tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74444288813701182272024-02-21T18:16:47.725+01:00Musings of a Fantasy CartographerHere I will write mostly about my work as fantasy cartographer and artist and do some book reviews from time to time.Fantasy Maphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18087495508157033138noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444428881370118227.post-65440376489252332582019-04-29T14:09:00.002+02:002019-04-29T14:09:46.741+02:00Dan Dare: Space Fleet Operations Manual by Rod Barzilay (Author) and Graham Bleathman (Illustrator)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Dan Dare is the hero of a British comic series, which appeared in the original Eagle magazine during the 1950s and 1960s. Dan Dare: Space Fleet Operations Manual displays the space crafts of this comic. Ships, rockets, space stations and equipment, as well human as alien, for military and civilian use are presented as black/white line art or fully coloured drawings.<br />
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The cutaways, especially the coloured ones, are of very good quality and deliver a sense of old-style; they even give a good explanation why space ships have wings. The book also contains a lot of images from the comics, both as reference to the cutaways and as further explanations.<br />
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For fans of sci-fi vehicles and cutaways definitely a good addition to the library.<br />
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<br />Fantasy Maphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18087495508157033138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444428881370118227.post-8512040672381676172019-04-23T11:15:00.003+02:002019-04-23T11:15:48.063+02:00The Termian March<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7H_Qgl0IDtkpq5MWHOjVSUpa9YclD8XJOJ_nD_W_pgp4I5wN4nVcNb6nd8UOhvbMjL2jGeX_nxRA2OCad4IbMrftBkqZ5Gl7LHbYVcU11_JQFLMQazEG3SZuavU2lBJgvhsFZUYkKeM/s1600/Termia+March3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1061" data-original-width="1500" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7H_Qgl0IDtkpq5MWHOjVSUpa9YclD8XJOJ_nD_W_pgp4I5wN4nVcNb6nd8UOhvbMjL2jGeX_nxRA2OCad4IbMrftBkqZ5Gl7LHbYVcU11_JQFLMQazEG3SZuavU2lBJgvhsFZUYkKeM/s320/Termia+March3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A traditional piece - hand drawn with 0,1 fine line on A4 sized paber, scanned and then coloured and labelled digitally.<br />
The Termian March protects the Empire from the dangerous green Elves. They rule the area beyond the shield mountains from their Emerald Palace.<br />
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Scanned drawing, already cleaned up.</div>
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Coloured digitally.</div>
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Labels placed digitally.<br />
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<br />Fantasy Maphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18087495508157033138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444428881370118227.post-12793895307350192902019-04-15T08:33:00.000+02:002019-04-15T08:33:47.138+02:00Game of Thrones Fighting Scene<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.fantasy-map.net/images/photography/v2/got-scene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="160" src="https://www.fantasy-map.net/images/photography/v2/got-scene.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In March 2019 I had the pleasure to draw a medieval style illustration for Entertainment Weekly. It features a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80KwlfqfRWk" target="_blank">scene</a> where Jorah Mormont fights several gladiators in the fighting pits of Mereen. The scene actually compiles a scene of several minutes length into a single picture.</div>
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I started with a very rough draft using place holder characters and random elements.</div>
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Then I started to refine the elements, using pictures from the scene.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdvWOCeQDNECxlSOKht5x08mpGISqohMcmLNA4xfOsrbE8E9AktHW4byirDyJ4uh8XZ0I9wpgqCP33MNyPCHqekJH-WCRf0hCc8WGq8CNTQRkB2Z4Q52PY6iiwrhCrqUYuFfHH-T8couo/s1600/Entertainment+Weekly+GoT+Sword+Fight2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1500" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdvWOCeQDNECxlSOKht5x08mpGISqohMcmLNA4xfOsrbE8E9AktHW4byirDyJ4uh8XZ0I9wpgqCP33MNyPCHqekJH-WCRf0hCc8WGq8CNTQRkB2Z4Q52PY6iiwrhCrqUYuFfHH-T8couo/s320/Entertainment+Weekly+GoT+Sword+Fight2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The main characters are in place.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJjQPGaUt0Gvgpmgje4BqFQ7VuHN9vGlZkN8JFx_AyWgqy2ZyU5D5wJoChwelnYReuhyphenhyphenNqqMUeMyDCFxtM8QgMpaJwZ9k9UtR5uZdsh_D7Cfm4so6I_GGAcQE3CRxJr04FuPHc3fbx7HY/s1600/Entertainment+Weekly+GoT+Sword+Fight3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1500" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJjQPGaUt0Gvgpmgje4BqFQ7VuHN9vGlZkN8JFx_AyWgqy2ZyU5D5wJoChwelnYReuhyphenhyphenNqqMUeMyDCFxtM8QgMpaJwZ9k9UtR5uZdsh_D7Cfm4so6I_GGAcQE3CRxJr04FuPHc3fbx7HY/s320/Entertainment+Weekly+GoT+Sword+Fight3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Changes made to the characters to fit the on-screen appearance - a challenging tasks. Real medieval images had hardly any resemblance to the portrayed people<br />
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More refining.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsip_s1VZgYrVFe_ux5CzWOpIRvQ2oYhnNTBjmMSlw7rkCR_rHC0gCkV0M_mdxm5-ejU2VJqRACdvURtSStcOQxkeXmBuCiIab55fUA6x78LowYwPOabzMv34LTgWHrL4LtPoIZIDYJF0/s1600/Entertainment+Weekly+GoT+Sword+Fight5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1500" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsip_s1VZgYrVFe_ux5CzWOpIRvQ2oYhnNTBjmMSlw7rkCR_rHC0gCkV0M_mdxm5-ejU2VJqRACdvURtSStcOQxkeXmBuCiIab55fUA6x78LowYwPOabzMv34LTgWHrL4LtPoIZIDYJF0/s320/Entertainment+Weekly+GoT+Sword+Fight5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The final piece.<br />
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<br />Fantasy Maphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18087495508157033138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444428881370118227.post-58348060085002519312019-04-11T20:35:00.000+02:002019-04-13T18:05:24.521+02:00Book Review: The Manual of Aeronautics: An Illustrated Guide to the Leviathan Series by Scott Westerfeld and Keith Thompson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/614G%2BkUM63L._SX387_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="389" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/614G%2BkUM63L._SX387_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="249" /></a></div>
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I have to admit – I didn‘t read the <i>Leviathan trilogy</i> by
Scott Westerfeld. I‘m not very much in YA novels and prefer books
like Westerfeld‘s <i>Succession</i> series, a great example of
science fiction.</div>
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I am
however a great fan of Keith Thompson and own some of his art books.
Thompson is really great when it comes to create organic looking
technology or a mix of organic/mechanic. Often those illustrations
are really creepy and strange but always excellently drawn.</div>
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This
book is no exception. Based on Scott Westerfeld’s novels the <i>Manual</i>
describes the vehicles of the two enemies in an alternate World War I
– the Darwinists (OTL Entente), which use biomechanic vehicles; and
the Clankers (OTL Central Powers), the masters of machine technology.</div>
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While
the Darwinists section shows various creatures like modified krakens,
huge floating monsters and smaller beasts, the Clankers have an
arsenal of walkers, trains and aircrafts.</div>
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Several
vehicles are also presented as cross sections and show very detailed
interior views. The book manages really to create the feeling of a
very strange alternate world.</div>
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Thompson
also portrays various characters from the book as well as uniform of
both alliances.</div>
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If you
like strange vehicle concepts and cross sections, then <i>The Manual
of Aeronautics: An Illustrated Guide to the Leviathan Series</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
is definitely a book you must add to your collection.</span><br />
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Fantasy Maphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18087495508157033138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444428881370118227.post-33166985543310553622019-04-11T09:05:00.002+02:002019-04-12T12:26:42.386+02:00The Pirate Isle<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Pirate Isle is a rare example of a traditional drawing. I usually do all my art digitally, but this time I went for the traditional approach. Done for a mapping challenge I imagined a rocky island in a strait, from where the pirates in their dark fortress start to terrorise the neighboring lands.</div>
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Drawn on A4 paper using 0,1 and 0,3 fine liners and coloured and labelled in Affinity Photo.</div>
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<br />Fantasy Maphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18087495508157033138noreply@blogger.com0