Thursday 8 January 2009

Symbols for maps

I've always loved maps, especially old ones, and have been having a little dabble with drawing some map symbols for use by ImagiNation map makers, inspired especially by the maps of Sebastian Münster, a famous German 15th-16th century mapmaker, as well as by that beautiful map that FitzBadger did of Beerstein before last Christmas. I haven't decided yet what format they should be in - perhaps .svg to be used in the freeware vector drawing program Inkscape (www.inkscape.org)? Of course, there may not be any interest here in using them; if so, I'll probably offer them via one of the many RPG mapmaking sites or the Cartographer's Guild forum. Anyway, here's a snapshot of the first few icons; those who are familiar with Münster's 1528 map of the Heidelberg area will no doubt recognise from where the ideas for the designs came. :-)

I've added a variation on them with shading, to see if it improves the look...