Random Region Map I did during couple of breaks

[Ilgoth]

As the title suggests, I drew this random regional map over my university during breaks. Had just a regular pen and one ink at my disposal.

I wanted to share this, since I never had clear thought of how I would draw differnet elements. Always picked the style that came up to me. Would you cool folks spot some errors and mistakes? Obviously some lines are badly drawn, and the mountains were drawn in too small scale.



Sorry for the lack of compass and frames.

[jshoer]

Hey Ilgoth, this is great! I am always happy to see pen-and-ink stuff from kindred spirits at the guild. That medium comes with its own set of challenges, and you've probably identified the biggest one: planning things out ahead!

I think you have a terrific set of styles going on here. I don't even mind that the mountains are small - that could just be how they are represented. An alternative point of view is that your forests are rather large. Actually, I'd point to the forests as a bit more jarring than the mountains, because the tree trunks seem kind of...basic. Personally, I'd make them smaller.

As for spotting mistakes, you have a few funny mountain geometries (mountain ranges don't come together in a "T"), and a lake is probably not going to have two outflows.

Don't change a thing about your coastlines. You did a great job of having the coasts include features at a variety of scales, and I like the way you shaded in the water's edge.

[- Max -]

Some pleasant style. There probably a couple of elements that could be improved but you're definitely on a right track with it.

[Ilgoth]

Thank you @jshoer and @- Max - for comments!

I think you are spot on with forests. When I made them, I felt my ink pen was way too thick for that kind of tree trunks and I kept slipping all the time. After making two of those forests, I kind of gave up with it and just went with box like trunks beneath, which then came out as too tall and thus making forests look that big.

Thank you for letting me know about lake outflows, I didn't know this but after looking my homeland's map, it seems to apply.

Guess I need to study mountains more and once I feel I understood the right geometry, I propably should re-do this one and see the difference.

[Deadshade]

Guess I need to study mountains more and once I feel I understood the right geometry, I propably should re-do this one and see the difference.

There are plenty of tutorials and posts about this subject.
It is not a question of geometry but tectonics. Mountain ranges (a range = many connected mountains) arise when 2 tectonic plates collide. As the surface of contact goes broadly along a line, the result is that mountain ranges are always linear, or better said, multilinear with several roughly parallel ranges (like wrinkles in a carpet).
That's why that exotic range shapes like T's, circles, squares and such generally don't exist in a realistic settings. If you don't care for realistic settings then anything goes.

I would join the rest by saying that your forests look too big.
On the other hand as I also belong to those who consider that hand and pencil are the best Tools to create pictures, I can only applaud your hand drawn mapping attempt.

[Ilgoth]

I would join the rest by saying that your forests look too big.
On the other hand as I also belong to those who consider that hand and pencil are the best Tools to create pictures, I can only applaud your hand drawn mapping attempt.

Thanks for the feedback. Will look into teutonics! Also I need to think about forests, maybe a slightly different style and aiming for better trunks.

[Sanderling]

This is a beautiful hand-drawn map, and I would definitely encourage you to continue developing your style.

As others have mentioned, the tree trunks really jumped out at me--not only for being large in themselves, but for giving a strangely elevated, "platform" look to your forests. You can probably minimize or remove the trunks and your foliage will still easily read as forest-y.

As for looking into Teutonics, that will be interesting reading, but for mountains you should start with tectonics. The Teutonics come much later.

[Ilgoth]

This is a beautiful hand-drawn map, and I would definitely encourage you to continue developing your style.

As others have mentioned, the tree trunks really jumped out at me--not only for being large in themselves, but for giving a strangely elevated, "platform" look to your forests. You can probably minimize or remove the trunks and your foliage will still easily read as forest-y.

As for looking into Teutonics, that will be interesting reading, but for mountains you should start with tectonics. The Teutonics come much later.

Hahahha, I didn't even realise the error. Guess I give in to this black magic called "tectonics" then.

Thanks for the feedback.