New to cartography

[JSP]

I usually do three general types of maps, and that dictates the relative scale. The first is large areas, think continents and multi-nation maps. The second is smaller, usually centred around a single city with some of the surrounding countryside. The last is for villages where there are only a few buildings and terrain features. For each of them, I just wing it. There is a balance between filling the map entirely and having too much blank space. It really depends on how you envision it looking. The very few times where I have mapped places that have an actual, pre existing scale, it was a lot of using rulers and dividers to get it all right. Once you have the proportions set, you only need to make sure that your forests and mountains and the like are not overflowing from where they are supposed to be. Of course, the size of the paper will determine the size of the drawing. When I drew a map of Middle Earth, it was extremely difficult to fit everything, so I had to shrink my mountains and trees and words to fit. Even so, it seems rather cramped. If I have a large amount of information to map, I sometimes draw one large map, spanning multiple pages, with only the necessary details and most prominent features. From there, I draw smaller scale (less distance covered on the page) with more detail.

For paper, I use a lot of Southworth fine parchment paper in the Ivory colour, although it also comes in gold, blue, grey, and copper. It is a little on the expensive side, but it produces a great old world feel with minimal effort. After drawing the map, I seal it with an amber shellac (one of the ~3 colours they seem to make) applied delicately with a rag in random, blotting motions.

Cheers!

JSP

[Amatuer113]

Mister JSP, Where do you get the amber shellac? Do you make it?