Recreating the Catalan Map Panels 1 & 2

The Map Penciled In

Vellum is made out of animal skin, and skin tends to respond to humidity by curling.

I didn't have a board long enough to tape all the pieces down to it at once, so I ended up weighing everything down by plopping my swords over top.

But after I finished sketching on the vellum, I put the vellum back into its special container and back under weights to help keep them flat.

Panels 1 & 2 Rough Sketch

I made my initial sketches with pencil before going over everything with India ink. I've included a cute youtube video of the process for you to watch.

Wait a second... that map doesn't look right!

You're right, the map isn't drawn in its traditional North/South orientation. I turned the map slightly to the side. This was a design decision so I could fit in all of the major locations in the recipient's life without having to butcher the map by cleaving off parts. This way, the map is still fully readable. I just need to remember to add the compass and to change the orientation of north so it'll be facing the correct direction.

Q: Why didn't you just make it north to south?
A: Because AEthelmearc is situated at a funny angle on the map, and I wanted to fit in the East Kingdom too. Most kingdoms have a nice and defined north and south that I could nicely fit into two pages of vellum, but not AEthelmearc. Since it sprawls over an area that is almost in the mid-west and reaches into New York, I would have needed 4 different leaves to just fit it in from one border to the other.

Q: But you could have just drawn the map in period style and made everything fit!
A: True, I could have done that. But then the defining features of the Kingdom would become so distorted that it would be very difficult to make out what you were looking at. I had a hard time deciphering the real Catalan map with its real-life markers and land masses, imagine how difficult it would be to decipher a map with imaginary borders from made-up kingdoms.

Much Needed Definition

I was at a loss with my map at this stage. Something felt missing.

I had no idea how to make it look "better" than the bare sketch that I had.

I had just finished drawing the map lines for Pittsburgh, PA when I decided that it would look really nice if I added kingdom heraldry. This would add some definition and depth to places rather than just writing in the names.

SPOILERS: Eventually, I caved and ended up writing in some names of major cities because it looked like a blob without it.

In progress photo

It's starting to come together. I opted to not write in the word "appalachian mountains" over the mountain range, and instead just drew a mountain range.

So the Center of Everything is Pittsburgh, PA?!

This is just one of many Easter eggs hidden in this scroll. The reason why Pittsburgh is so prominently marked as an epicenter has to do with the origin story of Pennsic War itself.

According to the HERSTAĐR-SAGA: An Incomplete History of Pennsic,

One day, almost 30 years ago, Cariadoc of the Bow, the King of the Middle, got bored with peace and declared war upon the East, loser to take Pittsburgh. The King of the East read the declaration of war, filed it away and forgot about it. Time passed. Cariadoc moved to New York and subsequently became King of the East, whereupon he retrieved the declaration from the file cabinet and said, "Let's fight." The Middle won, and Cariadoc has the distinction of being the only king who declared war upon himself and lost.

In progress photo

I just finished adding in the calligraphy and illustrations from the major-ish locations. Plus, I also drew in the Kingdom markers.

I decided to not draw in borders for places outside of AEthelmearc because the Catalan atlas doesn't have borders marked out unless its with a geographical divide. In this case, I added a few important rivers and the Appalachian mountain range.

But You Cut Roanoke in Half! Why?!

This was done on purpose and as a discussion point about the map itself. The entire atlas was completed on 6 leaves of parchment, which were later mounted to wood. Those 6 parchment leaves later became 12 panels. I believe that the map degraded and cracked naturally in the middle of the page after being folded for centuries. I put the names of places across or near the fold to make it look cohesive.

The intended cut pieces with lines marking the edges

Note the paint that was applied to the gilding.

The middle piece that degraded over time

Light Gilding and Ink Work

I very gently painted the blue for the Atlantian shield but left some gaps. I used a blue pigment marker to smooth everything out nice and pretty.

Panel 1 & 2 Finished!

This is the finished version of this panel- for now.

Who knows what I'll add to it when I line all the pieces up?

Just kidding!

I changed my mind and decided to gild Pittsburgh.

Departure from Period Practice

A modern map of AEthelmearc was used, this is sort of not period
- This was a concession that I gave to the award recipient because he specifically requested that I draw -that- map of AEthelmearc. The Catalan map does not have specific territorial markers or borders
- Drawing in borders into maps was actually done in the period, just not in the extant that was used. Borders are political constructs that are subject to change. The Catalan map was meant for navigation.
The map is not drawn in a north/south direction; it's tilted at an angle
- This was a design decision that I made based on the recipient's request. I felt that tilting the map was a step in the right direction to help me obtain the proper "look" that I wanted for this project.
The focal points ie: like those around Pittsburgh are delineated with alternating red and green lines; I used black ink
- I only realized after I made this scroll that the lines i nthe extant are alternating red and green. This is because someone found me an ultra high quality photo of the extant where you can see that there's red and green lines. At a distance, it looks like black lines

Things I Learned

I was finally able to gild parchment again!