FEB 2016 CHALLENGE: The Goblin Emperor

[xpian]

Some fantasy novels have gorgeous maps in them, many of which have been done by members of this guild. Others have sadly rudimentary maps or no maps at all, and these works of fiction can almost be heard, if you listen closely enough, to be crying out, "Map me! Map me, O cartographers!"

I recently read the excellent fantasy novel The Goblin Emperor, c. 2014 by Katherine Addison. It received the Locus Fantasy Novel award, as well as being nominated for the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy awards -- which, if you know anything about Sci-Fi and Fantasy, is a big deal. It's well-written, compelling, and engrossing, and I recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys fantasy literature.

What's it about? "The book tells the story of Maia, a young man of mixed Elven and Goblin heritage, who unexpectedly becomes Emperor of the Elflands, and has to contend with the court's Byzantine power structure as well as racial and social tension in his realm."

Now, despite having constructed a rich, intricate, and highly-detailed world, Katherine Addison (the pen name of Sarah Monette) did not include a map of that world in the book. She was clearly thinking about it, though, because if you go to her web site you can find this:


As someone who has done a number of maps for novelists in the past, I can attest that this is a perfectly fine map for what it does. It helps the author keep locations straight in their head, calculate relative distances, etc. All in service of the novel's story. But when it comes to publication and distribution, you're going to want something quite a bit more sharply illustrated.

So it comes to me, as I have chosen, to take up this challenge--and take up this author's sketch--and put my best efforts into illuminating it in a cartographic, fantastical sense. Here is the first sketch, showing mostly the great rivers of the Elflands and the stately mountains from which they flow. I'm building on the author's framework, keeping everything in place as she had put it.

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[ChickPea]

Nice choice! It's going to be especially interesting to see you develop it from the author's rudimentary sketch.

I think I'm going to enjoy this one!

[Diamond]

Never heard of or read this book, but if your map is good enough I may have to.

...and why is a male goblin elf (gobelf? elflin?) named Maia?

[xpian]

Yeah...that's just his name. Struck me as a normally feminine name as well. Lots of good and interesting names in the book.

[DanielHasenbos]

This looks like it's going to be interesting. I like how you draw the map directly over the author's sketch

-Dan

[xpian]

I'm working on a slightly newer, modified technique for the mountains. A different method of filling in the ridge lines. Here's a detail image:


I'm planning on a fun, steampunkish-fantasy border for the map, in keeping with the setting of the novel.

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[Chick]

Mini-peaks everywhere Looks great!

[snodsy]

Like your new mountains, I can see the steampunk look in these, cool that you keep pushing your skills.

[Ilanthar]

Impressive mountains!

[xpian]

I've spent some time giving the mountains highlights and shadow. It's fun to turn off the ink layer and just look at the result of the overlay. I wonder if I should just go forward with the mountains without the ink "skeleton" that they're based on?




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