Askyan Kingdom (atlas style map)

[Voolf]

Hi guild,

It has been a while since I wanted to make an atlas style map just for fun.
Initially, I was accumulating physical maps of the Earth and was rather focusing on my home country, Poland.
However, the research into GIS, the proper relief, and other technical stuff that is not usually needed for a fantasy map was holding me back.

A month ago or so, I finished Durigon map.
I was playing with it in G.Projector, and then I thought, why not try to just have an atlas style map of a fantasy world?
I thought instead of playing with relief data and all of that, I would just paint the elevation myself.

Still, I had a few doubts and questions about how to approach that, so I reached out to Nate (Vorropohaiah) with a few questions.
I was convinced that he was working with vectors with his maps. but I was wrong. He did everything by hand in PS.
He actually made a pretty nice tutorial for his atlas style.
When I realised he just drew everything, it was like music to my ears, because I knew I did not have to learn and play with Wilbur, GIS, and other stuff like that.

The biggest challenge was mountain chains. Making it look realistic. I am not sure how good or bad I did, but I would say it is a good outcome for the first try.
It is quite different from drawing (so to speak) regular fantasy map mountains. Coming up with an interesting looking overall elevation was also a tough nut to crack.
In the end, I am pleased with the outcome.

The physical map did not take so much time, to be honest, but the iconography, typography, putting labels on paths, and positioning everything just so nothing is covering anything important...
That was the real time consumer here.
I was trying to steer away from Nate's style, and I studied more maps in this style.
Most of them were extremely similar, though, so it was rather hard to make an atlas style map, yet different from the "atlas style"

Anyway, I am finally done with it.
I hope you like it. Let me know what you think.

Btw. I wanted to post the map in full size, but the file is too big to upload, so I had to scale it down a bit.



Ps. I posted this at 1AM, and today I gave it a read. I made quite a lot of mistakes and typos. Sorry!
I hope I corrected everything.

[J.Edward]

You did a great job. It looks fantastic.
Did you enjoy it enough that you will do more maps in this style?

I did one for a client a long time ago, but it was not fun and I never posted it so as to not have clients ask me to do more of that.
Technically it was a bit different. The physical map was just to help me make a further map, but still.

[Chashio]

That's a very nice looking map. Mountains/terrain feels very convincing and real

[Voolf]

You did a great job. It looks fantastic.
Did you enjoy it enough that you will do more maps in this style?

I did one for a client a long time ago, but it was not fun and I never posted it so as to not have clients ask me to do more of that.
Technically it was a bit different. The physical map was just to help me make a further map, but still.

Thank you John.
Well, it is a bag of mixed feelings, but I think in the end, the enjoyment has been bigger than frustration.
I had quite fun drawing the actual elevation map (even though it was hard to come up with interesting shapes).
I think the worst part of this challenge was labelling. It was just tedious work. And coming up with so many different names is tiring.

That being said, I think I may make another one sometime in the future, but maybe not so big.
This one took me way more time than I suspected it would take.

That's a very nice looking map. Mountains/terrain feels very convincing and real

Thank you very much .

[ChickPea]

It looks great and very authentic. You nailed the style you were looking for, and I can see the influence of Vorro's maps (he is, after all, the grand master of this style!) It's always interesting when someone here pushes themselves in a new direction and I enjoy seeing what people come up with. I have to confess that this style of map will never top my enjoyment of your classic fantasy-style maps, but you did an awesome job.

[Ilanthar]

Looks great! The labels are just spot on and I quite like the icons too, by the way.

[ThomasR]

I've said it elsewhere, this is one hell of an endeavour and the result is impressive. I insist in saying you gave a classic elevation map your own flow and it's a peculiar one. Great job Rafal !

[Kellerica]

I think you did a fantastic job with the mountain chains! Very organic and realistic, at least to my eye. The whole map looks great, very clear and easy to read which I think is important for this kind of style.

I think for a realistic and practical style such as this, I'd maybe keep all the islands within the border (although for a more fantasy style having them go over it can be a really nice design choice), but that's really my only nitpick. On the whole I think you did a great job, I could never tell it's your first attempt at a full map in this style!

I did one for a client a long time ago, but it was not fun and I never posted it so as to not have clients ask me to do more of that.

Haha, I have a few maps like that hidden away as well, just because I absolutely do NOT want anyone showing up and asking me if I could do another one like it!