Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: I am recreating my map of Westeros. Here's progress so far.

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Guild Novice
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    State College, PA
    Posts
    10

    Wip I am recreating my map of Westeros. Here's progress so far.

    I've previously posted a map of the North I created last summer. One of the comments I received was "why not do all of Westeros?"

    So now I am I will also be adding Essos soon.

    .

    This map is being created at a very high-resolution. The printed final version will be about 8ft tall.

    My goal is to recreate this fictional world with as much realism as possible, making the viewer forget that they're not looking at a real place. For this reason, I've emphasized the terrain by using the same processes I do for maps of real locations.

    The next steps before I move on to labels and political features will be to add additional landscape textures, details along the shore, and an indication of various depths in the ocean.

    Just thought I would share these early stages of progress. I welcome any criticism and feedback you might have.

    Thanks for taking a look!

    - Josh

  2. #2
    Guild Apprentice
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Minneapolis, MN
    Posts
    32

    Default

    Wow, it's incredible. 8 ft tall? I think my computer would fry trying to process that. May I ask what program you used to create those kinds of textures? The only thing I noticed that stood out was that the snow line seemed a little "sharp" dividing the continents. Overall, it's a beautiful map!

  3. #3
    Publisher Facebook Connected bartmoss's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Berlin, Germany
    Posts
    904
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    Cool project - could you post a small section at higher res please? Also, I understand you are an actual cartographer?

  4. #4
    Guild Novice
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    State College, PA
    Posts
    10

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by daemaree View Post
    Wow, it's incredible. 8 ft tall? I think my computer would fry trying to process that. May I ask what program you used to create those kinds of textures? The only thing I noticed that stood out was that the snow line seemed a little "sharp" dividing the continents. Overall, it's a beautiful map!
    Thanks, and I appreciate the feedback! I'm still grappling with that area a bit since the way it is described in the book makes it sound like a really harsh division between the frozen north and the southern areas (there's a massive wall dividing the two). But I think your comment is spot on and it may be a good idea to soften that up a bit.

    Quote Originally Posted by bartmoss View Post
    Cool project - could you post a small section at higher res please?
    Absolutely - here is s closer view:

    Quote Originally Posted by bartmoss View Post
    Also, I understand you are an actual cartographer?
    Yes, I am a professional cartographer with a background in geography and GIS.

    Thanks again
    Last edited by stevensj2; 07-29-2012 at 05:07 PM.

  5. #5

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by stevensj2 View Post
    Thanks, and I appreciate the feedback! I'm still grappling with that area a bit since the way it is described in the book makes it sound like a really harsh division between the frozen north and the southern areas (there's a massive wall dividing the two). But I think your comment is spot on and it may be a good idea to soften that up a bit.
    The division is not described so harsh in the book at all. Its cold but there are rivers and forests so I would move up the white areas a bit more.
    I guess this map http://gamesofthrones.com/wp-content...esterosMap.jpg gives a good example.

    It also depends which season you want to depict your map

  6. #6
    Guild Novice
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    State College, PA
    Posts
    10

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Moskva View Post
    The division is not described so harsh in the book at all. Its cold but there are rivers and forests so I would move up the white areas a bit more.
    See that's the difficult part: The Wall is made of ice, so it would not make sense for a giant frozen wall 300 miles wide to be admist green, lush forest. The Wolfswood does continue up to and slightly beyond The Wall, but I think this area of the forest is likely to be quite snowy still - something like this, if it were real.

    I think the snow in my WIP can definitely be lessened and spread out a bit, but I don't believe this area should be completely devoid of snow and ice, as depicted in Tear's map.
    Last edited by stevensj2; 07-30-2012 at 02:00 PM.

  7. #7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by stevensj2 View Post
    See that's the difficult part: The Wall is made of ice, so it would not make sense for a giant frozen wall 300 miles wide to be admist green, lush forest. The Wolfswood does continue up to and slightly beyond The Wall, but I think this area of the forest is likely to be quite snowy still - something like this, if it were real.

    I think the snow in my WIP can definitely be lessened and spread out a bit, but I don't believe this area should be completely devoid of snow and ice, as depicted in Tear's map.
    Well a wall made of ice is impossible anyways, I consider it something magical. Ice under pressure, even when it is not melting, has a plasticity over time that causes it to flow. So, the Wall wouldn't even have to melt with high temperatures, it would simply ooze downward over time.

    Next to that if everything north of the wall would be permafrost how would there be still so many people living there and such dense forests.

    Guess its not called fantasy for nothing aye?

    Next to that there's are the extremely long seasons. Even Winterfell seems permafrost during the winter years.

  8. #8
    Community Leader Lukc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Seoul, South Korea
    Posts
    1,573

    Default

    So how are you modelling the terrain, if I may ask?

  9. #9
    Guild Novice
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    State College, PA
    Posts
    10

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Lukc View Post
    So how are you modelling the terrain, if I may ask?
    It's a combination of shaded relief generation and tinting done with GIS software. I get this question a lot so I've started writing a tutorial that shows how to do it.

    It's in the works but not finished yet. I'm hoping to get it wrapped up before the summer comes to a close!

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •