Thanks!

So we come to the end of another year, and I’ve paused to take stock of what I’ve done this year. I always feel like I’ve done more than I thought I did when I stop to look at the year in one go.

This year I published:

19 maps (including HD and textless versions of each map, exclusively for Patrons as thanks for their support)

15 pieces of commissioned and licenced art, from landscapes to character studies

Thousands of words of lore, including information on nation histories, social classes, cloning, sea currents, time zones, funerary customs and much more

A pamphlet RPG!

Miscellaneous things, from flags to, cross-section maps, floor-plans, and my first city map.

Making all of this content takes a lot of time. The maps themselves are quite time-consuming to get done, and take weeks to finish as I work entirely by hand with no procedurally-generated stuff - so each line you see on a map was hand-drawn by myself. In most cases, the maps need to line up perfectly with one another, and the sheer size of some of the base maps makes working and rotating images incredibly difficult and time-consuming. And that’s not even taking into account things like changing projections…

Every named location on each map is more than a random name - I create an entry for it in my world encyclopaedia. Some entries may do little more than detail the location and population, while others may go on for multiple paragraphs, detailing the city’s history, government, and resources. Most lie in the middle-ground of these extremes. Every time I make an atlas map that is not a thematic one, I collect all this information into the Encyclopaedia entries, which I make available to everyone through my site and Patreon.

The lore itself can be quite time-consuming to write, as I wrangle with content made almost two decades ago, trying to make all the dates and histories of neighbouring nations line up with each other. Many times I find passages and histories I wrote that I have no memory of - though somewhat disconcerting, this is also fun, as I often read forgotten details of the world, as though I were just a reader and not the creator. Whenever this happens and I enjoy what I read I feel justified in what I wrote!

I do the work of a designer, editor, art director, social media manager, and PR, over and above the main goal of creating the world of Elyden, which all takes so much time. Any freelancer artist can attest to the time spent on self-promotion on social media and building one’s ‘brand’ whatever that may be.

All this work takes up so much time and energy to create! I must spend at least 40 hours a week living and breathing this fictional world, and that’s over and above my day job, which is exhausting in and of itself, and the occasional commissions that I also take on.

And all of this in the hopes of perhaps one day being able to make such content full time, without having to worry about a day job. Though I am far off from being able to do that, and sometimes wonder if I ever will be able to accomplish this goal, the help of my Patrons has brought me closer to being able to do that.

I know it may come across as hollow or patronising, but I really do appreciate the support, no matter how much or little it is. I have some patrons who have been with me for years, following my work silently, and I really am grateful for this support - it makes me realise that some people do like my work, and whether they just support me because of this, or because they find my content useful or interesting. I suffer quite badly from imposter syndrome and especially seeing the work of much better artists and writers out there I sometimes finding myself wondering why I bother sharing this hard work on the internet. Over the years I’ve had work stolen, plagiarised and mocked. I’ve had people send me insulting DMs after trying to offer constructive criticisms on social media, which is all hard. But I’ve received far more support and kind words over the years, which do help in this oft-lonely hobby.

So, a big THANK YOU to past, present, and future Patrons for showing me that what I do matters, in whatever small way. And thank you to my followers across the internet and to everyone who has offered encouraging words to me over the past years.

Here’s to another year of content - maps, writing, graphics, and hopefully some new stuff as well!