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You are here: Home / Archives for Competition

Competition

New York City Map Contest

The Cartographers’ Guild is running a map-making competition for September-October – Mapping the Big Apple Challenge. The top 45 maps will be featured in a gallery exhibition at the Soho Gallery for Digital Art, with prints available for public purchase (70% of the price after print costs go to the artist).

Here are all the details in their own words:

The Cartographers’ Guild, in partnership with the Soho Gallery for Digital Art, presents Mapping the Big Apple. The challenge is to create a map inspired by New York. From early drafts of the streets of New Amsterdam, to the grid layout of Manhattan when Central Park was first proposed to the iconic New Yorker cover from March 29th, 1976 – New York has always inspired cartographers and artists with its streets and avenues. And not just cartographers. Manhattan has been destroyed in more ways that any other city. From the monster of Cloverfield to the ice age of The Day After Tomorrow – New York has taken it all. Now it’s your task to take this iconic skyline and represent it in your own way.

In this challenge you must create a map inspired by New York. It must be letter sized (11″ by 8.5″) or larger and a minimum of 150dpi. Beyond that, your imagination can be your guide. It can be anything from an ant colony in central park to an airship shipping lane map with a terminus on top of the Empire State. As long as New York is involved in some way, your map will be eligible.

The contest will run until the 31st of October, after which there will be a round of public voting. The top 45 maps will be included in an exhibition at the Soho Gallery for Digital Art that will run in Manhattan from the 16th of November until the 12th of December. As part of the exhibition, the gallery will sell prints of the maps to the public, with 70% of the price after print costs going to the artists. The top three entries will get pride of place at the center of the gallery and the winner will have their work used in publicity material for the show.

All successful entrants will get a special badge as recognition of their work being in the show. The artists who have the top three maps will get a golden compass. There will be more prizes during the two months that will be announced as we go forward – so keep an eye on this forum for other opportunities!

In contrast to previous challenges, each artist may submit up to three pieces.

If you’re new to the site, each challenge entry must have it’s own thread in this forum.

  • The thread title should start “September-October Challenge: “
  • More WIPs generally make for more votes – don’t be shy about putting up early sketches
  • Use the attachment manager to put up WIP images (the paperclip at the top of the advanced editing window).
  • Put ### Latest WIP ### before every thumbnail so that the thumbnail scraper can put together a thumbs page for the challenge.

A few other notes about the contest:

  • All entries must be submitted on the Cartographers’ Guild before the 31st of October.
  • Ranking of the entries will be by public vote on the Cartographers’ Guild.
  • Each artist can enter up to three pieces.
  • To enter a piece you must be willing to sign a contract with the gallery that certifies that you are the copyright owner for the map, or that you have the right to show it and sell copies.
  • The gallery show is conditional upon more than 45 entries. If fewer than 45 maps are entered into the competition the show will be dependent upon agreement of the gallery – so encourage your friends to enter. Please feel free to post this around the internet at other art sites you frequent. The more the merrier.

Good luck and happy mapping!

*** –> Click here to join the competition <– ***

Filed Under: Competition

Mapmaking Competition Winners

The judges’ decisions are in and all scores from the mapmaking competition have been tallied. It was a close race, and all contestants should be proud of their effort.

I know everyone just wants to know who won, so I’ll save the rest of my comments for the bottom of the post. Here are the winners:

1st Place – $100 ProFantasy Voucher

The Land of Mórthyr, by Warren Godone-Maresca
The Land of Mórthyr, by Warren Godone-Maresca

The Land of Mórthyr, by Warren Godone-Maresca

Here are some of the judges comments:

That’s a beautiful map! I dig the way you’ve done the sea texture around the coast.

This is a very striking piece. Both textures and font-pick are great giving it a nice authentic look.

I like the consistency in the symbols used. They all contribute to an overall style that ties the piece together.

2nd Place – $50 ProFantasy Voucher

Lands of the Shan'Gali, by Joachim de Ravenbel
Lands of the Shan'Gali, by Joachim de Ravenbel

Lands of the Shan’Gali, by Joachim de Ravenbel

Here are some of the judges comments:

Very striking and original. I keep wanting to look at the cool mountains and not the buildings.

Very smart piece.

I love how it tells a story in itself. As usual, your cut-away maps blow you away with their detail.

3rd Place – $25 ProFantasy Voucher

Two participants came in a dead tie for 3rd place, so it looks like I get to pony up another $25 to make sure they both get the rewards they deserve.

Gragmoor Quarry, by Nick Pelletier
Gragmoor Quarry, by Nick Pelletier

Gragmoor Quarry, by Nick Pelletier

Here are some of the judges comments:

Perfect example of a functional map, and it proves that maps without all the ‘arty-stuff’ can look great.

A good map that has everything I expect: organic looking village structure, legend, compass. Easy to read, good layout.

[I]t’s a great map that clearly lays out an interesting location. I could pick this up and use this in a game with no trouble at all.

Lune Fi - Latoon Regional Map, by AkherQursan
Lune Fi - Latoon Regional Map, by AkherQursan

Lune Fi – Latoon Regional Map, by AkherQursan

Here are some of the judges comments:

Very stylish with a strategy video game look.

That’s a wonderful map, with great typography.

I love the textures and color palette you used. Also the mapping elements you used are very refreshing giving it a real fantasy look.

Closing Comments

First of all, let me thank the judges for all their help. Not only were their cartography skills instrumental in scoring the contestants, but I believe they provided excellent feedback that will help the contestants improve their own skills.

As I said before, all the participants did a great job in this contest. The remaining contestants were not far behind the 3rd place winners. I hope you all enjoyed the competition and learned from the process and feedback, whether you ended up with a prize or not.

To the winners – I will send your voucher codes to you shortly, via the email you used to submit your map.

Thanks again to everyone one who judged, participated and even those who just observed. If you have any suggestions on how to improve for the next contest, please leave them in the comments below.

Filed Under: Competition

Mapmaking Competition – All the Entries are In, So Let the Voting Begin!

All the entries have been posted and it’s time for everyone to cast their vote. Even if you’re not a judge, you can still rate each map. Just click on the links here to visit the page for each map and use the stars below each post to rate it.

Here are the contestants:

Gragmoor Quarry, by Nick Pelletier

Kins’Rin, by Duncan Peterson

Lune Fi – Latoon Regional Map, by AkherQursan

The Free Kingdoms, by Sven Myrin

Dungeon Stronghold of a Planar Lord, by Mrrkyllothur

Nyhem, by Pär Lindström

The Land of Mórthyr, by Warren Godone-Maresca

Lands of the Shan’Gali, by Joachim de Ravenbel

Mount Celestia – Lunia, by Shessar

OK, now get out there and vote!

Also, please leave (civil) comments and criticism for the artists on their posts. Participation in mapmaking competitions are great if you win, but they’re also a good chance to get feedback.

Our judges will also be checking out the maps over the next few days. Prize winners will be announced next Wednesday, August 25th.

Filed Under: Competition

Mount Celestia – Lunia, by Shessar

This is a mapmaking competition entry from Shessar.

Mount Celestia - Lunia, by Shessar

Lunia … The Silver Heaven … Entry into the Plane of Law and Goodness … Forever night, lit by an endless expanse of silver stars, Lunia is a place of beauty, peace, sparkling fountains and endless wonder …

An isometric view of Lunia seemed the only way to capture the wonder of the first level of the Lawful Good plane of Mount Celestia. This map was created entirely in Campaign Cartographer using art from the Dundjinni User Art forums.

Filed Under: Competition

Lands of the Shan’Gali, by Joachim de Ravenbel

This is a mapmaking competition entry from Joachim de Ravenbel.

Lands of the Shan'Gali, by Joachim de Ravenbel

Software used

CC3 / DD3 and a home-made application do design interlacing and export to CC3.

Summary

It’s a map I designed for a RPG campain with my kids.

The Shan’Gali are an ancient race now long forgotten but for the most knowledgeable scholars. They only know that the last emperor, Raznak-Tân, left a treasure that should surpass anything known today. But it is well hidden and heavily protected…

Copyright info for this map: © jdr2010.

Filed Under: Competition

The Land of Mórthyr, by Warren Godone-Maresca

This is a mapmaking competition entry from Warren Godone-Maresca.

The Land of Mórthyr, by Warren Godone-Maresca

Software Used

The map was made in GIMP. The mountain brushes are from http://pickebu.deviantart.com/, the hill and tree brushes are from Cartographers’ Guild, and the compass is from http://www.clker.com/.

Map Design

The land mass came from some rendered clouds to which I applied a threshold. Then I slightly edited the shape. I myself made the texture in GIMP. The map was made more in tune with the texture by using the Gaussian Blur filter many times using varying amounts of blur each time.

The name “Mórthyr” comes form the Irish word “morthir”, which means “mainland”. There is not really any history behind the map because I made it specifically for this contest.

Copyright info for this map: BY-NC-ND Creative Commons.

Filed Under: Competition

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