[m]April: my map-a-day challenge

[Wingshaw]

The scanned version of the image is now attached

Wingshaw

[kacey]

I absolutely love you’re day 4 map, it looks rough and effortless, but really elegant at the same time and it just has allot of energy to it, if that makes any sense. I really hope you’ll finish it after you’re done with you’re map a day challenge, I think you have something to be envious of with this style.

[Wingshaw]

Thanks Kasey. Your comment is very encouraging
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Day 5
Medium: digital
Type: dungeon
Time taken: 2:03

Dungeons aren't my forte, but in the interests of branching out, testing methods, and improving my skills, I figured it was necessary to delve into this type (get it? ). For this map, I took heaps of inspiration from Larb's and Daniel's dungeon plans.

I don't think I made as much progress with this one as I did on previous days, so I'd be especially keen to get some feedback from my fellow cartographers

Wingshaw

[Mouse]

Wow! you're certainly showing a whole load of different styles.

Nice going, Wingshaw

My favourite is the second map. I find the regional map just a little bit too green, but for the time it took its still a great little piece.

EDIT: The dungeon map has me humming and haaing. I really like the linework, but the grey area is a bit distracting. I think it would look better without that, but with a layer of sketchy soft shading. That way you wouldn't have to put arrows on the steps. The shading would make it obvious which way they run.

[Ilanthar]

Nice! Clean and elegant. And I kinda agree with Mouse "Edit"

[Wingshaw]

Thanks Mouse and Ilanthar

With the day 5 challenge, I should point out that it is very far from finished. If I'd had more time, I'd have started erasing large amounts of that grey area with a grungy brush, to give it some texture. But I agree the opacity could have been dropped quite a bit on it...

I'm planning on going back to all of these maps after the challenge in order to finish them off. I'll be making some changes to all of them when I get to that stage, but we'll see if I find the time. I only posted one completed map in 2017, so I'm hoping 2018 will be different
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Day 6
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and 1.0 and A4 paper)
Type: dungeon/building
Time taken: 2:05

So today I thought I'd try to draw out the plan of a small trading zeppelin in some kind of steampunk/dieselpunk world. I think the main thing I've found with maps at this scale is that the fine details matter a lot - the floorboards, furniture, doors and windows etc. Of course, I didn't get round to finishing this one, but I hope I've given it enough flavour to offer a promising start for future finishing.

The scanning cut off a bunch of my key, but if/when I get round to finishing this map, all will be made clear.

Thoughts?

Wingshaw

[Mouse]

You're absolutely right about details at this scale. It adds interest to the scene - almost at a subliminal level. Its also something that can be added with the shading and colours just as much as with the line variations (if you intend to make this a full colour production)

This is a great start, and I'm looking forward to the continuation

[MistyBeee]

Mapril ! Such a better name than Mapvember in my opinion ^^'

Love your challenge, especially your Day 4. Will follow your work for sure

[Wingshaw]

Thanks Mouse and MistyBeee.

I was staying with a friend over the weekend, so my [m]April drawings became a bit skewed, but I have now finished working on all three of them.

[EDIT: I also just noticed that I'm one post away from #1000 ]
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Day 7
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and A4 paper)
Type: isometric city
Time taken: 1:38

I used to draw a lot of isometric cities, so I figured I'd make it one of the challenge topics. I didn't have enough time to make a lot of progress on this picture, which is inspired by towns like Oxford and Cambridge in the UK.


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Day 8
Medium: digital
Type: isometric city
Time taken: 1:30

So, day 2 of the isometric city challenge was...disappointing. I'm really displeased with how this turned out. I like the idea of a city beneath a giant tree - and I might revisit it some time - but this particular picture is not going any further.

I wonder if people can give me some advice? I use a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and Photoshop, but I can't seem to get the hang of digital sketching. It just doesn't seem very *natural* to me. Can anyone give me some tips on using touchscreens (graphics tablets, Surfaces, etc) for map-making?


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Day 9
Medium: digital
Type: side-view map
Time taken: 2:23

This is a bandit's lair, with a few 'interesting' surprises hidden in it. It isn't finished, and I'm not 100% happy with it. I'd be keen to hear whatever other people think about it? Does it work? What could be better?


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Well, that's it. I'm now all caught up. Tomorrow I'll work on a traditional drawing of a side-view map. Maybe I'll go for some wizard's tower or something.

Anyway, that's quite a lot of content from me, so I'll shush now. I'd love to get some comments and critiques

Wingshaw

[Wingshaw]

This is the last piece for the first stage of the challenge. The challenge I set was to limit myself to only 2 hours/day for the days between 11th and 20th April and only 1 hour/day from the 21st. Most of the maps I have done so far are already close to the 2 hour time limit, so I'm not sure it'll prove much, but it's worth a shot, eh?

Tomorrow I start the second stage, and therefore return to the same map types as I began for day 1
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Day 10
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and A4 paper)
Type: side-view map
Time taken: 2:18

For my 10th day of the challenge and my 1000th post since joining the Cartographers' Guild ( ), I present my side-view map of this wizard's tower. Not much to say, really, except that I think this further proves that - at least for me - maps are easier to make and usually look better when I draw them with traditional methods rather than digital.

As always, I'm keen to hear what people think?

Wingshaw