Hello everyone!

I discovered this forum and the Guild just a couple of days ago. It has been very interesting and pleasurable to read through the posts and conversations. I didn't know there are so many people as enthusiastic about maps, especially fictional ones, as I am! I'm happy to join such a community.

My name is Mikael, and I'm living in Finland. I'm a cartography and map aficionado and a geographer. At the moment I'm finishing my master studies in geography at university. I have been drawing fictional maps since childhood, concentrating on maps of large regions and nations (usually islands) and also larger scale maps, which give a closer look af the area. I always try to create the place as realistic as possible, and I also make multiple maps of the same place, trying to find out all the geographical aspects wich effects on how the world looks.

I always draw the maps by hand to paper. It's slow, but enjoyable. Drawing maps have been my hobby for years, but I have made them just for myself. I'm planning now to go slowly to the internet with my maps and publish somehow what I have been doing. I will post some of my maps here also, after I have done some scanning (everything is on paper now).

My first question is about options for publishing maps and collecting a portfolio. I have noticed that many of you have a collection of your work somewhere, for example link to DeviantArt profile or your own website. I think I won't make my own website yet, but I would like to put my work somewhere to be found. I'm new to artist websites, so I have no idea what would be a good choice. What are e.g. pros and cons of DeviantArt and are there other options. I didn't find a thread concerning this. Is there somewhere such a thread or should I start a new one to General Discussion?

Unlike most of you here, I really don't make fantasy maps in the way most maps here are. My maps are not artistic in the same style and don't include mysterious places. I'm not good with colours also. I concentrate to the substance, and i'm really keen on desinging the coastlines, mountains, rivers, cities, roads and railroads in the way that they could be from our present world. So I'm interested in what do you think what kind of possibilities there could be as a world designer and whether anyone is intersted in realistic, but not fantasy-style maps. Of course, I would like to be better in the visual appearance of my maps than I am now. Well, this is a hard question before I have published any of my maps here. I hope I will learn about all the possibilites and sometime perhaps become a (at least part time) professional cartographer of fictional places.

Thank you very much for your help!

Meton