Feb '19 / March '19 Lite Challenge: East of the Sun and West of the Moon

[Neyasha]

After a long time of just looking at all your wonderful maps and otherwise being quite inactive (I had a lot of stress at work and concentrated more on writing as I participated in the NaNoWriMo last year), I spontaneously decided to enter this challenge.

I always loved the Norwegian fairy tale Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne (East of the Sun and West of the Moon) and as journeys play an important role in it, it seemed perfect for the challenge. It tells the story of a poor girl which is kind of sold to a white bear. He takes her to his castle inside a mountain. At night he comes to her bed as a man, but as it is dark she can never see him. When she lights a candle to look at him, she finds out that he is a cursed prince. Now he is forced to return to his wicked stepmother who lives east of the sun and west of the moon to marry her daughter, a troll princess.
The girl then travels through the country to find him. She gets some help and advise from tree old women and then travels to the East Wind, the West Wind and the South Wind. The North Wind finally takes her to the troll castle, where she is able to free the prince.

I'm drawing the map on A4 paper but as I'm lazy I don't use quill and ink but a pen instead. The border and the four winds are more or less finished. The map itself is no more than a vague sketch at this point - I hope I can finish it in time!

### Latest WIP ###

[Neyasha]

And some progress on the map. I'm not sure yet how to connect the four winds better with the rest of the drawing (perhaps with another border). And I don't know if I'm going to color it when all the line work is done.

I apologise for the bad quality of the photo. When the map is finished I will scan it at work.

### Latest WIP ###

[arsheesh]

That's looking nice, and very quick progress as well. Look forward to seeing the end result (in like, an hour or two at your current rate of progress!).

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Neyasha]

Thanks, Arsheesh, I'm glad you like it so far.

Look forward to seeing the end result (in like, an hour or two at your current rate of progress!).

Unfortunately no progress at all. I had to do some other things in the evening. Tomorrow I have no time after work, so I have just two evenings left. I wish I would have been able to do a larger map with more details but due to my late entry it's a tight schedule.

I'm still indecisive how to embed the four winds better into the map - so far I'm quite unhappy with them. Oh, and I forgot to mention - they are heavily inspired by this map.

[Neyasha]

Well .... sleep is overrated. So I made a border to connect the winds to the rest of the map. Then I didn't know what to do with the border. I thought of Norway and fairy tales and medieval times and Vikings - and then I filled the border with runes. I guess the whole map is kind of a strange mixture, but that happens if you start a challenge a few days before it ends with too many ideas in the head.
I'm not sure if I have the courage to color the map (I haven't touched any brushes, colors or pencils for months) but at least I would have time for it.

What do you think? Should I just clean up the linework and perhaps add more details or should I color the map?

### Latest WIP ###

[arsheesh]

I'm not sure if I have the courage to color the map (I haven't touched any brushes, colors or pencils for months) but at least I would have time for it.

What do you think? Should I just clean up the linework and perhaps add more details or should I color the map?

### Latest WIP ###

Your choice but it looks quite lovely already, as inked work usually does, I think with a bit of cleanup you could call this done if you so desired.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Kier]

Very Nice! Good line work is always amazing. Well done.
Regarding coloring, that's a tough call. Sometimes it takes away from the linework, other times, it adds to it.

Looking good though.

[MistyBeee]

Oooh, those things happening during my off-the-Internet weekends ! Such a lovely, authentic and effective map, Neyasha, capturing so well the spirit of Norse tales !
I'm really not sure I would color it, as I find it's already so charming as it is now, but that's just a personal opinion

[Bogie]

Welcome to the Challenge Neyasha !

Beautiful linework!

[Neyasha]

Thank you all for your nice comments.
I just realised I have to finish the map this evening, so I can scan it tomorrow at work. I guess that means I won't have enough time to color the map, so that makes my decision easier.