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Brian-van-Hunsel ā Val Nevan
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Published: 2012-07-07 13:22:11 +0000 UTC; Views: 29830; Favourites: 387; Downloads: 535
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Description
Made with pencils and microns on A3 paper and coloured digitally.Original size: 9890 x 6939 pixels
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Comments: 45
I can really see the Dutch in you. This is clearly of the colour and style that made their (your) cartography famous. Brilliant details.
I don't want "critique" to be "all the bad things", and I know almost nothing of techniques, so I'll try to make it "what concepts seem dubious", and try to reason them.
The castle road (that is visible) is probably horrible for troop mobilisation, so the lords would probably make it less winding. A defensible position is okay, but getting yourself stuck in a siege or getting slowly to a battle isn't desirable.
The architectural styles seem to be from around the same eras, which is a nice consistency. I would've wanted to see more variation in the houses since they get kinda monotonous, but you probably know this.
The heraldry is another nice and elegant detail, although the Yorkshire Rose is a bit too obvious to my eye, also kind of the German eagle, but granted, it's been around for a longer time.
The river might look nicer with a bit of shading, like those concentric lines propagating from shorelines (I don't know what they're called).
The roads and street layout is very good, not too wavy to be showy or very random, but the main roads are clear and realistic from human use. Probably a bit higher and denser housing could exist between the main streets and junctions. The main square is maybe a bit too large and empty on such a desirable real estate, but not overly so.
One could probably write tons of more of all the different details, but I think I'll stop now lest for sounding preachy. I really love the map and I do hope you continue doing more of this art e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/sā¦ " width="15" height="15" alt="
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I see I've neglected to comment on your critique. That can't be. Thoughtful input deserves a reply. Sorry! And thank you for taking the time
I'll go over each of your remarks in order:
---"The castle road (that is visible) is probably horrible for troop mobilisation"
Yeah, probably. I actually forgot the second (slightly larger) gate I had planned. *facepalms* That said, I suppose it's a bit of a trade-off. When there's an amry right in front of your door, I expect the bottleneck is a definite advantage. When it's still some distance away, I doubt it would matter much. However: I do wonder how easily the inhabitants can get large cartloads of goods into the castle.
---"I would've wanted to see more variation in the houses since they get kinda monotonous"
Actually, that's on purpose. If you look at maps from the 17th century, the normal houses are all very uniform. I don't know whether they looked that way in real life, but it serves the purpose of not drawing away the viewer's attention from the more important buildings. On the other hand, I did try to put in a lot of details to make the place look alive and vibrant. I suppose it's a matter of finding the right balance. Anyways, you might be right. I don't really see it now, but maybe I will at some point.
--- "The heraldry is another nice and elegant detail, although the Yorkshire Rose is a bit too obvious to my eye, also kind of the German eagle, but granted, it's been around for a longer time."
I suppose so 
--- "The river might look nicer with a bit of shading, like those concentric lines propagating from shorelines (I don't know what they're called)."
I don't either
I tried to add those lines, but I screwed them all up. In the end I decided to get rid of them altogether, instead of ruining the map with a failed attempt. Better luck next time.
--- "The main square is maybe a bit too large and empty on such a desirable real estate, but not overly so."
Yep, I f-ed up there a bit. I drew the 'church' too large, mostly because I had a very hard time getting the angles right. In the end it looked like a wonderful example of something that Albert Speer might have designed, so I scaled it down. Didn't think of adding some more real estate until it was posted online.
--- "I really love the map and I do hope you continue doing more of this art
Thanks again for the critique. I really appreciate the feedback
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Thank you! An oldie, this one.
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Yes, I like this city-map! The more I look at it, the more I like it!
In addition to Your amazing style it seems to me a very realistic layout for a city in a riverbend in a slightly magical, europeanish and medieval setting! Congrats to Your city-planning skills!
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Thank you
Planning was indeed a big part of it. Doing sketches of the street plan and looking at old maps (mostly of Dutch, Belgian and German cities).
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Nice map - I can see you put a lot of work into it. The map is reminiscent of renaissance city prospects. They also often made the houses similar and exaggerated the size of streets and squares.
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Thanks!
Yeah, it was a lot of work. The houses almost drove me to insanity in the end
You make a good point here. Drawing maps is more about showning what you need the viewer to know and less about being as accurate as you can be. The detail I put in only serves to make the city seem alive. Drawing every house differently, would only distract the viewer from the things that really matter. And if I'd depicted the streets as narrow as they really are, you wouldn't be able to see them.
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Funny you should say that.
I was asked to write a short piece to go with this map for a journal a while back (it's not out yet), and I wrote about "getting lost in it". That was one of the main reasons for me to draw this and what I hope other people will do when they see this. Good to see it actually works
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Well, then you've succeeded very well indeed!
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This is amazing!! You are very talented...
You could work for big productions such as Game of Thrones when they need maps!
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Haha, now that would be nice
Thanks!
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Wonderfull job! I'm happy to see you continued on your way with old style maps... It's perfect!
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This is, simply put, one of the best hand drawn maps I've seen in recent years. Kudos!
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
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Coming from a guild veteran like you, that's one of the best compliments ever! Thank you!
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Well you've done an exceptional job, there's no doubt about it.
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Looks like some 19th century drawing to me or well, something alike.
Anyway, great style! Stunning map!
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I was thinking more like 15th/16th. I got most of the inspiration from this map of Bruges by Johannes Blaeu: [link]
That, and a lot of helpful posts and tutorials at the Cartographer's Guild ^^
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Ah, then I learned somethin new
Though I could have guessed that 
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Good lord, your attention to detail is overwhelming!
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Thanks! I'm glad you like it
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I'm glad you like it. Thanks a lot!
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wonderful... truly wonderful, and shows enormous skills. my congratulations!
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Haha, thanks
I like to think of it as more of a matter of patience than skill, though.
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Another good attitude as well
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This is great! Did you try to recreate a particular century, or were you just winging it?
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Kind of winging it. I was thinking late middle ages. Most of the inspiration for it came from this map here: [link]
<3 Brugge/Bruges
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It looks great!
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Thanks! And for the 
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You're very welcome!
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