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I think an interesting illustration of this is a map we are all familiar with, Tolkein's map for The Hobbit. The stuff he want's mysterious he puts in runes, and those he wants informative he puts in English.
Maps are always about interaction between visual elements and informations. If your purpose is to have an informative map, known languages are obviously better. If your purpose is to produce a piece of art, to suggest questioning, to create an atmosphere, to call mystery or to propose a riddle to solve... then everything is possible. I can confess my heart always melt a little when I see a map with any kind of cryptic alphabet ('love them a lot ^^), being imaginary, coming from old ages or foreing languages. But I also know it's not always appreciated, depending on the context. A matter of taste, I guess
Anyway... you already know what I think about your work, IC. You're among the giants, and I'm always a fan : those close-ups are just a candy for eyes ! ^^
I think an interesting illustration of this is a map we are all familiar with, Tolkein's map for The Hobbit. The stuff he want's mysterious he puts in runes, and those he wants informative he puts in English.
I just want to add to the chorus here: your maps are amazing and beautiful! I hardly think you need to improve on order to clear some bar - only to continue improving as we all seek to do.
My main suggestion for you is to find other members of the Guild working in traditional media, and see if there are features of their maps that you like. Other than that, just keep experimenting with techniques! Lots of Guild members have a workshop thread where they post small studies and ideas, and solicit feedback.
On scripts, I think the reference to the Hobbit map is a great idea. Think about what information or artistic features you want the map to represent rather than making an arbitrary decision. There's no across-the-board rule.
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You have a unique style and it's a very effective one. I'm enjoying both your thread and art, here.
Ok. I am calm. I'm breathing deeply.
Ctrl + Z and Undo command not working.
And now, seriously. How do you deal with these situations?I always want to yell and curse.
Arghf...
Usually leaving the room and go out for a walk : fresh air helps. Once back in the office, ideally the day after, trying to fake it never happened and I have to start the map/drawing for the first time
Good luck ! ^^
Glue and a paper patch? That's why I work digitally, though... undo! undo!
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Ouch! One of the problems of working on paper. Despite its delights the pain can be overwhelming. I have had a pen burst on me before (never draw in an airplane with a fineliner is the lesson I learned).
Going back to one of your questions on the first page, you were looking for people giving tutorials etc. on traditional mapping or hand drawing. You probably have heard of WASD20 or Questing Beast on Youtube but in case you have not they have several series on how to draw maps and is how I got interested in this hobby. I think you may be beyond their abilities though. Your maps are amazing!
Burn it! Burn it with fire!
What I've done before is cut out that section of paper (I make sure to keep things square because it makes things much easier) and replace it with the matching paper being sure to match the grain direction (if the paper has one). To do this I laid the paper face down on a work section with the hole cut out of it and put the new patch in the area then glue on backing strips over the seams and let dry. You should end up with an even surface and then you just have to redo the work.
Alternatively you could find some way to incorporate it into your map. That mistake has some aesthetic appeal.
Last edited by Falconius; 01-13-2020 at 08:20 AM.
You know I think your work is amazing, and I think you have a distinct style which is awesome. I can always identify your maps when they pop up on my Instagram. As to your question I honestly spent a lot of time tracing the work of others that I really admired in order to figure out how they were drawing certain elements. Most of the time there aren't tutorials for exactly what I'm looking for so I usually just have to figure it out. Copying for the purpose of learning is one of the most valuable things you can do in my opinion.
