February 2018 Challenge: Shadow, Sheen, and Sharpness

[Shenanigans]

Hi, everyone! I just joined earlier this month, and this is my first post, but I decided to give the mapping challenge a try.

My prophecy: The Citadel of Jade shall be found when east becomes west and the Blade of Chivalry is reforged.

My interpretation: Most of the important details are written on the map itself, but to summarize the affair, there is a sword in four pieces and it needs to be put back together to reveal the Citadel of Jade.

Since this map is drawn on real paper, it has an extra feature from the prophecy that is not inherently visible. The map contains a hidden message that is revealed by rolling up the map so that the three swords overlap. In this way, "east becomes west" (because the map is now circular), the sword is reforged (because all of its pieces are together), and most importantly, the exact location of the Citadel of Jade is revealed on the map by shining a light into the center of the tube of paper. Unfortunately, I am having a heck of a time taking a picture of this process (due to an insufficient hand count). I may end up taking a video of it, but I wanted to make sure that at least one picture is posted before the deadline! I'll try to take some better pictures before the deadline, even though the map is complete.

This map is hand drawn, inked, and painted on a 24"x19" sheet of paper.

Features of the map:

• Is a literal physical interpretation of the prophecy
• A guide to the dungeon of the Citadel of Jade is shown as a column in the top left
• At least 1 Krakens
• Cute little towns
• The arrows on the circles of the cute little towns point at the location of the city on the map
• Terrible place names (blame Meeg the Explorer who hated the cold)
• Hand-written drop caps (that are slightly off center)

### Latest WIP ###

[nopkin]

Wow!! This is spectacular! It looks great and the idea of rolling up the paper to overlap the swords and reveal a point on the map is absolutely crazy!

I too have noticed the "east becomes west" bit when looking for my prophecy and I was wondering if there could be an interesting way to interpret that, but didn't find anything good enough. You absolutely nailed it.

Hand drawn and hand lettered too... Fabulous!

[MapMappingMapped]

I agree with Nopkin - cool map! I'm seeing so much great hand-labelled maps these days, whilst struggling with digital labels myself!
The city maps are really great. and the whole deciphering thing.

[Samstego]

Those are some incredible illustrations, I love the clean look and minimal colourscheme. Great work!

[Del2me]

Wow what a piece, welcome!

This is incredible, I look foward to seeing more posts from yourself.

[arsheesh]

Umm, that's pretty cool! Your inking is fantastic, love it. This is strong contender. Welcome to the Guild and please post more of your work in the weeks and months ahead.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Shenanigans]

Thanks for the comments, everyone! Still no new picture of the rolling up bit, but I'll have one after I come home from work. I have an idea for how I can mount it on a lamp.

I'm seeing so much great hand-labelled maps these days, whilst struggling with digital labels myself!

Definitely don't look too closely at it. Most of the small letters are awfully shaky, and not one but two "it's" got turned into "its" with excessively long cross strokes on the "T". I was certainly wishing I could digitally label it a few times.