John Howe Emailed Me Back!

Hi Ruth,

Thanks for the note, that sounds like a most ambitious project!

I'm not sure what advice to give, but perhaps you should consider what "look" of map you are after. There are so many wonderful maps through the ages, perhaps choosing ones you like will help you decide on a stylistic approach.
A very novel way of treating it would be to approach the maps as if they were made by the people concerned - a map of Gondor, for example, such as might have been made by a mapmaker in Minas Tirith, or a Hobbit map, drawn perhaps by Bilbo. who enjoyed that sort of thing. It's the difference perhaps, between an encyclopedic approach, which would demand consistency of treatment, and an "ethnic" approach, which would be less strictly informative, but perhaps more satisfying artistically. It would also highlight the fact that any world is only partially known to its inhabitants, though collectively you would show how the borders overlapped. It might involve making a lot of assumptions, though, that aren't necessarily contained in Tolkien's texts.

I based the maps I did on Tolkien's maps, and relied on a lot of borders and decoration to make them as attractive as possible. The map of Middle-Earth from the Lord of the Rings has very little decoration, as the map itself was quite detailed, but the map of the Hobbit was very illustrative, partly to fill the square format, and because the map itself is far simpler.

I hope this is of some small assistance, and very best of luck with your project!

Best wishes,

John