Working on it...inking lines in over color washes.
My first finished map, without labels. I did not think far enough ahead to where all the labels would go, and it was harder than I realized to get an overlay to work, so I ended up labeling the map on my computer.
Complete, postprocessed, map. I think it turned out very well for my first shot, but my later efforts improved quite a bit.
Close-up.
This is, incidentally, where a lot of the action happens.
Map of Faerie, for Nicole and according to her layout and instructions
This is the first appearance of red ink in my maps. It's also the first time I hand-lettered the map labels. (Nicely, I think!)
Key to the lettered labels was figuring out where to leave space in the forests...
I like this guy.
The crossed swords measure maybe 4-5mm across.
Map for Jeanne: for this one, I reveresed my normal order of operations. I've found that the watercolor washes soak into the Bristol while the ink sits on top, so I inked this one before coloring it. Also, I did this one in a stream-of-consciousness way with the ink, rather than pencilling it in first and tracing over that in ink. You can see that I left space in the forest ahead of time for labels - and I've got some scratch characters for those labels off to the left.
Here's the map with color. It worked nicely, with the exception of the brown mountains at lower-right, which reduced the contrast of the ink more than I'd like. I was also able to do some more precise effects with the color/ink interfaces, such as the plateaus at upper left.
Now with labels! Again, I did this in a stream-of-consciousness way. I made up a few characters on scrap paper, and then combined permutations and variations on those characters throughout the map in brick-red ink. (I like the brick red much better than the crimson which I used for accents on Nicole's map.) I also made up a few symbols. None of the labels have translations or transliterations...yet.
These are my first canyons, actually, and my most extensive mesas. I quite like them! I also am very happy with the colors I got here. I was trying to evoke something like the Sedona area, but more lush.
From this section, you should be able to tell which way the prevailing winds go on this world!
