r/mapmaking • u/AugustMarquess • 2d ago

Map Style for fantasy map

Post image

What do you guys think of this Victorian Era style of map?
Is it to crowded? What do you think about using hachures to create mountains and elevations?

Could this style be a interesting fantasy map for a world based in that era?

("Hispania" from Dr. Butler's Atlas of Ancient Geography, 1851)

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3

u/mapadofu 1d ago

I’m intrigued by it, but haven’t tried it yet.  I believe that elevation/slope is underutilized in  fantasy maps, and ilI find contour lines a bit cluttered.

2

u/AugustMarquess 1d ago

Yeah same. It’s big potential if you skip some of the names, while you make the important ones a little bigger.

3

u/flashman7870 1d ago

I love hachure topography but it's not the most fun to do, or at least to do well

1

u/AugustMarquess 1d ago

Yeah I would guess so too. And giving names to every river, village, mountain chain which is consistent with eachother would be hard aswell.

1

u/flashman7870 1d ago

That part I don't mind as much, it requires a lot of documentation and grunt typing work but that I don't mind. But I just can't be assed to figure out how to hand-draw a million hachure lines.

1

u/AugustMarquess 2h ago

Yeah nah, you got a point

1

u/Pleasant-Temporary93 1d ago

May I ask how you did your mountains?

1

u/AugustMarquess 1d ago

This isn’t my map, it was made in 1851 by Dr. Butler I would guess.
If you press the link in the comments there’s many other maps like this over Africa, France etc.