September 2007 Entry: The Glass Journal

[Amonite]

DAY SEVEN
We left Lemis early this morning and should reach Copperhead before nightfall. On the way, I ordered the airship to land to better examine the first of the knucklebones. These first few on the southern fringe are very finger like, almost delicate, and are all smaller than myself. This is interesting, because if the stories and pictures hold true, the knucklebones farther on are both larger and more knobby. The strangeness of the first few hundred knucklebones in comparison to the rest has led the area to be dubbed Ladyhands. The sand about our feet showed quite the variety of color. Black and tan sand was predominant, but there was pale pink in the mix as well. The ground was littered with very tiny white pebbles and small white stones, presumably eroded from the knucklebones. A thin layer of white duct coated the base of the knucklebones. After lunch, we continued our journey on to Copperhead, which we should reach before nightfall.



NOTE: I was originally gonna do a digital painting of these, then decided to just tidy it all up and do outlines...but then once I scanned it in I decided I liked the sketchiness and untidiness of it And, I like how the not showing the journal page entirely turned out. Because my handwriting is terrible, and my digital handwriting is worse!

[ravells]

Wonderful! I love the way you're working in all the elements of the brief and making them your own by extrapolation. Fantastic!

Ravs

[RobA]

Might I suggest using a handwritten font? There is a nice set here:

http://www.autofx.com/dsg/rff/hand_s...d_scripted.asp

that are royalty free and available for the mac and PC.

In particular, Dear Joe might capture the look you want. You can jiggle the kerning and such manually to make it look more random, but still legible (or render it large then erode the text).

I have to believe that an artist (especially one who keeps a journal) would have fine penmanship all the time

Otherwise, waiting for the next installment (like of like finding pages in a Myst game!)

-Rob A>

[Amonite]

Lol well, I am an artist (not a cartographer) by trade, and my penmanship is horrid. I have a hard time 'writing' letters. If I take a while and 'draw' the letters they come out much nicer ^.^ I will definately check those links out, and handwritten font would be awesome especially for future maps.

[Amonite]

Day Ten, P.O. Weeping


DAY SEVEN, EVENING

We have safely docked at Copperhead, and have caused quite the stir. We tied the airship off to Copperhead Rock itself, which means we are hovering directly above the city. While the more diplomatic members of my team have disembark ed to assure Mayor Hojin of Copperhead that we are not here to attack them, I have taken the opportunity to sketch a quick contour map of the region. While to measure exact elevations would take precious time that we do not have, I find the view quite pleasing. Perhaps when I have found my father, we can return and finish the map together. Tomorrow I will begin my explorations of the city, and find out all I can about the Glass Ocean from the Copperhead tent dwellers who live right next door to it.




NOTE: Thanks for the fonts link, I found one I liked Besides that it capitalizes every r....lol It took me a while to come up with the scale, as the knucklebones are pretty small and yet even a tent town has to be somewhat large. I have an idea of how I see Copperhead, so I might end up with a concept image as well as a map of the town over the next couple of days.

[Amonite]

Sorry about the lack of updates! The Copperhead Map is taking me a looong time @.@ I am experimenting, and the method I picked takes a while Sadness. Anyways, I will try to finish the Copperhead map tomorrow and maybe a few sketches/entries to make up for the brief lapse. I need to move on to the desert soon so I really should hurry, lol. Here is a small section of the map I am working on, no labels yet and not quite fully colored.

[Ishmayl]

This is turning out very well. I love the snap shots of individual locales on the map, and love the journal entries. I can't wait to see the finished product!