Tired of my "Cartoony" looking maps. HELP!

[Redleg]

Currently, my style seems to look pretty cartoony. Its hard to have a gritty feel and story to a world that looks like its all sunshine and rainbows. How can I adapt my style to make it darker/realistic? Any feedback is appreciated!

Here's some of my previous maps.

[arsheesh]

Well I'd like to say that there is nothing wrong with a cartoony style per se (yours is quite charming), but you are right that it is not well suited for a gritty campaign. Best advice I can give is to spend some time studying other hand drawn styles that you think evoke the sort of mood you aspire to in your own maps. For instance when I think of gritty fantasy some of Djekspeks maps immediately spring to mind (e.g. this one, this one, this one and this one). Of course, DJ's maps are colored and drawn digitally, but pay attention to the line-work - the jagged edges of cliffs, the needle and claw-like features inherent in the landscape and the surrounding architecture, the layers of thin lines that make up the texture of the land - it all gives the impression that this is dark and perilous land.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Redleg]

Thanks so much for the advice. I'll be looking into some of the darker styles I've come across. (My worldbuilding/Inspiration folder is about 10GB now. lol)

[J.Edward]

Djekspeks maps immediately spring to mind. Of course, DJ's maps are colored and drawn digitally

Arsheesh really hit the nail on the head with that. You can't diminish the value of color on the mood of a piece.
I think you could make one hand drawn piece look a number of different ways based on how you chose to color and texture it.
How saturated or desaturated the colors, if a dirty gritty texture or parchment background is used.
I don't think there's anything wrong with your drawing style - it's just a bit harder to get gritty from black and white, especially when done as traditional work.
It can be done with B&W but it will require a LOT more work. More dark black, like black seas, lots of shadow and little sketchy texture lines and dots.
It's far easier to do that stuff as post-process work in an image editor.

[Durakken]

The main issue is that most of your stuff is bubbly. So the first step is toning down the bubbles and up the sharpness.
Use a straight edge for things that are supposed to be straight like the compass.
Work on your shading. How you're shading right now will only result in a cartoony feel
The plains, hilly area is way too packed with hilly icons.
Your trees need to be more sharply trees rather than like a balloon or wavy which it looks like now.
Your buildings need crisper detail.

Speculation... You are using a ballpoint pen. Stop doing this. It is the cause of much of your problems I would suspect, because it is too thick and round for most people to do anything other than undefined bubblish cartoon looking things.
Along with that, work on line variation. That is to say work at making your lines change width both in a single line and from line to line.

[J.Edward]

The main issue is that most of your stuff is bubbly. So the first step is toning down the bubbles and up the sharpness.
Use a straight edge for things that are supposed to be straight like the compass.
Work on your shading. How you're shading right now will only result in a cartoony feel
The plains, hilly area is way too packed with hilly icons.
Your trees need to be more sharply trees rather than like a balloon or wavy which it looks like now.
Your buildings need crisper detail.

Speculation... You are using a ballpoint pen. Stop doing this. It is the cause of much of your problems I would suspect, because it is too thick and round for most people to do anything other than undefined bubblish cartoon looking things.
Along with that, work on line variation. That is to say work at making your lines change width both in a single line and from line to line.

Sounds quite harsh to me.
And no, he's not using a ballpoint. He's using a Micron and Copics, as he stated. Not ballpoints.

EDIT - My mistake.

[Chick]

Sounds quite harsh to me...

Sometimes just telling what you think may sound harsh when it is just intended to be what you think. I don't see anywhere stated what pen/device is being used, but I agree the thick lines look too consistent and heavy. We all look for good advice around here and if it isn't couched in gentle terms, it can still be good advice without being intended as harsh.

[Durakken]

Sounds quite harsh to me.

Not harsh. He asked for advice on how to stop being cartoony. The things I mentioned makes things look cartoony. I personally like the way the maps look, save for the overuse of hills.

And no, he's not using a ballpoint. He's using a Micron and Copics, as he stated. Not ballpoints.

Not only did he not say that, those words are only mentioned by you on this page.
If he is using those types of pen, it was speculation based on how it looks. And while line consistency is impressive, the lack of sharpness and detail indicates a problem in using them. Either way, fixed by working line variation.
And if he mentioned that on some other page or removed where he said. I can't help that.

[- Max -]

Actually Redleg stated he used a micron in another thread were J. Discussed with him, hence the comment I guess. Just remember that we're on an Internet forum where people can hear the tone of your voice, see your face feelings etc. In short see that you're a nice and helpful people . So sometimes just some thoughts intended to help can sounds harsh because of that.

[J.Edward]

Yep, Max is correct. My mistake here. It was stated in Red's other thread, which I had responded to just prior to this.
So my apologies for that Durakken.

Line variation with a Micron is not at all an easy thing. It isn't like a quill or brush, where more pressure/less pressure will result in a varying thickness of line.
Microns are intended for technical illustration and as such they aren't supposed to deviate in that manner. You can do it but it is working at cross purposes to the device.

So if you, Red, want to get more line variation you would maybe have to consider some other type of pen/device for your line work.