Greater Atlanta Overlay on Korolev Crater

I didn't skew it North to South, so the perspective is a bit off, but basically the diameter of the Korolev Crater is approximately the same distance as you are from all your friends and relatives, if you live in greater Atlanta. From one edge to the other is about the same as Hiram to Lawrenceville, as the buzzard flies. Or from Villa Rica to Lithonia. Or from Griffin to Roswell.

Misty Mountains Old

The Dwarven Song of Old Wealth. All 27 verses. In the halls of Erebor (The Lonely Mountain). 37x60. Words and runic alphabet by J.R.R. Tolkien. Illustration by M.K. Davis.

I had more details in mind for this one but as is typical these days, it was gathering dust on the drawing table. And hanging off of the drawing table! At five feet long and over three feet wide, it's honking big. But it perfectly occupies the wall over my stairwell. I had to tape a screwdriver to a bamboo cane to mount it.

The Tolkien atlas illustrates a much simpler, much more shallow Erebor. But where's the fun in that? I wanted a cutaway dungeon version more fitting for "hollow halls beneath the fells" in "places deep where dark things creep."

No attempt was made at consistency of scale or of even being reasonable with it, but what you probably can't see in this pic are many ladders, bridges, elevators, and tunnels. By the time I got to Smaug's heap, the notion of chalices and statuary in silhouette just didn't make sense anymore. But should I change my mind, I can always go back to it.

BIG THANKS to Mike Roberts for getting my initial layout printed on that wonderful paper. Don't know what it is but I wish I had a ton of it. It made a gorgeous clean print and has taken a lot of abuse without wrinkling or tearing.

Dymaxion Map/Merlin's Dragon

"Shall I tell you what's out there? The Dragon. A beast of such power that if you were to see it whole and complete in a single glance it would burn you to cinders. It is everywhere. It is everything. Its scales glisten in the bark of trees. Its roar is heard in the wind. And its forked tongue strikes like...like lightning. Yes, that's it."

"I once stood exposed to the Dragon's Breath so that a man could lie one night with a woman. It took me nine moons to recover."

It is impossible to render a map of our world (or any round object) onto a two-dimensional surface without some amount of distortion. Depending on which projection you use, distance and area will be elongated at the poles or in other places. I'm fond of the Dymaxion projection because it not only minimizes distortion and keeps all land masses uncut, it also shows the world as a basically connected, almost single shape. As a plus it suggests the shape of a dragon in flight, breathing out a plume of smoke or mist!

Interesting to think of the movie Excalibur when viewing this map. The Dragon's breath is presented as something that can freeze people or can create a bridge over waters. In the map, the "dragon's breath" is frozen Antarctica.