Nov / Dec 2015 Lite Challenge: Isle of Arran

[ChickPea]

I'm going to create a map of the Scottish island Arran. This is somewhere I visit at least once a year, and I've had a few memorable weekends! This is what is looks like...



You can see some pics of Arran looking particularly glorious here.

I'm going to try for a typical fantasy-style map. I like the idea of creating a fantasy map of a real world place and Arran's got mountains, forests, castles and standing stones, so it'll work really well.

I'm hoping to start tonight and will try to get something posted over the weekend. I've already snagged the island layout from an SVG on Wikipedia.

[Bogie]

Sounds great, looks like everyone is doing islands so far.

[ChickPea]

Well I finally have an update. My internet at home was really flaky during the week with continual disconnections, so I didn't want to try uploading. Instead, I kept working away, so I'm reasonably well ahead with this one now. This is what I have...

### Latest WIP ###



I have to confess that I've played a little fast and loose with the geography. Not too much, and mostly with the sources of rivers. This is because 1) Google Maps is such a pain in the rear, and 2) I am an idiot. So, ahem, let's call this Fantasy Arran, the kind you see after imbibing one too many island brews!!

I'm going to put something in the boxes in the corners, but haven't decided what yet. I'd like to add a couple of castles and some standing stones, but not sure whether to put them on the map itself, or in the corner boxes. I might make the boxes bigger too. I also have to do a cartouche, scale & compass.

But, this is where I'm at now.

[Bogie]

Coming along nice, my only advice (keeping in mind that I don't make this kind of map so I may not know what I'm talking about) is that there is a lot of unused space around the island, so I would make the island bigger or the frame smaller.

[ChickPea]

Yeah, this is a fair point, and I ran into this very issue in one of my previous maps.

Problem is, I want to have a fairly large cartouche, so I need to allow space for that, and the compass was going to fill the bottom right corner. I'm also going to attempt to draw the ferry (I forgot to say that in my previous comment.) I've done a rough mockup of what's going where. Does this look better or should I try to shrink it? There is still quite a bit of empty space at the top right & bottom left. Not sure what to do.

[AzurePlanet]

I like the idea to map a real world's land using a Fantasy style!
Maybe, I would have drawn also the layout of surrounding lands, just some faint shapes to suggest the idea that the island is not really insulated. This could also help to fill the blank space around Arran.

[soggymuse]

Looks good!

I'd like to add a couple of castles and some standing stones, but not sure whether to put them on the map itself, or in the corner boxes.

Ooh, ChickPea, why not do both? You could have the mini icons on the map itself, then "close-ups" in the corner boxes. I forget what they're called, but it's kind of like having a magnifying glass over the area, but pulled out to one side. You see them on science diagrams all the time. Does that make sense? Either way, I think it'd be neat to see the standing stones, especially.

[ChickPea]

I like the idea to map a real world's land using a Fantasy style!
Maybe, I would have drawn also the layout of surrounding lands, just some faint shapes to suggest the idea that the island is not really insulated. This could also help to fill the blank space around Arran.

The problem with that idea is that the mainland on the east is about 13 miles away, and the island itself is only about 10 miles wide. So I'd have to shrink everything down and lose a lot of detail in order to include some mainland areas. I could possibly include some land to the west and the top, though I'd need to check my scale. I have a feeling there would only be a small amount showing and most of it would be under the cartouche, so I don't feel I really gain anything with that, unfortunately. :/

I forgot that I need to include a scale as well as a compass, so I might put those in separate areas. Haven't decided yet. If it looks too empty after I've added all the various bits and pieces, I'll probably just crop out most of the blank areas, but I'll see how it goes.

Looks good!

Ooh, ChickPea, why not do both? You could have the mini icons on the map itself, then "close-ups" in the corner boxes. I forget what they're called, but it's kind of like having a magnifying glass over the area, but pulled out to one side. You see them on science diagrams all the time. Does that make sense? Either way, I think it'd be neat to see the standing stones, especially.

Thanks!

Haven't quite decided what to do. Since I have a lot of empty space, I might include little drawings in the space around the island instead of corner boxes, but I need to take another look at it and decide how to proceed.

[Bogie]

I think it is ok as is with other stuff to fill the space.

[Ilanthar]

It's looking good, with a consistent style. And concerning the "filling the blanks" part, sometimes it's the most fun part . Stay creative !