Surroundings of a fallen empire

[Lingon]

So, I began sketching a new map… I’ll be posting the progress here

First I made a rough sketch of the continent I’ll be drawing. I intend it to cover most of a hemisphere, so the mountains and rivers and all that will be shrunk to more realistic sizes. I'm not sure on the orientation, but I think it'll be this way.


Then I spent a long time trying to decide what kind of projection to use. In the end I chose one I liked the look of, and it is for hemispheres so it suits this project. Being a cartography noob, I thought it looked easy to draw as well. It was hard…
But I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I only have the non-inked grid so far, but I’ll show it. Here it is:


Now some backstory. Basically this is a planet that was hit by a massive meteor, which caused the spin to change and lock it to always show the same side to it’s sun. It’s got a really strong magnetic field to protect it from the constant radiation, and it’s probably a bit further away from the sun than the Earth is. There are some civilizations in the dusk/dawn areas. I’ll be mapping the dayside, since the nightside is uncharted. It also makes a more interesting map, as the nightside would be pitch black

If anyone else wants to draw this kind of projection (is it called Wulff net? I think so) by hand, I came up with two equations to determine at what points the longitudes intersect the equator. There’s probably a better way, as this one requires you to draw the arcs freehand, but if no one finds it helpful it might at least be amusing how weirdly I did this. The equations are:

(r-36y)/9=x
(1/21)x=y

where r is the radius of the map and x the distance from the center to the first intersection. The distance to the next is then x+y, to the third it’s x+2y, and so on. Also note that it only works in maps where the lines are 10 degrees apart. I tried to make a general version, but… failed. Could make another try if anyone is interested.

Anyway, that was just a side note. Probably useless. Next I’ll start drawing the actual map

Thanks for looking!

[Antonehn]

The concept of this world sounds really interesting!
Looking forward to get to see more of it!

[Lingon]

Sorry for taking so long! Here's where I'm at now:


Maybe it's to fuzzy to see, but if you find anything I should change before inking it, I'd be glad to hear it!

[- Max -]

I don't think your planet grid is correct. Latitudes lines shouldn't be so curved at the poles...

[woomia]

They can be, since it's a global projection in 2d.

[- Max -]

Hmm not really convinced about that projection in 2d so but well it's a matter of taste I guess

[Lingon]

Well, the only tools I used were a ruler and a protractor to plot points, so the lines are not perfect, but I am pretty sure they should have that curve. Take a look at this old map with the same projection:
File:Novissima totius tarrarum orbis tabula, Auctore Hugonis Allardi.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
There are many like it on Wikimedia Commons and the longitudes and latitudes all look like this.

[Lingon]

Haha, I'm so slow at this, it's almost thread necromancy to update

The map is now inked, and the picture is quite a bit bigger (and clearer) so it should be easier to see.


Still not sure what to do with the space around the map, I just know I want something purely decorative there. My ideas are to either draw a few scenes or places from the world, or some ancient Greece-inspired statues that sort of hold up the map. I think I'll make some more sketches.