Continents and Island Framing shorelines

[Kellerica]

Likewise, I think focusing on the continent-scale also means you're dealing with fewer specifics details and more biome related. So you'll have a "coastal biome" and "mountain range" and major rivers vs. labeling every individual swamp, forest, creeks, streams, hill country.

An excellent point. This often comes down to technical restrictions too, when working digitally - if you create an enormous map and try to include every single detail like this, and label them too, you'll end up with a monstrosity of a file that will most likely make your computer have an existential crisis and fall down a sobbing mess at your feet. And of course you'd be running into difficulties with traditional media too - where to find paper big enough, etc.

I think this is something that a lot of people attempt and it rarely ends well. Some people do manage to pull it off, mind you, so I'm not saying it's impossible. I'd prefer to make a less detailed map of the entire world, and then create more detailed regional maps later on. But this is of course just my two cents - I personally don't have the stamina to work on a single enormous map for as long as it would take to make one. I prefer to wrap a piece up in a timely fashion and move onto the next one.

Sorry, seems this got a little bit off-topic, but hopefully not by too much.

[KMAlexander]

I always tend to focus on the 16th > 19th century when researching fantasy cartography styles and approaches. It tends to be the sweet spot for using pictograms for topographical features, which tend to be what fantasy fans like/expect in their maps. That three hundred year period falls right before things began to shift away from that style in the 20th century and toward more technical representation. i.e. hachure, then later topographic, etc.