Dragon Isles Map Unbroken 1.jpg
Larger version of map one. Started to sketch in some main land features and some initial city/settlement areas and also thrown in some decorative fluff elements (flying ships and some clouds).
Don't know where this one came from exactly, but I've always been a big Discworld fan so I dare say the Great A'Tuin was a big inspiration subconsciously (wasn't thinking about it at the time but it's only as I started to draw it I began making the comparisons). In this world continents are carried through the skies by giant dragons, mile long chains as thick as cities stretching out into the heavens that are gripped by claws the size of mountains. This particular continent, for now known as the Dragon Isles, was carried by six dragons; each of them holding up the continent and bringing balance to the lands.
Dragon Isles Map Unbroken.jpg
(Before the land was broken)
When the barbaric Flyking (...viking...) invaders discovered the Dragon Isles they knew that the dragons would never let them conquer and settle the lands and so instead tried to destroy the Isles instead by attacking the dragons in their airborne Flyking longboats. Though the Flykings were repelled it was not without great tragedy as two of the dragons were slain causing disaster to the continent.
Dragon Isles Map Broken.jpg
(After the land was broken)
The two dragons that died put too much strain on [far left] dragon, the weight of the continent pulling him down the land cracked and a section of the continent broke free still tethered to the sole dragon. The lone dragon was mate to one of the slain dragons and now drifts off hopelessly, the distant island drifting further and further away from its homeland. With the fall of the other dragon its chain crashed to the earth and decimated one of the high capital cities of the land, it's beautiful towers that for centuries had stood tall were toppled as the giant chains destroyed the city and its people and scarring the land.
The entire continent now stands at a tilt, sloping towards where the now missing dragons once brought balance. Mountains collapsed and seas spill over the edge of the land into the abyss below.
The story behind the map is quite fairytale and so I'm going go with a more illustrative cartoony style to the maps and will hopefully be able to render them in full colour (time permitting). Just a rough sketch for now but I'm looking forward to this one
Last edited by Cunning Cartographer; 09-05-2012 at 06:33 PM. Reason: Removed WIP tag
Dragon Isles Map Unbroken 1.jpg
Larger version of map one. Started to sketch in some main land features and some initial city/settlement areas and also thrown in some decorative fluff elements (flying ships and some clouds).
Last edited by Cunning Cartographer; 09-05-2012 at 06:33 PM. Reason: Removed WIP tag
The idea and sketches are rad...can't wait to see it finished
*Most of my Maps can be seen in full resolution on my blog*
*I've made some of my maps into full adventures available for download at DriveThruRPG.com or Paizo.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License unless stated otherwise in the thread.
Dragon-Isles-Map-Unbroken-2.jpg
Slight update as I'm done for the night. Slowly adding in more details, reworking positions and trying to come up with interesting areas and settlements that can be destroyed (added a desert city that is surrounded by sand dunes, when the continent tilts the sand will shift and cover the city in a great sand dune, oh my!).
Can't wait to start inking this, but I'm already nervous about colouring as it's not something I've had much experience with.
Last edited by Cunning Cartographer; 09-05-2012 at 06:33 PM. Reason: Removed WIP tag
IT's nice to see something handmade old shcool style
Can't wait to se it inked!
I think I'm going to be pulling this entry as I'm really going to struggle to get it completed (and a sudden change in timetables has meant my DnD campaign has a few maps that need working on), trying to do two maps in 10 days is going to be too much of a struggle and I wont be able to give this the time and effort I really want to. Think I'm just going to work on this more casually and submit it as a Finished map at a later date (hopefully both maps for the before and after ).
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! (in a really whiny 13 year old girl kind of tone).
*Most of my Maps can be seen in full resolution on my blog*
*I've made some of my maps into full adventures available for download at DriveThruRPG.com or Paizo.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License unless stated otherwise in the thread.