Rultseje - fictional topographic world map

[Meton]

This map was drawn as a private commission last spring. It depicts the topography of a fictional, earth-like planet. The map is entirely hand-drawn to an about 21 cm x 42 cm sheet (8'' x 16'') with micron pens and coloured with Copic markers.

The client gave me a rough sketch about the topography, which I then redraw much more detailed. The original map was in equirectangular projection, so the project started with figuring out what would be the best projection for the map. As one of the big continents is around south pole, no conventional "north is up" projection was going to work. In the end I used azimuthal equal-area projection in two hemispheres, centered to 70th latitude, with which there were no big distortions and the big continents were shown uninterrupted. The reprojection was made with G.Projector, a great tool.

After reprojecting the projection was traced to a paper with a light box, and then the contours. The client had also a rough plan of tectonic plates, which I used in the process. For the colouring I used a quite classic atlas style scheme, and I added some rivers too to give it bit more contents. The climate was not considered in this, although the area around south pole was left without rivers as there would certainly be an ice cap.

The client never thoroughly told, and I never asked where this map is eventually going to be used, so I don't know much about the backgrounds of this world building project. Nevertheless, I'm quite happy how this map turned out and it was a pleasure to make a full-colour fictional topographic map! The client was also very happy (the original map was mailed too).

I'd be happy to hear if you have some comments or critique!

[Adfor]

Utterly amazing.

[Kellerica]

Aina kiva nähdä jotain uutta! Yhtä siistiä jälkeä kuin työsi aina. Hyvä kuulla että asiakas oli tyytyväinen, sietää ollakin! En kyllä äkkiseltään keksi mitään kritisoitavaa, hienoa työtä.

[Arimel]

That looks really sharp! The colors also work really well!

[Antoine.L]

Very good looking map, and very nice projection.

I saw it on instagram before. You also did a nice projection tutorial if I well remember.

[Meton]

Utterly amazing.

Thank you Adfor!

Aina kiva nähdä jotain uutta! Yhtä siistiä jälkeä kuin työsi aina. Hyvä kuulla että asiakas oli tyytyväinen, sietää ollakin! En kyllä äkkiseltään keksi mitään kritisoitavaa, hienoa työtä.

Kiitos paljon! Juu, ei ole tullut ihan liikaa uusia karttoja tänne laitettua. On se kuitenkin aina mukavaa pystyä täällä keskustelemaan ja saamaan kommentteja!

That looks really sharp! The colors also work really well!

Thank you Arimel! I also think the colours were quite good (although the darkest shade of blue was maybe a bit too dark).

Very good looking map, and very nice projection.

I saw it on instagram before. You also did a nice projection tutorial if I well remember.

Thank you Antoine. I'm glad you appreciate the projection, I think I'm personally quite happy how I managed to work it. I did make that instagram tutorial yes, great to hear you liked it!

[MistyBeee]

Incredibly clean and well done for a traditional map, Meton ! Hat off !!

[jshoer]

Nice! I agree that maybe the darkest blue is a little too dark, but the land colors are spot-on and your lines are so clean and crisp.

What is the coloring? Marker or pencil?

[Meton]

Incredibly clean and well done for a traditional map, Meton ! Hat off !!

Thanks a lot MistyBeee!

Nice! I agree that maybe the darkest blue is a little too dark, but the land colors are spot-on and your lines are so clean and crisp.

What is the coloring? Marker or pencil?

Thanks! You are on point with that comment, because the case is that I had already tested the land colours to be a good colour scheme in earlier maps, but with the ocean colours I tried this scheme for the first time.

The colouring is made with alcohol-based markers, mostly Copic markers and some Promarkers. They are easy to get a smooth colour surface and an (almost) unchangeable shade, but the cons are that there are a limited number of colour options (and even more limited number in my local shop, where I can easily test them). But with a lot of test maps it's possible to find good colour schemes.