Empire of the Sands Novel

[TimPaul]

Here's a map I did for Tasha Suri's Empire of Sand novel. It was based on Indian Culture and landscape. Which was great, as I love doing research into area's I'm not as versed in as others. She also provided some visual images for inspiration, which was great, and helped form the basis for the colors. Both the author and the authors agent where very pleased with how I took the cultural sensitivity, and didn't include anything that is often cliche and wrong about India. So that's the benefit of doing research! You avoid offending. I just got the revisions today for the second novel, as she's adding more details to the map.

Sometimes with new authors, they haven't thought out their world fully. What's in all those blank spaces? It's always fun to help them work out that stuff.

[GodofMoxie]

Looks very nice, like the border a lot, as well as the color balance overall, bright but not overly so.

What do you think are some cliches to avoid when doing Indian maps?

[Kellerica]

My, this is a cool one! Absolutely wonderful atmosphere, with every element working together. The paint stroke look of the land is a nice touch, and the border and title look fantastic. Great colors too! My one and only minor nitpick is that the grid on the ocean is a little too strong for my taste, but that is the only slightly negative thing I have to say about this one. Outstanding work, truly!

[TimPaul]

My, this is a cool one! Absolutely wonderful atmosphere, with every element working together. The paint stroke look of the land is a nice touch, and the border and title look fantastic. Great colors too! My one and only minor nitpick is that the grid on the ocean is a little too strong for my taste, but that is the only slightly negative thing I have to say about this one. Outstanding work, truly!

That's fair. i didn't consider lightening it. The map is reproduced in black and white for the book, but i could have easily done something like 50% black, so it's not as strong. One of the reasons I even put a grid, is that I didn't want such open areas. I think I offered to put sea monsters, but that I think that got nixed. Can't quite remember.

[arsheesh]

I like how the rich warm colors of the land play with the cool colors of the sky. In fact I like everything about the border of this piece. Well done.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[MistyBeee]

I'm totally fond of the concept : simple but charming, well executed, amazing atmosphere. A real success

[GreatWhiteNorth]

I agree with Kellerica about the graticule, but otherwise everything about this map is stunning. I love how abstract it is, and how harmonious the style is. The real winner is all the cool framing around the map itself.

[TimPaul]

I agree with Kellerica about the graticule, but otherwise everything about this map is stunning. I love how abstract it is, and how harmonious the style is. The real winner is all the cool framing around the map itself.

Thanks. One of the reasons I went in that direction is because there really wasn't much information on the map. Had to make it interesting.

[Jerron]

As you said it's based on Indian landscape and culture, but is it also supposed to have those strong similarities to the shape of India?

[TimPaul]

As you said it's based on Indian landscape and culture, but is it also supposed to have those strong similarities to the shape of India?

Yes actually. I received a simple map sketch from the author that said it's very similar to India, but not exactly shaped like it.