Mar / April '18 Lite Challenge: Stevensonia

[Tenia]

Although I must resist the temptation to bow my head when I look at this map it is a pure jewel. Agree with MistyBeee regarding the moon, just a little curve ? Great anyway

[ThomasR]

Eeek! Thomas this is insane. How can someone produce something of such intricate detail with pen and paper and have a baby in the same house? You must have time management to a fine art. And also sleeping in the office without getting caught.

This is top quality artwork. I hope you can complete it in time.

Thanks Straf ! She's at the kindergarten sometimes I'll most likely deliver a bit early.

Outstanding!

Thanks GW

This is absolutely gorgeous! And to think you did it all by hand.

I'm not sure it its just me, but it seems to have a medieval woodcut style that really looks good.

Thanks a lot Ottehcnor ! I feared I'd ruin the map with each stroke, I'm glad it looks well enough. I hadn't planned on a likeness to the medieval woodcuts but I like the comparison, thank you.

This is looking really fantastic! I agree with Ottehcnor about the woodcut style. I was trying to figure out what it reminded me of, so thanks, Ottehcnor!

Thanks aeshnidae

This is absolutely fabulous! Your perseverance and brush skills are amazing. You are right, there might be some small things that are a little bit off (not that I noticed any) - which is quite inevitable when working with the brush - but they are definitely lost in the big picture. As I said before, I think that's the most important thing, getting the big picture right and you did it marvelously!

Thanks nopkin ! I thought that, if I wanted to progress with the brush, I had to go for something difficult. The map would have been much easier with my multiliners but it would have had less character so, I think I made a good choice.

The border and black space really make the map POP!

Thanks Bogie and thanks again for the challenge idea. I have a CL request but I'll ask below.

Thomas this is looking absolutely stunning! If you don't win this challenge as it stands at the moment I'll eat my (proverbial) hat !

Thanks for the vote of confidence Tonquani but the results are never set in stone, there are some pretty good entries. I cannot wait for the voting though

I love it more and more every time I see it, Thomas ! This mountain range in the forest is just stunning.
If I can be extraordinary picky (because the better is the map, the more we have to pay attention do details, I think ?), don't you think the limit between the moon and space is a little too straight ? As all your map is about curves and beautiful hand-made lines, it looks maybe too artificial.

Merci Beee About the dawn/dusk line, I was unhappy with it's uniformity but hadn't thought about it's curviness. You are right, of course. I'll add more shadows and make them a bit more rugged.

Although I must resist the temptation to bow my head when I look at this map it is a pure jewel. Agree with MistyBeee regarding the moon, just a little curve ? Great anyway

Merci Tenia I'll follow the advice.

I'm in the middle of the labels and I'm struggling. I thought for a long time about the font to use but since I did the whole map by hand (the black space has also been added with the brush on the paper version) I think I'll try and add hand written labels. We'll see if it works well enough. To be completely honest, I'm a bit torn about the labels, I'm so proud of the map, I'd love to leave it without labels but that's not the challenge .

Also [summons a CL], as the map is heavily inspired by J.Edward's style and the hand writing will most likely be too, I've decided to push the hommage a bit further and name the map after him. Could a CL rename the Thread "Stevensonia" please ?

[MapMappingMapped]

This map keeps getting better. As soon as I saw this after a brief absence, several thoughts cluttered my mind. I really, really like this Thomas . You make wonders with that brush, and I'm dying to see this all labelled up and ready for its rep bang....
*wipes drool away from chin, clicks back on the map and takes in everything wide-eyed, mumbling nonsense*

[Ilanthar]

Oh! This is terrific!

PS : Many thanks to Ilanthar for the idea of the black space background

My idea? I didn't remember, but your work is top notch .

And I've been summoned, so change of name has been done .

[nopkin]

I'm in the middle of the labels and I'm struggling. I thought for a long time about the font to use but since I did the whole map by hand (the black space has also been added with the brush on the paper version) I think I'll try and add hand written labels. We'll see if it works well enough. To be completely honest, I'm a bit torn about the labels, I'm so proud of the map, I'd love to leave it without labels but that's not the challenge .

I understand you perfectly here. It's a gorgeous map as it is. Here's an idea: Why don't you handletter the labels on another sheet of paper and overlay them on the map, just for the challenge? This way you can still have the unlabeled version, but also have the map entirely hand-made, including the labels.

[ThomasR]

This map keeps getting better. As soon as I saw this after a brief absence, several thoughts cluttered my mind. I really, really like this Thomas . You make wonders with that brush, and I'm dying to see this all labelled up and ready for its rep bang....
*wipes drool away from chin, clicks back on the map and takes in everything wide-eyed, mumbling nonsense*

Thanks MMM The labels were added digitally and I hope you'll be able to help me a little here like the others.

Oh! This is terrific!

My idea? I didn't remember, but your work is top notch .

And I've been summoned, so change of name has been done .

Oops ! My bad, it was a suggestion on Twitter from our favorite space engineer jshoer. Et merci pour ce changement, Julien, je t'ai réservé une place de choix And thanks for the change, Julien, I've given you a special place

I understand you perfectly here. It's a gorgeous map as it is. Here's an idea: Why don't you handletter the labels on another sheet of paper and overlay them on the map, just for the challenge? This way you can still have the unlabeled version, but also have the map entirely hand-made, including the labels.

Thanks nopkin. I added the labels digitally as my wife wants to frame the map as it is.

Ok folks, I need help. I want to keep this map black and white with maybe a bit of grey. I wrote all the labels I could/wanted and I'm pretty pleased with the lettering but ...

- I'm not sure it fits the map stylistically speaking.
- I'm not convinced it's legible enough.

Here are three version. If you can help me with your opinions and advices, I'd be grateful.

### Latest WIP ###
1--------2--------3-

1 is grey labels with black outerglow.
2 is black labels with white outerglow.
3 is white labels with black outerglow.

I'm open to other colors. I love a dark red but the question of the outline/outerglow is complicated.

Help me Obi Wan Kenobi you're my only hope !

[nopkin]

Great lettering! I’d say black labels with a thicker glow.

[Straf]

Numéro deux pour moi. It's a lot more legible and doesn't cause me to strain my eyes so much.

[Tonquani]

Black or white labels work for me. The grey is deffinitely harder to read.

[Ilanthar]

Hehe , I'm illuminating the night sky along with Our Scarlet Lady Pea, I'm flattered !

Hum, black labels are the most legibles... but it's not so obvious in some places. Do you intend to keep it strictly b&w?
I bet slightly colored labels may do a big difference here.