# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Pen and Paper / Traditional Methods >  Various maps

## Skaald

Hi! I'm creating this thread to post all my works as I réalisé them. Feel welcome and even encouraged to post commentaries and critics, counsels and so on!



This one is a try of representing various regions at a continental scale. I did try to make a border to the map itself but the style doesn't really fit with the style of sketching.

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## Skaald

This one is the beginning of a big map featuring the Kingdom of Logres, the mythical realm of King Arthur. I want to make it look like and old medieval map, with gothic lettering and faded colors.



This is the early beginning, I will post the WIP soon as I can continue.

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## Skaald

I don't know anymore what to do with this map. I don't know how to fill it. Mountains and forests or just cities and maybe roads, like old medieval maps? 



I struggle with the calligraphy. This is so frustratingly long.

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## Skaald

So today I wanted to do more. My Kingdom of Logres is not progressing well so I started a new one. I wanted to make another try at portulan map.

This time, I did the compasses first. I drawed the lines before the coastlines.


Coastlines and rivers done. I know this is not the procedure, but I wanted to see some color before starting the labeling. So I discreetly dyed the whole map with light coffee and tea. Then, I underlined all the exterior coastlines with blue water coloring. 


My wife convinced me that painting all the seas in blue was a better idea. So here I am.

I'm really pleased of the result so far. I wanted to do something quick, so my compasses have only 12 angles. I guess that the scale of the map could require more but it's not bad like that.

Labelling to do know.

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## Simkin

Your maps are really good Skaald. I really like the colour of the sea in the last one.

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## Arimel

These maps look really good. The blue shading looks really good and, although the calligraphy may take a while, it looks fantastic.

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## Skaald

New project, again! 

I'm really nostalgic OF an online game I was playing ten years ago, so to exorcize thar feeling, I'm currently working on a map of Tyria, from Guild Wars 1. This is how it's going so far, I'm really pleased with the result, especially the compass and the massive mountain chain in the middle. 



Labeling is going to be done based on the runic alphabet appearing in some places in the game.

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## Skaald

If someone have a good tutorial about drawing hills and sand dunes, I could use it!

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## Tiana

Look at how other people have drawn hills and try copying them on a separate piece of paper until you find a style that works! It's a little too simple to do a proper tutorial for... it's either just an upside down U shape with some shading on one side, or an upside down U shape except a bit more peaky, with an S shape to indicate the outflow of the dune. And when I say a U, it's a bit more spread out than a U, imagine if you filled a U up with sand and now it's bulging kind of.

Much simpler than a mountain, you only do one shading bit on most hills, and the only difference between a hill and a dune is that a dune has a curved peak instead of a rounded top, and a dune's shading will be more of an S.

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## Skaald

Labeling is partly done and the mountains are rising.



Détail on the big wall in Ascalon.



I only have the camera of the phone, so that's why my pictures aren't really good.

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## Skaald

Here is the WIP right now. The massive Shiverpeaks in the center are done, so as the Strie Mountains at the East. Kingdom of Ascalon is done, except for the details of the Great Northern Wall (which is strangely at the very middle of the Kingdom but that's how it is in the game). Vegetation is missing for now, I'm trying to figure how to make tree and forests.



 Thanks for the tip about hills Tiana, the few I did are convincing I think. I still struggle to make sand dunes tho.

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## Skaald

Time for trees now!

Tribut to Impractical Cartographer must be done, because it's his style I'm trying to convoque here. I wasn't sure big layers of forest will do on this map so let's go for millions of individual trees. I think in those 20 first minutes I had lost 5 points on my sight.

Forest of pines


Tempered forest


Mixed one


I still have to find a style for tropical forest because there is a huge one on the west of the map.

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## Arimel

While eye sight loss is bad, be prepared for the handcramp soon to follow! This is looking really good and is an ambitious style you are tackling!

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## Impractical Cartographer

For drawing small trees, I definitely recommend a lamp with a magnifying glass.  :Smile:

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## squeen

I really like the look of the moutains on your map and started looking closely at the shadows.  Do you use an ink wash to achieve that?

I tried to copy it and then wondered further...why are the shadows darker at the top?  That's sort of an inverse effect vs. how one would shade a figure-drawing.  

So I tried it the other way (darker lower) than that didn't work because then the shadow doesn't blend well into the white land.  So, in a crazy little experiment, I gave the mountains cast-shadow "tails".

What do you think? (I mean, I know they look weird...)

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## Skaald

No ink for the shading, is just regular pencil (2B) with almost no pressure a te bottom and a lot of pressure at the top.

I honestly don't know why I shade my mountain this way but I have two or three explanations : 

1° I do not draw very well : I can copy thinks and know if it work or not but I don't really perceive my mountains as 3D objetcs. It's just three lines with one blanck and the other with a shadow. Maybe a long time ago I tried to do a mountain this way, and I stick with it know !
2° I had the same problem as you to blend the mountains with white top / shaded base on the map. So I ended up shading it with my finger, it was messy and I thought : Hey, it's better when the dark is UP ! (not thninking about well logic, sun, hightness and so on)
3° I think that's how the mountains are drawed by Tolkien in the middle Earth maps. Or, that's how I percieved it when I first tried to impress that style.

I'll try to reverse the shadowing next projet I do !

As for your mountains, I think they're not bad at all but maybe you could add some texture on the ground, and make the shadow wider (because I think the angle of view of the mountains doesn't match the shadow one). hope I'm clear !

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## Skaald

> For drawing small trees, I definitely recommend a lamp with a magnifying glass.


That's a futur gift I subtly try to obtain from my wife. Subtly as "in an awkward and insisting way"

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## squeen

I think your "dark-up" shadowing definately looks great (which I why I tried to copy it!).

You did invoke Tolkien, which for me wins any argument, but here's one additional potential rationalization of the light.   The moutain is darker near the top because it's STEEPER, and as it rolls off it "sees" more of the ambient sky-light and is lighter.  It's more of surface-angle dome-light issue than a point light-source i.e. the sun.

Eh? Maybe?

Either way, your map is looking great.  And you are right, I do struggle with the mountains-on-a-map-as-a-perspective vs. mountains-as-icons.  The temptation for the simulationist in me is to draw the satellite-view style ranges, but I just don't like how that looks as much.

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## squeen

FWIW here's another variant with darkness based on steepness + some ink-hatching to add some texture.  
Note: I am nowhere near as neat as you.  :Razz: 



Thanks for the inspiration!

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## Skaald

The south half of the Kingdom of Ascalon is done. I don't know yet if I ink the roads or not, I don't want to overcharge the map but I feel they add life.

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## Skaald

Do someone have an idea on the manner of drawing a tropical forest in the style I have chosen for this map? I want to draw individual trees, not layers of forest. So I'm searching how to make forest more tropical but I struggle. For now I have this design for lonely trees :



But it doesn't work very well in large packs. Any suggestions?

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## Greason Wolfe

You could try mixing in some palm and/or cocaunut trees. That and having more than one version of each tree would help. A few shapes for each type of tree you want to use would help break up the "patterning" to some extent.

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## rdanhenry

Maybe add some undergrowth? While the canopy is where most of the tree leaves are, there are typically shade-dwelling plants on the ground.

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## Skaald

Ascalon is fully done and so as the northern lands. I plan to add a massive forest in the northeast corner, behind the compass.

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## squeen

Looking great!

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## Skaald

Hi fellow cartographers. I could use some help. 
I'm currently doing some thinking about what's next on my Tyria map. (Even if I have not finished, by far, all the forests)

I'm working on the south desert to change my mind and my tests are quite satisfying for my level : 


I'm also researching a way to texture the wide blank spaces on my map : the littles dots looks well on the desert, but I struggle to find someting for the white faces of my mountains. Do someone have an idea of texturing this ? Or should I let it plain white ? I don't know what is best.

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## Skaald

Some other landscapes :

The beginning of a tropical forest
 

The wasted land of Orr


The dunes of the Crystal Desert

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## Skaald

I was moving recently so I couldn't progress on my cartographic projects as I wanted. Here I am with my Tyria map, the rainforest on the north is spreading.


Details :


It's basically practice at a large scale, as you can see there is several techniques I tried. I'm not entirely satisfied but I think drawing individual massive trees and then drown them in the normal tree forest could work. I tried to let them '' pop'' a bit, not connecting the normal tree forest lines with the big ones. Not sure it work but I hope coloring help with the legibility.

Comments and critics appreciated and wanted!

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## Arimel

Good to see this progressing again! This map looks amazing. I think the big trees look pretty good.

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## Adfor

The big trees are different, I love the vines. This is becoming a real stunner, great choices in distribution of elements, and the titling is well thought out.

IR

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## Skaald

Im currently working on the western jungle, the forest of Maguuma. In game, this biome us divided in two layers : on the eights the land is rocky, dusty, and large canyons are spreading across. And in the bottom of those canyons, jungle blossom. I tried to illustrate this peculiar landscape, and if Im a bit disappointed for now, I hope the colouring will bring some contrast.



There is also a bit dof palm trees from the  south coast of Kryta.

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## Skaald

I spotted some brown paper in an art shop and I remembered some maps seen here, like thoses few by ThomasR (https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...169#post436169). I reaaaally like this style, I find it very beautiful in it's simplicity, plus the fact to work with shadows and light is a godd exercice to understand how light works in our maps.

I wanted to do something quick and new this afternoon do I tried this new style. The map is not finished but it's more like a practise exercise than an project itself. It’s far from perfect offre course but I’m quite satisfied with this try ! What do you think ?

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## ThomasR

Great job ! I really like the choice you did with the compass shading, just highlights conveys the metal feel of it. And of course, the border is marvelous  :Wink:

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## Skaald

Hi everybody. I didnt had a lot of time recently, I had some adventures in real world, changing houses, a new work, and dealing with the pandemic here in French Guyana. So I didnt map a lot (I was running for the Lite challenge but I did nothing). I just grasped some time here and there and my Tyria map is quite progressing. Here is the large view :



And some details : 

The large jungle of Maguuma, at the bottom of dry badlands 


The Shiverpeaks and theirs forests of pine trees 


The Kingdom of Ascalon and the Great Northern Wall


An unnamed bog near the massive delta of a river


The compass

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## wminish

This is looking great. I really like the way you've created a separation between the jungle and the higher plateaus and mountains.

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## Skaald

I’m currently living in french Guyana (South america), and I go back in France to see friends and family soon. We did some bottles of flavoured rhum with my wife, and I’m exercising to do the labels. It’s my first try, I’m very pleased with the result . I have to work on the banner effect and the calligraphy of course.

I should make the city named Rhum pop a bit more I guess.

The title says : All roads leads to Rhum (Roma and rhum have the same sound in French), and the cities are names of various drinks.



Sorry for the tilted picture, I don’t understand why it’s like that. On my phone the picture is not tilted.

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## Skaald

Here are two labels completed (almost, the first lack some border work) I did them in black and white because I want to scan them and print them on brown paper. From there I can print a few of the labels and finish them with the white lighting.

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