*** January 2018 VOTING: Fill in the Blanks ***

[ScottDA]

Oh my gosh! So many spectacular maps this time. This is a tough one.

[Ilanthar]

This vote was a difficult one, indeed. I restrained myself to three... but I surely would have voted for 3 more if the maps was finished.

Great maps, everyone ! I love the diversity of lands and styles. And I'm truly hoping to see the final versions of the unfinished ones.

[Chashio]

Drat. Missed one. And I've run out of rep for the day.

Fantastic maps, everyone! It was wonderful seeing all the entries this month.

[damonjynx]

How do you vote for this? All of them are great maps with some some very interesting styles. I guess I'll just vote for 3 that I find most appealing or interesting...sigh. I'd like to vote for them all but that would defeat the point...

Seeing as how I've missed this challenge, I'm going to do a map based on it just for fun & practice. I'll post it in the Regional Maps thread.

[Mouse]

Good Grief!

I know which ones I want to vote for, but its more than half the field. I know I need to narrow it down a bit.

I may be some time

[Mouse]

Oh maaaaaan! That was unbelievably difficult!

Sorry! I had to go with nearly half the field *shrug*

EDIT: And yes - I did vote for a couple of unfinished ones, but I just know they will be superb when they are done... hint, hint... John... Wired?

[Greason Wolfe]

So I managed to narrow it down to five votes. It wasn't easy. Actually, that's
not entirely true.

My first choice was easy (pardon me while I gush here), but J.Edward's map just
absolutely floored me. I've looked at every map a few times now, but I've been
sitting here for the last hour just studying Thalak-Mul with a mixture of envy
and good natured jealousy. There was a time 25, maybe 30ish, years ago when I
might have had the patience and a steady enough hand to produce something like
that.

fabio p and Diamond (in either order) came in a very, and I mean VERY close
second and third for my votes. Choosing one of these two over the other would
very much depend on my mood of the moment. While the styles (in general) were
somewhat similar IMHO, they were executed in different fashions to great effect.

Finally, right on the heels of fabio p and Diamond come the maps of Ilanthar
and Daniel Hasenbos. Again, choosing one of these two over the other would
depend on my mood of the moment. I can see both of them as part of an adventure
boxed set of some sort.

To everyone that participated, great work. I wanted to jump into this one, but
I've come to the conclusion (thanks to work) that I just can't participate in
the Challenges. Invariably, something happens that pulls me away from working
on Challenge maps, and I find that disappointing and/or frustrating, especially
when I feel like whatever I'm working on is coming along nicely. Maybe one of
these days I'll win the lottery and not have to worry about working anymore.
Then again, maybe I'll just sell my ocean front property on the moon.

[bkh1914]

I probably approached this differently than most of you...

I went into an art gallery and told them that I was interested in a map to hang on the wall in my library, with a soft upper limit of xxxx USD.
I came back an hour later (spent the time in the art supply store down the street) and they had a collection of framed maps for me to look at.

First pass: does this piece of art engage me from across the room and draw me in for closer evaluation?
- One third of the maps failed that test, including some of the more popular maps. They might be artistic as all get out, but from across the room...
- The big winner in this pass was the map by Wired. And it has the details to keep my attention at close range.

Then came the more subjective and personal criteria, like how well would fit in with the map of Middle Earth that I made forty years ago (20"x24", acrylics and India ink on artist's parchment).
A couple of maps passed that test... (The voting record will tell you which ones.)

Wired's map wouldn't have fit in, but I have just the spot for it in my office, replacing an oil painting that I've had for decades.

Just my two cents.

[Mouse]

43 votes already? Its only the end of the first day! that's about as many as most Challenges get at the end of the third day...

I think this one will probably be a record breaker twice over - number of participants, and number of voters

[nopkin]

43 votes already? Its only the end of the first day! that's about as many as most Challenges get at the end of the third day...

I think this one will probably be a record breaker twice over - number of participants, and number of voters

Indeed, and I think that is mostly due to Chashio's great idea. I, for one, am just a beginner at map making (this is my largest map to date =), and I probably wouldn't have dared to enter a challenge and start working on a map this size were it not for this wonderful kickstart that we got from the labels. Thanks again, Chashio!