Raygun Gothic

Transit Map of Basingstoke

‘I don’t think I’ve worked on a map for longer than I have this one; it proved to be far more complex than I’d guessed at, and my spontaneous decisions to include new layers of information at each stage of development just compounded the thing. It’s also been great fun to make, though.

While I imagine this is in need of some proof-checking, I’m fairly confident that it is complete. I’m just not sure I can justify adding bus stops to the main map, as while they’re a useful feature on most city maps, Basingstoke’s bus stops don’t follow a regular pattern. The Kings Furlong stretch of Winchester Road, for example, has four stops going into town, but only three coming out. I could attempt to show this information in a different map, but that would have to be much more abstract, more in line with Harry Beck’s Tube map than a more geographically-accurate layout like this.

For those who didn’t see my work in progress posts (here and here), some context:

I’ve never been especially happy with Stagecoach’s map of bus services in Basingstoke, as while any map would strain under its rather cramped town centre (through which all routes pass), it’s very hard to work out where some of the more unfamiliar routes actually go.

On a few occasions, I have taken buses further than I would usually go, or tried to reach somewhere I’d never been before, and spent the entire journey panicking about missing my stop. My goal with this map was to add a few more landmarks to help alleviate that worry, but more importantly, to address some of the loops which go unlabelled.

To fellow Basingstoke residents, I hope it proves useful or interesting; to fellow cartophiles, I hope it doesn’t just make your eyes bleed. Fun as it was to make, though, corrections and helpful critique of this map are definitely encouraged!’

Transit Map of Basingstoke [work in progress #2]

‘Continuing from the progress of two nights ago, on a line-only drawing of Basingstoke and its bus routes, here’s one which has some labels on it. The landmarks are all filled in and traffic loops are marked, though I’m not yet sure how I shall label the roads and bus route numbers. It is likely that I’ll leave this project until after the weekend, and see what comes to me then.’

(Source: raygun-gothic.net)

Transit Map of Basingstoke [work in progress]

‘This is a fairly meaningless doodle which turned into something I may actually use as a personal reference. I’ve never been especially happy with Stagecoach’s map of bus services in Basingstoke, as while any map would strain under its rather cramped town centre (through which all routes pass), it’s very hard to work out where some of the more unfamiliar routes actually go.

On a few occasions, I have taken buses further than I would usually go, or tried to reach somewhere I’d never been before, and spent the entire journey panicking about missing my stop. My goal with this map is to add a few more landmarks to help alleviate that worry, but more importantly, to address some of the loops which go unlabelled.

For reasons which baffle me, the Jazz 1, 3, and 6 services have arrows which mark the direction of travel, as does the Popley end of the Jazz 5 route - but not its Oakley end. I also cannot make sense of where the number 10 goes after it arrives in Basingstoke. I assume it heads straight for the bus station, and so does a loop around Black Dam on its way out to Hook and Odiham, but the map doesn’t make this clear.

Anyway, the base is not complete and I think I changed some of the colours for visibility reasons, but the map is coming along. I’ve gone from a version which used broad strokes, missing some details of the roads out, to adopting something more geographically accurate. Given that Basingstoke - like many British towns - does not have the benefit of a grid layout, this seems to suit best. I’m not best pleased with how the Winklebury loop turned out, at the top left of the map, mind…’

Shellworld Plains

‘I drew this a while ago while re-reading Iain M. Banks’ Matter, and I’d kept it in my map sketchbook until now. It’s a fanart piece, which I drew simply to interpret the Sursamen shellworld featured in Banks’ Culture novel.

I usually see my maps through to completion, or at least get some basic labelling down before I take a break, but this one got left since July and I’ve forgotten what I intended to use for labels and the like. I’ve decided to leave it as it is: a sketchbook entry.’

In’shari Venture Yacht “Bellen”

‘There we are - my completed ship plans. In summary of the “work in progress” posts which preceded this, I’ve submitted the map for a contest at The Cartographers’ Guild. It’s my first time drawing a complete map of a ship, though I’ve drawn a few conceptual outlines as part of my work on DarkConduit.

These plans are intentionally drawn in the raypunk style, mirroring the game project upon which this is based. I’ve also opted to write a novel set in this game world for National Novel-Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), entitled Median: Frontier. Its protagonist is a Tellerian explorer, and this is her vessel: a trimaran venture yacht which isn’t actually named until the end of the book.

The plans were drawn in Adobe Illustrator and edited for presentation in Photoshop.’

“Jo’feen’s Ship” [work in progress #3]

‘Yep, another update.. and a name this time! It’s a bit of a spoiler, which is strange given that I haven’t even written the bit of the novel where this spoiler is revealed…

I’ve tweaked a few colours, added some texture and some raypunk labelling which I hope puts the work into a much clearer context. Barring any further tweaks to the ship’s design or epiphanies on the colour scheme, I think all I have left to do is map the Bellen in profile, and come up with some sort of Ynsharr Industries emblem.’

“Jo’feen’s Ship” [work in progress #2]

‘This is the second update from a piece of work I explained in greater detail right here.

I’ve now added a colour scheme, much more in the way of furnishings, and some patterns. The scheme may appear a tad bold: this is part of the raypunk aesthetic I have in mind for the Median project. These colours are actually based on a pulp magazine cover, which I leaned on mostly because I’ve never actually used such a bold scheme before. As ever with this NaNoWriMo project, I’m learning at some pace!’

“Jo’feen’s Ship” [work in progress]

‘Further to my #NaNoWriMo project based on Median, here’s a map I hope to enter into the November challenge at the Cartographers’ Guild! Goodness, that’s a lot of layered projects and contests… To explain:

• Median is my raypunk-themed, pet MMO project. I write it not so much as a candidate for development, but for the practice and to help express some ideas for a game I feel I’d like to play.
• I decided to write a novel based on this world, entitled Median: Frontier, for my first attempt at National Novel Writing Month. It’s coming along nicely - 16000 words at this time - and has gotten me thinking afresh about this world I’ve created. Writing this has also gotten me drawing again, though I tackle this in a much more relaxed manner.
• I knew I would probably benefit from designing the interior of the lead character’s ship anyway, just to help ‘place’ a number of early scenes. This has turned out to be essential. There are all sorts of vivid imaginings spawning from my work on this book, but I lack the discipline to draw most of these. I can draw maps quite comfortably, though. So, seeing as how the Cartographers’ Guild is running a contest to map vehicles this month, I thought I’d try killing two birds with one stone.

.. and that’s the story of this image.’ :P

Tel’lar and Tethyll, from Median

‘I think my Median project predates this tumblelog ever so slightly, so it seems I’m actually missing some project work there. Here then, to make amends, are two incomplete maps I drew last year, depicting the Tellerian homeworld, Tel’lar.’ 

Regions of the Known Galaxy [WiP]

‘This is one of the few things I think I can show from the DarkConduit project, which continues apace but in secret; it’s a map of the galaxy, divided up into informal regions in homage to Star Wars. The regions have no relevance to play, but are an aspect of the lore. While the galaxy is actually split into sectors for gameplay reasons, I thought it likely that the game world’s inhabitants would name some of their (rather large) galactic neighbourhoods as well.

Many of these regions are named similarly to constellations, such as The Cradle and The Beacon; others bear more alien names, or names which suggest their makeup, as with The Core and The Furnace.

I’ve marked the map as a work in continuing progress, as while the content is probably sorted, I have yet to add some attractive frames. The legend is looking a little bit plain as well, but I intend to work on some symbols and an overall, decorative theme once the other maps in this series are finished.

The Milky Way painting underlay is by Liam Nicholson.’