Easy part first, you communicated well.
When I was in Architecture School, I worked on an Urban Infill project in a ‘historic neighborhood’ (putting a new building on a vacant lot between two old buildings). I faithfully reproduced the segmented arch windows that dominated the neighborhood to help my design blend with the character of the area. It was heavily criticized by my peers and the guest reviewer (and rightly so) for intellectual dishonesty.
I had forgotten that this is not 1890. Even if every window as far as the eye could see was an 1890 window or modern reproduction of an 1890 window, I was a Twentieth Century (then) ‘Architect’ and this was a building that needed to reflect the current ‘volksgeist’ [I can use the term since outside of urban planners, you will understand its meaning – ‘Spirit of the People’ for everyone else] not the spirit of another age.
This is not the Sixteenth Century. So we can learn from the Renaissance masters, admire their work, incorporate their techniques (and reinterpret them with modern equipment), but we have an obligation to ourselves to also reflect our age (or the age that we are trying to capture for some fantasy work). We work so hard at the Cartographers Guild to ‘age’ the paper and capture the spirit of another era, that it sometimes feels like THIS age, our own era is being short changed.
That is why I am attracted to innovation. I search for inspiration for the next millennium.
I am glad to see from your post that I did not offend you. That was not my intent. Your compass rose was a beautiful composition, rich in detail, subtle in color. A peak of modern technical excellence and fully deserving to win the silver compass.
I’d love to see a version of it that you feel would work on a plan of a floating airport or a map of the first lunar outpost or a flying city served by airships (the 1930s Future) – something to reflect ANYTHING but the Renaissance. [This is strictly 100% my personal opinion and taste.]