The World of Heima
Author Shawn Gunn commissioned me to make this map for his upcoming novel (link to novel page:*www.swgunn.com/heima )
I’m a fan of the black and white look. I enjoy the crispness of the lines and the discipline of the aesthetic
As usual, I had a great time drawing the mountains. The process is enjoyable and algorithmic. I just enjoy looking at them as I draw them. I tried to put some extra detail lines on the shady side of the peaks.
The border was a bit of an exploration. I’m getting more complex with borders, but I still don't want them to overwhelm the map itself. I think it works in this map, but I expect my next iteration will be more thematically unified.
I used a new technique on the forests, and I like the way they came out. This involved drawing around ten trees and then cloning and re-arranging them many times to form the border of the forest, overlapping them tree-by-tree and cleaning up the results by hand. It’s one of the few parts of this map that involves repeating bits of art instead of drawing by hand. Yes, the trees look a little "large" compared to the mountains, but it's not a satellite view, after all. Maps are symbolic, and these features, especially in a fantasy/medieval map, are meant to convey the most important and relevant information to the viewer.
If you look carefully, you’ll see where I’ve not only snuck the rivers under the tree tops, but also slipped them behind mountain peaks in a way I hope sells the illusion of the rivers lying on the landscape and carving into it.
When I have a little more time I may do a nice color wash version of the map, putting some tones in behind the hard black lines.
As is usual for me, the hand-drawn features are all done in ProCreate on an iPad using an Adonis Jot Touch stylus. Text and some minor layer styles are done in Photoshop.
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