't suffering from any lack of knowledge, I keep that kastosian mentality in mind.
Since they prefer precision over aesthetic, I do not see any reasons to fill just to fill. MY FEAR of void is to add details, so I should avoid filling everything in fear of overdoing it.

----------


## Azélor

Actually, the name Spine of the world is already taken and part of a well known campaign setting, you should probably avoid taking it.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Ah thanks for telling me!

Mmmm Will have to think of something...

----------


## Ilanthar

Very impressive! I love the general view, The land shape is gorgeous.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Well thank you Ilanthar!

Erm, I don't know if I should post this island map here but starting a new thread just for that one map would be invasive I think. So yeah, here is an island which is far to the east of the continent.


Eeeerrrrmmm... Okay... This thread is big already as it is. If I am to post maps for another whole continent, would it be better I do another thread? Will be a project as big as this one...

----------


## Elterio Delgard

It has been quite a while but here is an update with a new continent in the making. We need to make sure to keep in mind that a planet is not flat so any tips on how to avoid a conflict between me two continents would be appreciated.

----------


## Abu Lafia

Awesome to see you jump right into the next mega project  :Smile:  The shape of the new continent is really great. I'm not an expert about projection issues, but what kind of conflicts do you fear? Shouldn't be everything fine as long as you use the same projection for both maps?
Looking forward to see it coming together ... and stay strong!  :Very Happy:

----------


## Elterio Delgard

> Awesome to see you jump right into the next mega project  The shape of the new continent is really great. I'm not an expert about projection issues, but what kind of conflicts do you fear? Shouldn't be everything fine as long as you use the same projection for both maps?
> Looking forward to see it coming together ... and stay strong!


I wish to avoid coliding them at the poles. In other words, I am drawing a world map on sheets of paper and I wish to avoid disregarding measurements and having some overlaping.

----------


## Azélor

Dont have them touch the poles. The pole can either be land or water but not both.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

small tiny update, just to show how the two continents look when put next to each other.

----------


## Voolf

Wow, this looks increadible !

----------


## Falconius

I wish I could see it better because as Voolf said, that looks so freaking cool.  Are you going to put them together like that and hang it on a wall?

----------


## markem

If you click on the picture it expands and then you should have a magnifying glass with a plus sign. Clicking it again will expand it again.

Looks really great!  Keep it up!

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Well... I can't put it on my wall... I live in small chambers of the university's dorms. good luck XD Thanks all for your comments.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Okay, I am now home for christmas vacations and therefore will be spending once more some time on my maps. Now my first task is to decide the dimensions of the planet so I do not collide the continents and maybe actually figure out if I want a third one if the space allows me to.

Starting with a quote from the following website : https://www.space.com/17638-how-big-is-earth.html
"Radius, diameter and circumference
The radius of Earth at the equator is 3,963 miles (6,378 kilometers), according to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. However, Earth is not quite a sphere. The planet's rotation causes it to bulge at the equator. Earth's polar radius is 3,950 miles (6,356 km) — a difference of 13 miles (22 km).

Using those measurements, the equatorial circumference of Earth is about 24,901 miles (40,075 km). However, from pole-to-pole — the meridional circumference — Earth is only 24,860 miles (40,008 km) around. This shape, caused by the flattening at the poles, is called an oblate spheroid."

This being said... do I need to have an oblate spheroid shape or not? If it is essential to sustain life, then I guess I should keep some similar proportions. Once I have the numbers, I will be able to do what I call a dual perpendicular rings with 4 dots (so I can have my four middle points) which will allow me to have a better feel of the distortion when drawing something which normally would be spherical but on flat.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Actually another question I have is if the planet is, let's say, 1.1x times bigger, how would that play on the distribution of climate? Would one particular type of climate expand more than the others?

----------


## Azélor

> This being said... do I need to have an oblate spheroid shape or not? If  it is essential to sustain life, then I guess I should keep some  similar proportions. Once I have the numbers, I will be able to do what I  call a dual perpendicular rings with 4 dots (so I can have my four  middle points) which will allow me to have a better feel of the  distortion when drawing something which normally would be spherical but  on flat.


No it is not essential to life. Being a perfect sphere would not change anything.
But it make sense for a physics perspective.
As the planet is rotating, it is slightly stretched by the forces of gravity. 
The faster the object rotate, the bigger is the difference between the 2 measures. 
For example the star Achernar diameter at the pole is half the diameter at the equator. 

So I guess Venus is almost a perfect sphere. 




> Actually another question I have is if the planet is, let's say, 1.1x  times bigger, how would that play on the distribution of climate? Would  one particular type of climate expand more than the others?


It depend if the planet is simply bigger or if that also comes with a change in gravity. Bigger and heavier planers do not always result in higher gravity (ex:Neptune gravity is only slightly higher than Earth's despite being 17 times heavier).
If the planet is 1.1 time larger but also 1.1 time heavier (same density ass Earth) then I think the gravity will remain the same. 
Regrading the size alone, the biggest difference would be somewhat larger deserts. The distance from the ocean is not the only factor explaining deserts but it's an important one. Assuming the continents are larger, the interiors are further away from the oceans and thus drier.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Thanks Azelor. Yeah, if the continents are bigger, it makes sense to have bigger deserts, but deserts can sometimes also follow the coastline such as with Chili no? But yeah, I believe my planet will mostly be 1.1x or 1.2x maximum so my gravity ain't gonna be a problem. However, concerning the duration of days... That will be problematic... Either the planet rotates on itself 1.1x or 1.2x faster so the amount of days is the same in a year, and also I think the same duration of a day into 24 hours.

----------


## Ilanthar

I got this simple formula if you want for gravity : 
(your planet diameter/earth diameter)x(your planet density/earth density) = gravity in G of your planet

So you gravity should have a slightly less density than earth if you want to have the exact same gravity.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Thanks Ilanthar! In the meantime I work on the dimensions on the floor of the living room, here is a small update on my second continent.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Hello everyone and long time no chat! 

On the 78th post on this thread, I posted as a mosaic kinda my first whole continent. The problem is I can no longer just leave it somewhere in real life for me to look at it and I would actually benefit much from having one single image document on my computer with all of them merged together. I tried using Paint and simply just enlarging the blank sheet as I copy paste in order my portions of the map, but after the first row (which I have 9) I am already over 700mbs...

Basically the reason why I need a single image is to copy it so i can work on demographic expansion and population migration through a time line of several thousand of years.

Any tip would help thanks!

----------


## Azélor

What resolution are you working on, 300 DPI?
Assuming you are using 9 standard sheets of paper, you have a file of 22950 x 3300. 
That's still manageable but it's starting to get big. 

If you are only using it to merge, I suppose Paint can do an acceptable job but Gimp would offer more tool and you could use multiple layers, which will be useful later on if you want thematic maps (demographic).

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Oh thanks Azelor, yes indeed thematic maps would be exactly what I am aiming for also. WIll try to work around gimp

----------


## bkh1914

That is going to be a huge image! - 54 sheets in post #78 

I'd recommend you scale down the size of sheets by a factor of 3 or 4 at least before you merge them together.
Probably more, depending on your computer and the size of your display device.

In the end, it really boils down to how much resolution do you need in your composite image.

----------


## Elterio Delgard

Just another small update, but a big one for me. I managed with gimp to merge it all together and its big enough that I can only handle one additional layer on the map. So eventually, I will have to duplicate the merged map for different thematic maps. The first image is without any layer, the second is a part of the northern half with a layer showing the nations. So far I have 37 (38 if I count one which ain't an active nation anymore).

----------


## Elterio Delgard

And here is a map with my new way of labeling the cities. Since I have to reduce to more than a 1/3 of the original size, the resolution is too small to allow me clear writing with names (but since this is a sniped shot image, you won't be able to read anyways). So I decided to use a system in which I attribute a code with the initials of the nation with a number. The number refers to a word document in which I have the names listed with the appropriate numbers. (e.g. KE13 for Kastosian Empire, #13). I have, just for the Kastosian Empire, 168 cities and castles.

----------


## Ilanthar

Those pictures are a bit small to see the details. At least, we see how big is your project!

----------

