Whimsical planetary system study

[jshoer]

I decided to use some of my drafting tools and the star/planet techniques I developed for my Cathedral Galaxy;s landmarks to try out a silly, cartoony, exaggerated-topography planetary system map! The worlds definitely also incorporate inspiration from the planets in the video game The Outer Wilds. I was also trying out some "interface" elements like the highlights for each planet and the handwritten labels.

There's not too much thought into the features of each planet, other than trying to get the perspective right. The gas giant builds in features seen from the Juno mission to Jupiter, including the polygon of hurricanes at the pole. The star includes real physical phenomena like convection cells and limb darkening. And each planet's light source is the central star. I wasn't too careful about sketching the orbits.

Everything is done by hand, drawn in pen with drafting tools and then colored with color pencils.

I hope you think it's as fun as I do!

[Simkin]

Well done jshoer, I like the map. To me for planets hand drawned this choice is even better than classical one.