Sanguan - Regional Map

[ZeniaMaps]

Hello,

The Regional Map of Sanguan is a project I've started on August 2 this year. I've only worked on this in my free times. It took more than 2 months to complete, more than 50 hours of total work.

I'm planning on using this region in my universe in the future but for now this map was an experiment. I tried to catch a style between symbolic and realistic with saturated colors, defined shapes and lots of details. Every tree, rock, mountain, river and everything else is handdrawn/hand colored from scratch with no copy/pasting. Here is the final work.



Textless Version



I can continue working on this map for another 2 months easily but wanted to stop here. In the process of making this I've learned a lot and want to use these knowledge in new projects as soon as possible. Every bit of critique is welcomed.

This is the WIP thread.

I hope you like it.

[Abu Lafia]

Hey Zenia, first of all a belated merhaba and welcome to the guild! Wow, a totally stunning map. The amount of detail (and time and energy) put into it is awesome, and it is totally woth it imo. So much to explore on the map, though not too busy and still very readable (love the little heart in the grasslands XD)!. I enjoy the vibrant colours, they work well with your equally vibrant linework. Regarding "critique", the only thing worth mentioning is the "Foremiddle Ocean" label. If it is (slightly) curved like the other regional names, instead of being perpendicular, it might fit the overall composition better ....but yeah, it's really nitpicky
Looking forward to see more of your maps in the future!

[Simkin]

This is amazing Zenia. I cannot critizice you work, as u said, with more time one can always do better, but to me the final result is excelent.
I have only 2 questions.
Which colouring techique did u use?
And... why the heart tree ?

[Naima]

Very nice Job!

[Bogie]

Absolutely gorgeous map, I may just print it and put it on my wall along with the map Naima made for me.

[Adfor]

The effort paid off, this is stunning. I'm a big fan of the saturated colors, it gives the piece a sort of tropical feel.

Gotta fork over some rep for this one.

IR

[Redrobes]

Yes lovely punchy colours to this one and overall very pleasing map. I cant get by the branched river bit around Ugosua tho. If that were the case then either the main river is completely flat at that point which would mean it would not flow out to the sea or one of the branches must flow uphill. So its highly unlikely geologically. But the style and execution of the map is real nice.

[Arimel]

Amazing design and bold color choices! Altogether an amazing map though! I have to agree with Redrobes about the river (I am a full fledge member of the river police) but in a world of magic and creativity there can be many explanations for such a phenomena.
That heart shaped tree is definitely interesting... There must be quite an in story tale affixed to that tree.

[ZeniaMaps]

Hey Zenia, first of all a belated merhaba and welcome to the guild! Wow, a totally stunning map. The amount of detail (and time and energy) put into it is awesome, and it is totally woth it imo. So much to explore on the map, though not too busy and still very readable (love the little heart in the grasslands XD)!. I enjoy the vibrant colours, they work well with your equally vibrant linework. Regarding "critique", the only thing worth mentioning is the "Foremiddle Ocean" label. If it is (slightly) curved like the other regional names, instead of being perpendicular, it might fit the overall composition better ....but yeah, it's really nitpicky
Looking forward to see more of your maps in the future!

Merhaba! Thank you very much for your sweet comments, really glad you liked the colors and style. You are absolutely right about the ocean label. I've tried to do it curved in the beginning but it looked kinda odd with the sea lines near it, so I decided to use it flat like this in the last second. Now that I see how it turned out, I'd change it back for sure. Thanks for pointing it out, it cleared an important thing in my head. Gotta work on the labeling in the future .

Appreciate the sweet comment!

This is amazing Zenia. I cannot critizice you work, as u said, with more time one can always do better, but to me the final result is excelent.
I have only 2 questions.
Which colouring techique did u use?
And... why the heart tree ?

Thank you very much Simkin, glad you liked the final result! As you work on a map for longer times, it starts to decrease in quality in your eyes so I was not sure how "finished" this was when I decided it was enough work on a map for now. Glad to know it looks finished!

As for the coloring technique: I've used 2 layers for land and grass colors, 1 layer for landmass linework, 1 layer for forest colors and another for forest lineworks, another for rivers. Other than that, used a map palette for base colors to start coloring after I drawed the linework. On top of that I placed shadows by hand and then, highlights! Used some blending on mountains and colored for a second time to make shadow and highlights sharper. A lot of back and forth... and done. Until I decided it wasn't good enough and do it all from scratch!

The hearth shaped tree was just an easter egg for my wife who puts up with my sh*t while I was working on this for hours and hours actually.

Thank you very much for your sweet comment!

Very nice Job!

Thank you very much Naima, glad you liked it!

Absolutely gorgeous map, I may just print it and put it on my wall along with the map Naima made for me.

Aww this made my day! Thanks a lot! I always wanted to create a piece that people wants to hang on their rooms. It's awesome to see I'm getting there (slowly) .

The effort paid off, this is stunning. I'm a big fan of the saturated colors, it gives the piece a sort of tropical feel.

Gotta fork over some rep for this one.

IR

Thanks so much Adfor! In my mind the Sanguan Region would be placed on a (kinda) subtropical climate zone so I'm glad you get a tropical feel from it!

Yes lovely punchy colours to this one and overall very pleasing map. I cant get by the branched river bit around Ugosua tho. If that were the case then either the main river is completely flat at that point which would mean it would not flow out to the sea or one of the branches must flow uphill. So its highly unlikely geologically. But the style and execution of the map is real nice.

Thank you very much for the critique Redrobes! It was the first river I've drawn on this map so I was not paying enough attention to it for some time, that may be the reason it slipped through my eyes. I understand why it feels kinda odd. I'd remove a branch from there if I redraw it and changed the orientation of the others to look more believable. Thank you for pointing it out, I'll definetly put more thoughts on the river placement in the future maps. Glad you liked the overall style too!

Amazing design and bold color choices! Altogether an amazing map though! I have to agree with Redrobes about the river (I am a full fledge member of the river police) but in a world of magic and creativity there can be many explanations for such a phenomena.
That heart shaped tree is definitely interesting... There must be quite an in story tale affixed to that tree.

Thank you Arimel! Glad to know there are river polices around to point out the worngs so we can fix them! I always appreciate when someone takes their time to point out these things so you can learn from them and make it better! I'll keep that in mind ^^.

The heart shaped tree is all up to your imagination! I've got some tree shapes that looks like some old internet memes (unintentionally) on this map as well so not really trying to put a meaning on them anymore. xD

Thank you very much for your comments!

[ThomasR]

This is a map that caught my eye a few weeks back when it wasn't even finished. The colors, the relief, the details ... it is beyond gorgeous !