Armithrea.

[geth]

I received a very cordial welcome from this board, so I hope that I can participate in some way by sharing what I'm working on.

Armithrea is a dream world, literally. One of those once in a life time, holy-cow-I-remember-everything dreams. The people, the political system, the hows and whys of their history, everything. I've been trying to do justice to the dream for four years now. This is the first large-scale map I've attempted in any format, and I apologize for the quality, as scanners are not terribly kind to pencils, especially when trying to stitch together a very large picture on a very small scanner.

The subcontinent is isolated, geographically and culturally. There is a single ruling family in the capital, but the nation was strung together out of very disparate families. The four major Thrones each preside over smaller Houses, and the Firsts of the Thrones and Houses form the Hamaika, the Eleven, with the King acting as arbiter. To the east of the mountains reside a nomadic people that move throughout their territories in a cyclical pattern, much like the kula ring of the Trobriand islands near Papua New Guinea. Their contact with the Armithrean subcontinent is unfortunately often aggressive.

My hesitation with this map is in representation; I am unsure how to proceed with symbolically presenting grasslands, for example, since I cannot simply colour it in with a lighter green. The work is obviously unfinished, and my thanks for any comments or suggestions that you might provide.

[mearrin69]

Well, for a start, it looks beautiful already - I'm a sucker for a hand-drawn map. First suggestion is to take a look around at some of the finished maps to see if anyone's already done what you're looking for...and then copy that style. Next, give us more information: do you want a painted look? Textured? Clean and bright or grungy and dark?

Have some rep for posting a map right away (and such a good one at that!)
M

[Dain]

It looks good indeed.
If you think about only doing the map by hand I recommend to have a look around here, there are a lot of good artists. I don't have any link to propose you unfortunately but what I can do is link this, beautiful artworks from DevianArt
http://fragless.deviantart.com/art/M...Eltar-28208522
http://goldenwolf.deviantart.com/art...-Map-116923982

They shoud give you some ideas I'm sure

[Diamond]

I like hand-drawn maps as well, and this one promises to be fantastic. The mountain layout and look is awesome, as are the forests, and the general 'feel' of the landmass. That shape just feels... right, I guess is the best way to put it.

The only flaw I see is your rivers on the subcontinent. Unless those are purposely-created canals, the layout is... implausible. As the mantra goes around here, "When you think of a river system, think of a tree - one trunk (the main river that empties into the sea/lake) and many branches (the tributaries that feed into the main river)." Rivers in the real world join together as they flow from higher elevations to lower, following the path of least resistance. They very, very, very rarely split - one path is always going to be 'easier' for the water to flow down, so if something splits a river, eventually, the 'harder' route is going to dry up as the river follows the easier course.

[rdanhenry]

I'm liking the style, too, but I have to admit one of my first thoughts was "Time for another exciting episode of 'River Police'!"

As for grassland, that's generally treated as default terrain and left blank on this style of map. Mountains, hills, forests, swamps, deserts are usually it for marked terrain/cover. Even differentiating different types of forest is getting somewhat advanced. I also think it helps the appearance not to overdue the terrain features; a map can get too busy to look its best.

[geth]

Thank you very much for the links and suggestions.

I'd read more than a few episodes of River Police: This Time It's Personal, and had tried to made some adjustments before presenting the first draft, but I knew that what I'd come up with was not going to pass muster. It looks as if my dream-self didn't pay as much attention as it could have in Earth Science. I'm going to see what I can do to keep the same general 'shape' of the river-system while being more faithful to reality.

[geth]

Update or necrobump, either/or!

Thank you to everyone who linked and referenced all the river information, I tried to implement as much of the information I could while still keeping the general placement of the water systems.

I'd wanted to use watercolours to paint the map, but since I didn't have the foresight to draw on watercolour paper, I've decided to try my hand at Corel Painter (which I haven't used in ten? years, good Lord).

[Aenigma]

I really like your drawing-style!
It reminds me - ever so slightly - of a map I once did myself (though I did mine in ms paint xD). The general shape of the lands west of those big mountains in the middle is what I'm talking about.

Also, I would really like to see a version with a higher resolution so that I can zoom in and read all the names and stuff

Can't wait to see more!

[Diamond]

Rivers look great!

I agree with Aenigma; I'd like to see a higher resolution copy.

[Steel General]

Nice! Looking forward to the finished version.