Forkwitch: Let's Talk About That Map
Jan. 3rd, 2019 05:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torylltales posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
antishurtugal_rebornWhich map? This one, from the front of The Fork, The Witch, and The Worm.
I feel a mighty need to rant about that map. First, it looks like the product of 10 minutes in CorelDraw 6. Stylistically similar to the monochrome map of Alagaesia, but somehow colourising it just makes it look sloppy and rushed.
The big thing, though: Where is that river flowing from or to?!
The map labels it as the Edda River, which originated on the easternmost edge of the "distant" Alagaesia map. So... it's been running inland for long enough for Alagaesia to be regarded as "distant"? And instead of flowing towards the large bodies of water to the north, it flows UPHILL towards a mountain, skirts around the base of the mountain, continues flowing UPWARDS towards the hills and... cliffs?... and then down through a forest, heading AWAY from another body of water.
THAT'S NOT HOW WATER FLOWS
But you know the worst thing about it? Look closely, it's easy to miss
Actually, that's a trick question. The worst thing about the map is on the next page over.
HE DIDN'T EVEN COLOUR IT HIMSELF
SEVEN YEARS TO PLAN THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF ERAGON & CO AND HE COULDN'T EVEN COLOUR IN THE MAP HIMSELF
It would have taken him half an hour to an hour at most in Photoshop, or even with actual pencils. WHY did Immanuela need to be involved, when one of Paolini's artistic strengths lies in colouring and shading?!
Before you even read a single word of the story, this is a clear warning, like a garishly-coloured beetle, of the laziness and carelessness that lies in wait should you continue.
I feel a mighty need to rant about that map. First, it looks like the product of 10 minutes in CorelDraw 6. Stylistically similar to the monochrome map of Alagaesia, but somehow colourising it just makes it look sloppy and rushed.
The big thing, though: Where is that river flowing from or to?!
The map labels it as the Edda River, which originated on the easternmost edge of the "distant" Alagaesia map. So... it's been running inland for long enough for Alagaesia to be regarded as "distant"? And instead of flowing towards the large bodies of water to the north, it flows UPHILL towards a mountain, skirts around the base of the mountain, continues flowing UPWARDS towards the hills and... cliffs?... and then down through a forest, heading AWAY from another body of water.
THAT'S NOT HOW WATER FLOWS
But you know the worst thing about it? Look closely, it's easy to miss
Actually, that's a trick question. The worst thing about the map is on the next page over.
HE DIDN'T EVEN COLOUR IT HIMSELF
SEVEN YEARS TO PLAN THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF ERAGON & CO AND HE COULDN'T EVEN COLOUR IN THE MAP HIMSELF
It would have taken him half an hour to an hour at most in Photoshop, or even with actual pencils. WHY did Immanuela need to be involved, when one of Paolini's artistic strengths lies in colouring and shading?!
Before you even read a single word of the story, this is a clear warning, like a garishly-coloured beetle, of the laziness and carelessness that lies in wait should you continue.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-16 10:32 am (UTC)Nice to see he's still stealing Tolkien's names... that's literally just "Arnor" with a G shoved in the middle!
On a more geography-related note... my prototype map for the world of my novel has a few weird-flowing rivers, but the ones that flow inland aren't flowing into the hllls, they're flowing downward into a basin, and their path ends in an inland sea. If the Edda's flow were stated to still be going slowly, slowly downward from some highlands in "distant Alagaesia", that'd be fine... but if that's what you intended to show, Paolini, then you FAILED. Miserably.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-16 11:20 am (UTC)