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Description
Here's a map of Fire Island, the one ruled by the infamous Lizard King, from the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks first published in the eighties. Googleing a bit, I discovered that there is not a detailed map of the island according to the text, so I decided to draw my own.

It was a more complex job than it seems. I took this illustration as guide for the island outline and major features:

fightingfantasyproject.files.w…

I revisited the book, that I keep to this day as fierce nerdy collector, studying all the main paths to the volcano and the Lizard King's fortress, and scribbled a couple of schemes of them, paying special attention to the geographic and landscape features along the way. The only element out of my imagination is the port, that doesn't appear in the book: I understand that, because of gaming and tale telling purposes, the Lizard King's fortress is inland, but it's absurd not to place it closer to the coast. So I supposed that it was there for any unknown purpose (maybe another mine?), and considered the existence of another river and a harbor in order to comunicate efficiently the fortress with the mine and continent.
Based on all that, I draw a couple of drafts; as it's my first job of this kind, I went for a simple style (I hope not too cartoonish) used in many fantasy maps. I was not completely satisfied with the mountains appearance, but decided to go on, drawing and inking a final draft. I faced some difficulties here: The paper's texture tended to widen and distress the ink lines. I added the title, compass, escale and sea moster. Curiously, no kraken appears in the book, but I couldn't help it: I love krakens.
After that, I coloured it with some old watercolors. I'm not so smart with watercolors, as I have mainly used oils and acrylics before, but I think the result, though improvable, fits quite well the coarse style of the map. I didn't inted to go beyond that, due to my lack of experience with this medium.
As I have no scanner, and because of the current situation out there, I had to take a photograph in order to submit it, with the crappy result you can see. I took a couple of photos and combined their best parts with photoshop. I was tempted with changing the worst parts of the map (in my insecure opinion, lettering and icons), but finally I just corrected the title: I had written The Island of the Lizard King, but that's the book's title; the true island's name was Fire Island.
So, here it is!
And, for more information about my insights on the island's geomorphology, check fav.me/ddswati

Pencil, indian ink and watercolors on A3 sized watercolor paper.

Comments and critiques are more than welcome!

Description
Here's a map of Fire Island, the one ruled by the infamous Lizard King, from the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks first published in the eighties. Googleing a bit, I discovered that there is not a detailed map of the island according to the text, so I decided to draw my own.

It was a more complex job than it seems. I took this illustration as guide for the island outline and major features:

fightingfantasyproject.files.w…

I revisited the book, that I keep to this day as fierce nerdy collector, studying all the main paths to the volcano and the Lizard King's fortress, and scribbled a couple of schemes of them, paying special attention to the geographic and landscape features along the way. The only element out of my imagination is the port, that doesn't appear in the book: I understand that, because of gaming and tale telling purposes, the Lizard King's fortress is inland, but it's absurd not to place it closer to the coast. So I supposed that it was there for any unknown purpose (maybe another mine?), and considered the existence of another river and a harbor in order to comunicate efficiently the fortress with the mine and continent.
Based on all that, I draw a couple of drafts; as it's my first job of this kind, I went for a simple style (I hope not too cartoonish) used in many fantasy maps. I was not completely satisfied with the mountains appearance, but decided to go on, drawing and inking a final draft. I faced some difficulties here: The paper's texture tended to widen and distress the ink lines. I added the title, compass, escale and sea moster. Curiously, no kraken appears in the book, but I couldn't help it: I love krakens.
After that, I coloured it with some old watercolors. I'm not so smart with watercolors, as I have mainly used oils and acrylics before, but I think the result, though improvable, fits quite well the coarse style of the map. I didn't inted to go beyond that, due to my lack of experience with this medium.
As I have no scanner, and because of the current situation out there, I had to take a photograph in order to submit it, with the crappy result you can see. I took a couple of photos and combined their best parts with photoshop. I was tempted with changing the worst parts of the map (in my insecure opinion, lettering and icons), but finally I just corrected the title: I had written The Island of the Lizard King, but that's the book's title; the true island's name was Fire Island.
So, here it is!
And, for more information about my insights on the island's geomorphology, check fav.me/ddswati

Pencil, indian ink and watercolors on A3 sized watercolor paper.

Comments and critiques are more than welcome!