THE SHARK BRIDGE IMAGES SERIES

I rather like this parchment-look texture, where you can't be quite certain it isn't really the surface of an old driftwood plank, with the map lightly cut into its surface in gentle relief. Partly because I'd been mapping extensively in another style for quite some time to reach this point, partly for contrast, and as an opportunity to explore a - to me - new mapping style, I chose the Treasure Maps style from the October 2011 Cartographer's Annual, including its Treasure Map Deadhand font. The two versions allow switching between Imperial and Metric scales (via a toggle in the Atlas version, if all goes to plan). This led to the Shark Bridge map, albeit it was actually the last map prepared in CC3+, because I needed a clear impression of the appearance of the towers and caverns first to be able to add them correctly to it.

THE SHARK BRIDGE IMAGES SERIES

Then I hand-sketched some to-scale ideas from these parameters, and quickly realised I needed a series of drawings to better visualise the general area around the bridge, give an impression of its size and nature, and show where the various Kachayan settlements were on and around it. A vast arch by medieval standards, regardless.

So I opted for an arch set in the fissure, with a level bridge top resting on it instead. While it might have been nice to visualise the bridge as like the Map 01 symbol, a classic hump-backed arch rising high over the fissure itself, given the fissure was to be around 3,000 feet (over 900 metres) wide at the nominal 'crossing point', that seemed impractical - and maybe a bit too 'goldfish bowl ornament'. I'd decided already there should be watchtowers on the bridge, and cave strongholds below it, one on each side of the fissure's cliffs.

The shark bridge images