# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > General and Miscellaneous Mapping >  Arimel's Artistic Archive

## Arimel

Arimel. The intrepid explorer, cartographer, historian, and archaeologist of a bygone age. The wandering elf, the aged one, the loremaster. 

Arimel lived on the planet of Orlos. He was well known for his general knowledge of all subjects throughout a wide period of time. Elves as a race are long lived, but Arimel was especially so. There are records of his influence as a negotiator, politician, and recorder for well over a thousand years. His histories alone span hundreds of large tomes, and some reference others that have been lost to time, showing that no specific number would be accurate to describe the amount he has written. No one knows how Arimel was able to be so strong an influence for such a long time, despite the many tales that claim to have the answer.

Now, if you did not already know, I am not Arimel, though his works are a wonder to me. Exploration and history have always fascinated me, but it was not through these skills that I discovered Arimel's Cave of Knowledge. Instead I wandered in by chance. The great wooden doors opened to my touch that day, revealing the mess of scrolls, tomes, charts, and drawings the loremaster had left. Since then, I have been held prisoner by my own greed for knowledge and curiosity about worlds untold. I cannot tell how much time has elapsed but each minute is spent diving into one work after another, and another, and another, and anoth... Of all of these great works, only a few can I actually share with the outside world, and even these are just glimpses of the wonders within. Here can they be shared under their original creator's name...

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At the start of 2018 there seemed to be a number of sketch threads that were created. I have toyed with the idea of starting one since then and have finally decided to do so. This thread will be for the occasional little maps that I do not feel merit a thread of their own or border on art rather than cartography (though they will all have a cartographic element). 

+Disclaimer: Although these are the original works by Arimel, none of the cartography presented here will be on the skill level alluded to above (all of those exceptional works have been destroyed, gone missing, or were simply derived from legend and never existed).

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## Arimel

The first project I would like to share is a WIP for my avatar image. I have been here for over a year now so I think it is about time I draw something for it. Here is my first draft in pencil. I do not know if this is simply too detailed for the avatar image size so feedback on that would also be appreciated.

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## J.Edward

That's a good start to a journey.  :Smile: 
That's somewhat how my own experiment thread worked out.
And quite a journey so far.

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## Arimel

> That's a good start to a journey. 
> That's somewhat how my own experiment thread worked out.
> And quite a journey so far.


Thank you J. Edwards! I think your experiment thread was the first I remember seeing and it has really inspired me to start this one!

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I finally got around to inking my avatar and here is the result. I have attached a 600 and a 100 dpi image here. I do not know if the 600 dpi will fit into the avatar size limit so I have the 100 dpi just in case. I hope in the far distant future to get around to coloring the avatar but for now the black and white will have to do.

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## Ilanthar

Nice! If I may, I think some shading could nicely give depth to your avatar.

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## Arimel

> Nice! If I may, I think some shading could nicely give depth to your avatar.



I agree that shading would probably help a lot but I do not think that I have the skills and/or materials to do this at the moment. I could possibly do black/white shading but I was afraid that it might make the image too dark/busy since there would be a lot of shading needed.

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## Arimel

Here is an A4 sized battle map -esque style of cave that I made a little while ago. It it my first attempt to artistically display something like this and I think I have a lot of things I will need to improve for next time. 



Note: I have no idea how the skeleton got into such a small cave. He/she was probably the only one who could answer that question and now they are long gone.

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## Ilanthar

> *By Arimel* I agree that shading would probably help a lot but I do not think that I have the skills and/or materials to do this at the moment. I could possibly do black/white shading but I was afraid that it might make the image too dark/busy since there would be a lot of shading needed.


Did you try some very light hatching or brushing with a crayon?

Nice cave  :Wink: .

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## Arimel

> Did you try some very light hatching or brushing with a crayon?
> 
> Nice cave .


Sorry for not responding sooner, I just came to post and saw it. I have not tried hatching or any other shading method on it yet. However, this is an idea that I will possibly come back to in the coming months (when my schedule smooths out a bit!). I also have some Fabercastell gray scale soft brushes now as well that I will want to try on it.

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## Arimel

Among the wonders of Arimel's Cave of Knowledge is the great library. So far, no book known to man, elf or dwarf has not been found in this labyrinth. Several works seem to be their last surviving copies. The amount of time that it took to assemble the collection is unknown but it must have far outlasted the life of a single elf. 
Occasionally, as one peruses these works they may find signs of where the aged elf himself once read. Bookmarks by the thousands have been discovered, laying in the cobwebs or stuck between the pages of dusty tombs, each one unique in its own way. The places depicted in the bookmarks are a mystery to all. Few can actually be traced to regions in the known world, leaving one to wonder if these were just depictions of Arimel's imagination or regions from beyond time and space...

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In the past few weeks I have completed a few bookmarks that I would like to share. I have been using them to test different styles of doing mountains, coasts, and forests. Here are the first two sides and I hope to have another 4 sides to show by the end of the next week. 



In these bookmarks I have been testing my ability to not use straightedges for borders (not sure if this was smart or not!) and a shade-less version of mountains that I was inspired to attempt after seeing Warlin's cartography in January.

Critique is welcome!

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## MistyBeee

Oh, I especially love how you pictured the desert, Arimel  :Smile:

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## Ilanthar

Those bookmarks are looking great! You should post them in the bookmarks section  :Wink: .

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## Arimel

> Oh, I especially love how you pictured the desert, Arimel


Thanks! I think that the dunes came out well this time!




> Those bookmarks are looking great! You should post them in the bookmarks section .


I certainly shall once I get the others done!

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## Arimel

Here are the other 4 book mark sides. I tried to paint 2 of them to look more aged but with rather dismal results. That is what happens when I paint outside under the sun I guess... the paper was drying way to fast.
This was also my first attempt with some grayscale brush pens. I have mixed feelings about them as well so we shall see.

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## Arimel

Here is a small sketch that I did for my homebrew world in a region I have been developing. It is called 'Orlos Hand' and is a structure of pitch black bones reaching for the skies on a lone hill in a mountain valley. I took a lot of inspiration from Illanthar for the rock textures but am still a long way off! 
Anyways, not quite a map but something fun:

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## Arimel

I have a few drawing that I have been working on this year. I do not have access to a scanner at the moment but here are a few images before I get scans to put in the finished forum.

The Defiant Salmon: An inn in a homebrew world I am creating. It is a rather fortified position on the edges of two major kingdoms, an area without regular guards. It is a prosperous position on the caravan passage between the two kingdoms. 


And the other is a random world map. It is of a world with a a single funnel, draining the whole atmosphere and oceans, pulling pieces of the continents with it.

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## Arimel

Here is another drawing from the past few weeks and one WIP image.




And here is the WIP. It is of a building across the street from where I am in lockdown (a wonderful view at least!). However, this type of drawing is not exactly my forte (not quite sure this can be considered a map). There are quite a few perspective errors I can't figure out but, on the whole, I do not believe it is that bad for a first attempt from this perspective.

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## Eowyn Cwper

The first one is saved in my “to imitate” folder!  :Very Happy:  Great tiny piece of work. <3

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## ThomasR

Those volcanos are pretty amazing !

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## Arimel

> Those volcanos are pretty amazing !





> The first one is saved in my to imitate folder!  Great tiny piece of work. <3


Thank you both! I am glad that you enjoy them! 

Here is another piece that I was working on earlier this year for my DM. It is the world of Gothregor. It is, honestly, not a style that I think I will do again. I am not a fan of the colors here but they were the DM's choice.

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## Arimel

Here is the image of the house across the street again, this time finished. I have taken several creative liberties (an effort to hide the blocky feel of it). The perspectives are not all correct but overall I think it has turned out rather well!

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## Ilanthar

Very nice! It did turned out well  :Wink: .

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## Arimel

> Very nice! It did turned out well .


Thank you very much Ilanthar! 


Here is a clippet from a new map I am working on for my homebrew world of Orlos. It is a relatively large area of land but I wanted to show a top down view of the land, which I have not tried before so it uses a new style. I will use colored pencils to help give some differences later on (particularly as there are glaciers that are invisible at the moment). I have included one of my tests from my scrap page to show a possible color alternative I will be using. 
This map, of course, does not give the exacts of the region and it will be sort of implied that most of the mountain slopes are forested, even if it would be confusing/too busy to put forest symbols on them. However, this map should (I hope) get across the important parts of the region in the end.

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## Arimel

I have not finished the last map I made a post about (probably more on it later, I have several ongoing projects) but here is a clippet of my newest experiment. It is highly influenced by J.Edwards Balder's Gate region map and I am trying a few of the styles that he used for that map for a similar region. The colors are a tad different and I can't get the same detail but let me know what you think!



In retrospect, this scan does not show the color as full in the top corner as it is in reality but it gives an idea at least  :Smile:

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## Arimel

So another side project, among the 5-10 that I currently have ongoing (I really need to start polishing a few of them off!). This is a gift I am making for a friend of mien who is an avid lord of the rings fan. It is a large bookmark that depicts the journey of the ring's fellowship (even after they parted paths). I have tried to include small snippets from each of the major events. I hope to start inking it soon!

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## ChickPea

Cool project! Nice start, and looking forward to seeing the inked version.

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## Arimel

Thanks Chickpea! 

Here is the ink version of the map.

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## Ilanthar

Very nice journey map!

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## Arimel

So here is my LOTR bookmark! I have attached both the front and back (I spent very little time on the backside though, a feature that I think is apparent). There is one glaring mistake as well that I can't now unsee One Ring to Rule the Mall... I never knew Sauron liked shopping  :Laughing:

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## Arimel

And just to complete a set, here is another one I just did for the Hobbit (the real Hobbit, not the movie interpretation).

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## Arimel

So here is the latest location to be added to Arimel's escapades. He has recently visited the fabled city of the Teronians, humanoid creatures that have evolved from ants. Much like termites, they build their cities in giant columns and tunnels underground. This is my initial attempt at a 'map' (might be more of a landscape drawing) of this city (as yet unnamed). 



so... do these sort of look like termite mounds?

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## Arimel

Here is an experiment I have been working on. I tried a slightly different border and used watercolors to shade everything in instead of colored pencils. We will see if I replicate this though. It took me far longer than normal (as expected) and I have a very narrow arrange of colors here.



I was also using this to test some calligraphy stuff... much more work is needed on that front though!

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## Ilanthar

Your "draft" with the termite kind of cities is very promising! Looking forward to see more.

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## Arimel

Thank you Ilanthar. I have not been inspired to draw much this week (I am caught in rereading a book series at the moment...) but hopefully I can get back to it this week.

I spent a short time last night continuing to work on my Durgord Kingdom map that I started in November(??) last year. Just adding color to it in the areas that are not seasonally occupied by glaciers. I am sure yet what I will do with the glacier sections so I am avoiding that for now.

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## Arimel

Here is a project that I have been working on/off on for nearly half a year. It is a continent on my homebrew world of Orlos. My drawing style has changed slightly between when I started it and now, which has caused some slight headaches. I can certainly say I will NEVER, EVER draw a desert in that style again. EVER. That was a bad and painful decision  :Frown: . Still, a learning experience. 

I just need to figure out how I will color the border and finished coloring the rest of the map.



small desert clippet

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## Arimel

So here is the finished Tangearin Map (though I can't stop seeing it spelled Tangerine...). I have taken pictures of the maps because, due to their A3 size, the two pages do not fit into my scanner. It is very blurry so hopefully I will get a better quality image in the future. Until then, it will remain posted here.

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## Arimel

So, another update on my termite/ant mounds, now formally named the Queen Mounds. I will soon be ready to start the coloring. I would like to test a couple of pen-colored pencil combinations first though and determine just how much light will be in the image. If I draw it at night as it appears at the moment, things may be a bit dark... We will see.



I also spent some time doing some random sketches. I was inspired by one of Marc's dragons posted earlier today that I tried my hand at and then tried to create my own which... well it kind of looks like an ugly iguana. It needs some help. I also drew one of the ant warriors one might encounter in the Queen Mounds. Not quite a map but I thought I would share here anyways  :Smile: .

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## Arimel

Another update on the Queen's Mounds. I can't believe that I made it so far before making a mistake on the title banner... I will need to digitally edit that on the final product...



Next is the coloring process. I have decided to color over the pen with the colored pencil. I think it was merely the pen size on my previous maps that was making the ink slightly illegible through the colored pencil (or so some tests have led me to believe). I have not worked in under a 0.05 copic and even that was just shading so the pen should shine through this time, I hope.

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## Simkin

That's really cool Arimel and congrats for the lettering, well done.

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## Arimel

Thanks Simkin!

It has been awhile since updating this thread so I guess it is time again. Here is a small drawing of the view out my window. At least 20% of the view actually looks like the image  :Razz:

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## Arimel

So I have been off the internet for a month camping which has provided me with tons of time for mapping (and tons of maps to catch up with now on the guild). In addition to a couple of small maps, I did two side on drawings that I thought I would share on this thread as they don't quite count as traditional maps to me. 

The first is a view from the hilltop where I was camping. I did it in greyscale so a couple of the further off hills are slightly difficult to differentiate from the sky.



The second drawing is of a mountain cabin with the northern lights. I again tried a more grey-scale approach but added a bit of color in the end.

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## Ilanthar

Very nice work!

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## Arimel

Thanks Ilanthar!

I have another map to present in a WIP stage that I have been working on/off for several weeks. Let me know what you think! The next step is to go through and add some color.

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## Arimel

Next up are a couple of bookmarks! They are nice, quick, and easy. When the image quality is this 'good'  it almost looks like watercolors as compared to colored pencils.

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## Arimel

Some pencil drawings just before I start inking.

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## Ilanthar

Despite the quality of the pictures (I have the same problem... I think it need the set of a professionnal photograph to get something right), I'd say it's promising.

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## Falconius

It's difficult to take pictures of a flat sheet especially once they get to these sizes.  You need lots of light.  And if you have the option of a higher focal length use it, standing back will help minimize the distortion but can lose detail depending on your setup.  Taping it to a wall is often the best option.

These are going to look fantastic when they are inked.  I can't understand how anyone keeps the pencil work so clean.

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## Arimel

Thanks! Next time I will bring the final pencil draft in to scan so that it is a bit clearer. In the meantime, here are a couple WIP images of the inking. I have zoomed in a bit more so that it might be a bit clearer.

And the answer is erasers... tons and tons of erasers...

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## Arimel

Another update with the inking completed - or so I am telling myself at least! Next is the colored pencils.

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## Arimel

I have been working on this one on/off for the last few months and have finally completed a b/w version. This might end up being the finished product - I am not quite ready to color it though eventually I think that will be my goal (which is why I am posting here and not in the finished section). Let me know what you think!

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## wminish

This is looking fantastic Arimel, I can tell that you've put a lot of work into it. I really like all the isometric sections around the sides and the main map is looking very good too.

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## Simkin

I second wminish, that map is really good Arimel.

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## Arimel

Thank you both! Those geometric patterns sure took a while  :Very Happy: .

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## Ilanthar

Great work Arlimel!
Those sand skiing ships are excellent.
And the last map is a treat.

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