Do it like Tolkien

[Mouse]

An easy challenge to describe -

Make a regional map in the style that was made so famous by Tolkien - drawing mountains, rivers, lakes, roads etc as close as possible to the way he might have drawn your map for you.

You don't have to draw any 'unfeasible' river systems if you don't want to. In fact you could even map a real world location in his style, as Callum Ogden has done here on his page. (link originally provided by ChickPea)

The only rule is that you are not allowed to map a region that represents any part of any of the novels he wrote.

[Falconius]

Or maybe make an epic regional black and white map?

[Mouse]

We could do either really.

I did a bit more research than I was awake and able to do this morning when I suggested that idea, and can now link to both a black and white version of the map, and a colour one by Pauline Baynes, who was commissioned by Tolkien to do the map for him.

This is the black and white version, discovered with Tolkien's notes scrawled on it in Pauline Baynes's copy of Lord of the Rings

And this is the colour version she made for Tolkien.

Neither of them look very much like the maps that Callum did.

I think I must be missing something in my understanding here... *look of puzzlement*

Maybe the map is just such a total legend these days that what it looks like to each of us depends largely on which of the many thousands of posters of Middle Earth we happen to like most, or have seen most frequently in our lives.

[Azélor]

If I understand correctly? : do the Middle Earth map using your own style.

[Falconius]

No what I meant is that make a map in Tolkien style is very limiting in a bad way which makes challenges boring. Limits need to be designed in order to allow for the flow of creativity. Taking a bunch of Tolkien stamps and re arranging them is... blech.

Which is why I tried to boil the challenge down to the essence of what Tolkien's map was.

[Mouse]

If I understand correctly? : do the Middle Earth map using your own style.

The other way around Make a map that has nothing to do with Middle Earth, but in the style of the original Middle Earth map

No what I meant is that make a map in Tolkien style is very limiting in a bad way which makes challenges boring. Limits need to be designed in order to allow for the flow of creativity. Taking a bunch of Tolkien stamps and re arranging them is... blech.

Not stamps - to hand draw everything from scratch, but in the same style as... well it turns out to be Pauline Baynes, not Tolkien at all.

But I see what you mean.

What was that idea you had, but didn't quite have on the interesting topic thread the other day?

[Falconius]

What was that idea you had, but didn't quite have on the interesting topic thread the other day?

If I knew I'd tell you lol. Dontcha ever just get the scent of an idea but can't seem to track it down?

I think the problem is that when ever I try to boil it down it has always been basically another challenge that's on the board already.

[Mouse]

The ones that evaporate like mist on a hot summer day?

I know the ones

I tend to have that problem with dreams sometimes. I have lucid dreams, where I know I'm dreaming and I can control the way it goes, but every now and then I wake up thinking "WOW! That was just A.M.A.Z.I.N.G....", go look for my notebook, or get a phone call or something, and its gone - can't remember it for the life of me.

[rdanhenry]

Maybe allow mixing it up a little? Re-map one fantasy or real world map in the style of a fantasy map for another setting. That way you could pick a style. You'd need to indicate which maps you were working from, so we could judge how well you'd matched the style and how well you'd kept the portrayal of the original landscape. Obviously, some styles are similar enough that you'd get little credit for your reinterpretation; there's more challenge in adapting the map to a significantly different style, especially as then you have to do some interpretation of the style: Do the Hobbit map in the style of the Princess Bride map and probably two of our ace cartographers would get quite different results. This would even open up the challenge to different types of maps, like interiors and space maps (though regional and world maps would still be the go-to choice, I think). You'd get more variety this way, and you'd give cartographers more choice, while still providing the challenge of "make this look like that".

[Mouse]

Maybe, rdanhenry.

Trouble is I'm actually going off the idea quite a lot for myself.

Falconius is right. My original idea is too limiting, and would quickly become boring.

Something may evolve if we continue to think about how to make it more interesting, but I will leave that to you, and any others that decide to join in